MADISON (NBC 26) — The Division 5 boys state basketball semifinal between No. 1 Reedsville and No. 4 Sheboygan Lutheran felt like a title bout.
Unfortunately, only one of the two terrific teams could come out victorious, and that was Reedsville, making its first appearance at state in 80 years, winning 75-72 in an absolute thriller.
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"It's been 80 years in the making, right, since we won (with) the 1946 class, and that was a heck of an opponent, a heck of a game. If you paid $12.50 to come watch that game, you got your money's worth already," said Reedsville head coach Ron Prochnow.
The Crusaders took a 38-35 lead into halftime, but the Panthers came out red hot, going on a 16-4 run for a 51-42 lead.
However, the Crusaders responded with a 23-5 run to a 65-56 lead with 5:41 left in the game.
Being a game of runs, the Panthers had their last one at the perfect time. Down 70-68, Ben Prochnow, who had a game to remember, hit a layup while being fouled. He made the free throw to give Reedsville a 71-70 lead.
Senior Brennen Hackbarth, who also had a game to remember in his final time suiting up for Sheboygan Lutheran, gave his squad the lead at 72-71 with a pair of free throws after being fouled. But Prochnow had an acrobatic layup to give Reedsville a 73-72 lead with 13 seconds remaining.
Crusaders’ Oliver Leibham drove to the basket to try and take the lead, but Jack Schwann for Reedsville drew a charge with 6 seconds remaining. On the inbound, Ben Prochnow was fouled and made two free throws to make it a three-point game. The Crusaders had two chances to tie it after that but never got another shot off, as Reedsville took the ball away twice to seal the victory.
Panthers senior Ben Prochnow finished with a team-high 26 points, along with nine assists and five rebounds. His brother Zach, a sophomore, scored 15, and senior Jack Schwahn also had 15.
"Me and my family have been coming to the state tournament since I was 3 or 4 years old, so I've seen a lot of big games, big performances here at Madison. It's always been a goal of mine to try and push my city and town and just my group of guys that I get to work hard with every day to get to the state championship and try to get a ball," Ben Prochnow said. "That was kind of the goal of this game—just survive and advance and get a ball, hopefully a gold ball. I think it was really special with our team. Our whole team played the whole way together."
Making their second straight appearance at state, the Crusaders were led by Hackbarth, who scored a game-high 32 points.
"It's been a fun four years, ups and downs, but the community is always there for you. Coaches are always there for you, and yeah, I'll sure miss it," Hackbarth said. "It's gonna suck, but the world keeps spinning."
Reedsville will play for its second title in school history Saturday at 11:05 a.m. and they'll take on Southwestern.
