Winter wins Regional Semi-Final over Hurley

Winter wins regional semi-final against HurleyPhoto byExplore Southern Sawyer County

Winter WI - The Hurley Northstars travel to Winter Wisconsin to take on the Warriors for WIAA Regional Semi-Final action. The Hurley Northstars finished 14-9 on the season, and fourth place in the Northern Lights Conference. The Hurley Northstars are favored to win this contest by the self-proclaimed basketball "Czar" Mark Miller from Wisconsin Sports Network. However, the Winter Warriors may have something to say about that. The Warriors finished the season 17-7, and won the Lakeland East Conference title, come in hot as the highest scoring team in WIAA Division 5 with 82.0 points per game.

The gymnasium was packed with fans, family members, students, and community members from both Hurley, Winter, and surrounding communities. Winter School reported a sell-out crowd with just under 500 tickets sold.

The tip-off brought much by way of energy, nerves, and roaring fans. The Warriors would strike first on an offensive rebound and putback from Carter Petit. However, the Hurley Northstars wouldn't get their first basket until the 15:10 mark to tie the game at 2-2. The first half was a slow game, mostly controlled by the Hurley Northstars with their deliberate controlled style of play founded on strong packline defense. Hurley would jump out to an 8-2 with 13:12 left in the first half, when Coach Hautamaki would call a timeout to make some adjustments. Malte Colliander would drop a triple immediately out of the timeout to close the gap to 5-8. Hurley went up by as much as eight points before Winter closed the gap 12-13 with 6:47 left in the first half. Hurley would go into the half with a 26-24 lead. Winter would force 9 first half turnovers but fail to convert and allow Hurley to score 22 of their 26 first half points in the paint.

The second half was much of a different story. The Warriors opened up on an 14-2 run to take the lead 38-28. Hurley would close the gap to 40-37 in favor of Winter at the 9:00 minute mark. Winter would go on another 16-2 scoring run to take the lead to 56-39 with 6:00 minutes left in the game. The Warriors would follow up with another 24-5 run to take the lead 70-44 with 3:44 left in the game, courtesy of the full court pressure, and the 3-ball from Malte Colliander, Adam Bednorski and Carter Petit. Winter would go up 77-52 with 1:15 left in the game, and unload the bench.

Final Score
Winter 77
Hurley 52

The Warriors scored 38 points in the paint on 19-36 from the field, good for 52.8%, while connecting on 9-28 from 3, good for 32.1%, and adding 12-19 from the charity stripe.

Carter Petit led all scorers with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Adam Bednorski finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal. Malte Colliander added 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. Gunnar Greuel finished the game with 9 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. CJ Thompson contributed 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 steals. Cole Petit would round out the scoring with 4 points.

The Warriors would force 20 turnovers, but end up giving up 42 points in the paint. The win moves Winter into the Regional Championship game against the Drummond Lumberjacks in Drummond on March 2, 2024. Drummond is the 2-seed, meanwhile Winter is the 3-seed, and in WIAA tournament play the higher seed is slated to host the game.

Winter met Drummond in the regular season and fell victim by a score of 57-61. Drummond comes with a tough and gritty style of play with one of the best defenses in the area. This is truly a clash of styles, as Winter likes to pressure the ball, and put up points in a hurry.

Winter moves to 19-7 on the season and Drummond also carries a 19-7 record, which makes for a great matchup of small schools with contrasting styles of play.

For more updates on the Winter Boys Basketball journey, visit Explore Southern Sawyer County.