MADISON — The FRCC champion De Pere Redbirds had a season to remember, but it won’t end in a gold or even a silver ball, as they were knocked off by Madison Memorial 75-62 in the Division 1 state semifinal.
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The Redbirds trailed by one, 33-32, at halftime, but the Spartans shot about as well from the field as a team could. They made 59.5% of all their field goals and shot an incredible 70.6% from three.
Anthony Miller had a game-high 22 for Madison Memorial, while Caleb Liggon scored 20.
For De Pere, Jack Bookter had a team-high 19 points in the final game of his career.
Bookter and fellow senior Noah Maniscalco talked about what it meant to play for the Redbirds program:
“It means a lot,” Bookter said. “This program is historically really, really good. The guys before us are really good, set good examples, and for us to be able to just be here in general and be able to play this semifinal game is just an honor. A lot of people came into the season underestimating us, and we're just—we're really happy to play here and honored just to play with all these guys, these fellow seniors that a lot of people really doubted us, so happy for that.”
“We grew up watching these great guys ahead of us, like John Kinziger, Will Hornseth, Jack Jorgenson, and it was kind of our dream to really be a role model for the kids below us and get to the Kohl Center like some of those guys did. And I think the fact that we did that really proves a lot, considering we're a pretty underestimated team. And even though we didn't get the result we wanted, I feel pretty good about how we left the program,” said Maniscalco.
