Basketball: Rice Lake eighth-graders compete at State Invitational Championship

The Rice Lake eighth grade boys basketball team participated in the Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament hosted in Merrill on March 23-24. This elite tournament, which is organized by The Great Northwest Basketball League, brought together 56 of the top community-based eighth grade boys basketball teams from across Wisconsin to play either six or seven games over the two-day weekend.

State champions were crowned in four divisions: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4/5, based on the enrollment of the high school into which each team feeds. The Rice Lake eighth grade team finished in eighth place in Division 2. Bjorn Helstad was named to the Division 2 all-tournament team.

Three of the games that Rice Lake lost during the tournament were to the champion, Onalaska (twice) and runner-up La Crosse Central. Onalaska defeated La Crosse Central 63-45 to win the Division 2 championship.

The all-tournament team for Division 2 consisted of Jorden Calvert, La Crosse Central; Beau Chernick, Notre Dame; Devin Dassow, Medford; Braylon DeCleene, West De Pere; Bradyn DeLong, Onalaska; Bjorn Helstad, Rice Lake; Tyler Kowal, Onalaska; Cullen MacGlashin, La Crosse Central; and Ben Wittnebel, Beaver Dam.

The Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament is an annual event, held in February, March or April of each year, pitting the top community-based teams in Wisconsin against each other. The tournament is organized by size of communities, much like the WIAA state high school tournaments, so that top teams can compete on a level playing field with other programs their size.