Middleton escapes scare from Craig
Their Houdini-act was now complete.
Middleton’s boys basketball team had escaped upstart Janesville Craig, 65-62, in a too-close-for-comfort WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal Friday night. And as the Cardinals took a minute to exhale, MHS coach Kevin Bavery also told them to savor the moment.
“Hey, tournament wins are hard,” Bavery said. “And we just said, ‘Welcome to tournament basketball.’ Hey, we're 21-4 (overall), but we’re also 1-0 and that's all that matters.”
That’s all that mattered on this night, as fifth-seeded Middleton survived against the gritty, gutty 12th-seeded Cougars. Middleton advanced to Saturday’s regional final at fourth-seeded Waunakee (19-6) at 7 p.m., while Craig ended its year 11-14.
The Cardinals defeated the Cougars by an average of 20.0 points in their first two meetings, but had to sweat this one out until Craig’s Keyon’Dre Thornton sent a 3-pointer wide left with 2 seconds left.
Middleton trailed just once all night — at 25-24. But the Cardinals’ biggest lead in the last 9 minutes was five points.
“I mean, we knew all the games are going to be pretty tough,” Middleton senior guard Jackson Guerrero said. “But this one's maybe a little too close.”
Sophomore guard Cormac Carlson agreed.
“For me, honestly, it was definitely nerve wracking in the last couple minutes,” Carlson said. “But we knew every game come playoff time, like you’re 0-0, every team's going to come out and compete. We beat Craig two times in the season, but they gave us a run for our money. They gave us a really good game.”
Boy, did they ever, as Middleton battled through adversity to survive and advance.
Senior guard John Grimes was suspended the first half after inappropriate conduct towards the Madison Memorial student section during the Cardinals’ win over the Spartans on Feb. 26. And senior forward Luke Sheehan arrived just 10 minutes before tipoff after racing home from a family trip to Madrid, Spain.
In addition, Craig welcomed back gifted senior guard Jamar Jenkins, an athletic slasher who missed the first two meetings between these Big Eight Conference foes.
Those factors played a part in Craig giving Middleton a far more spirited battle than most envisioned.
The game was tied, 58-58, with 5 minutes left when the Cardinals used a 5-0 run to take a 63-58 lead and gain a bit of separation.
Guerrero started the mini-burst by splitting a pair of free throws, then Grimes hit a 12-foot runner. Sheehan, who somehow still had life after his 21-hour travel day, then drove into the lane and kissed home a 5-foot, jump hook with 2:55 remaining.
Craig countered with four straight points and closed within 63-62 with 46.4 seconds left. Cardinals senior guard Andrew Qastin then missed the front end of a one-and-one with 30.6 seconds remaining — Middleton’s fifth straight missed free throw — giving the Cougars a chance for the win.
“Those are all moments where you can put the game away,” said Bavery, whose team was 4-of-12 from the line. “You miss the first one and you’re leaving behind two points. That’s tough.”
Thornton missed a potential go-ahead shot, but Craig corralled the offensive rebound. Thornton then attacked from the left wing, but the heady Carlson stepped in and drew a charge with 8.9 seconds left.
“I mean, it's a close game,” Carlson said. “We know that they're trying to look for a shot in the last 15, 10 seconds, and we're kind of getting scrambled.
“They make a switch on the baseline, and I kind of just get caught in a good position, and I see (Thornton) coming down, and I just knew from there I had to get my feet set and be ready to take the charge. And luckily, we got the call because (Thornton) made the shot.”
Middleton wasn’t out of the shark-infested waters quite yet.
Guerrero was fouled with 8.0 seconds left, but missed the front end of his one-and-one. Sophomore forward Carter Parks beat Craig’s 6-foot-7 standout Nolan Duffy to the ball, though, for an offensive rebound and putback to give Middleton a 65-62 lead with 5.4 seconds left.
“Duffy was boxing me out, but I gave him a little shove,” Parks said. “I moved him, and then I think it might have bounced twice. So he over-corrected, I guess.”
On a night packed with big plays from both sides, Parks might have made the largest.
“I mean, tremendous play,” Carlson said. “We know that Carter is going to make big plays like that. He's our best rebounder, he's one of our best scorers, and we know we're able to go to a small lineup because he plays bigger than he is. So yeah, that play was huge, awesome.”
Craig called timeout and Middleton — holding a three-point lead — debated whether to foul or play straight up. The Cardinals chose the second option, which worked like a charm.
Thornton pushed the ball up the right side, pulled up from 27-feet, and missed wide left. Parks grabbed the rebound, flung the ball ahead and the Cardinals lived another day.
“Yeah, we had some adversity,” Guerrero said. “We knew it was going to be a tough night, but we played through it and ended up with the win.”
In addition to Guerrero’s team-high 21 points, Parks added 13 points and six rebounds, while both Qastin and Carlson had nine points.
“We knew Craig was going to be tough,” Bavery said. “They gave us trouble in the past two games in stints, not for the full game, but for stints. Tonight, it was for the full game.”
It sure was.
Middleton jumped to an 8-0 lead as Qastin had five quick points. Senior forward Joey Passaglia, an all-state quarterback during football season, also started for Sheehan and did yeoman’s work early on the gifted Duffy.
“Joey was really good on Duffy,” Bavery said. “He just runs the floor hard, makes everybody work from the other team. Whoever is guarding him also has to work because he's just that ball of energy in everything he does.”
Craig quickly answered with a 13-5 burst that included eight points from the streaky Thornton to tie the game at 13 and let the Cardinals know they were in for a battle.
“We got off quick, but I don't know, I think we started getting tired because we didn't have as many subs,” Parks said. “Our rotations got messed up a little bit.”
Craig took its only lead of the night at 25-24 after a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Griffin Roth, who knocked down four triples on the night and led the Cougars with 18 points.
Middleton then put together its best stretch of the game and finished the first half on a 13-2 surge to take a 37-27 lead at the break. Carlson drilled a pair of 3-pointers during that run, and Guerrero added five points, knocking down a triple from the left wing and driving for a layup.
On the flip side, Craig managed just one field goal in the final 3:45 of the half as Middleton seemingly gained control of the game.
“We were really good there,” Bavery said of the end of the first half. “When we're running and the ball’s changing sides of the floor, we’re tough and we did that the last 3 minutes of the half.
“I didn't think we did that as much in the second half. The ball didn't change sides of the floor early, which is key for us. We didn’t attack as well.”
Craig went on the attack right away, though, opening the second half on a 9-0 run and closing within 37-36. That was one of eight times in the second half the Cougars either tied the game or pulled within one, but never did take the lead.
“We just have a lot of fight,” Guerrero said. “Having that lead gave us a lot of confidence, because if we'd have to come back from down three, or something, that’s tough. The pressure was kind of on them to make the shot to go ahead.”
Middleton quickly answered with a 14-4 spurt to regain control at 51-40. Guerrero drained two left corner 3-pointers in that stretch to spark that surge.
“The difference in Jackson from last year to this year is that in all those situations, he wants it,” Bavery said of Guerrero. “You can just see it. He wanted those threes and he cashed them both.”
Craig refused to head back to I-90 quietly, though, answering with a 13-2 run of its own to pull even at 53 with 6 ½ minutes left. The teams were still knotted at 58 at the 5-minute mark, when Middleton made just enough plays down the stretch to stay alive.
“In some ways we almost had to kind of escape a little bit,” Bavery said. “We did it without being at full strength for quite a while, and then it was kind of hard to mix guys back in. But we escaped and we’re still here.”
Jan. 28
Middleton 65, Janesville Craig 62
Craig …………..…. 27 35 – 62
Middleton…………...37 28 – 65
JANESVILLE CRAIG – Griffin Roth 7 0-0 18, Keyon Thornton 7 3-4 17, Jamar Jenkins 4 1-2 10, Nathan Daskam 0 0-0 0, Dru DeGraaf 2 0-0 5, Nolan Duffy 5 2-5 12. Totals 27-48 17-24 74.
MIDDLETON – Jackson Guerrero 7 1-4 21, Andrew Qastin 4 0-1 9, Joey Passaglia 0 0-0 0, Cormac Carlson 3 0-0 9, Carter Parks 5 3-5 13, Parker Klein 1 0-0 3, Luke Sheehan 3 0-0 6, John Grimes 2 0-2 4. Totals 26 4-12 65.
3-point goals — JC 6 (Roth 4, Jenkins, DeGraaf); M 9 (Guerrero 4, Carlson 3, Klein, Qastin).
