MADISON – He’s 6-foot-10. He’s the fourth-ranked player in the class of 2015 on rivals.com. And he was too much for Blair-Taylor High School’s boys basketball team to handle.
In the WIAA Division 4 state championship Saturday, junior Diamond Stone had 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks in leading Whitefish Bay Dominican to a 74-50 win at the Kohl Center and its third consecutive state title.
Stone, who is being recruited by over 20 colleges, including Wisconsin and Marquette, was 11-for-21 from the field – he came in shooting over 70 percent – while the Wildcats (23-4) shot just 17-for-63 (27 percent) from the field.
B-T, however, wasn’t out of this game until being outscored 23-9 in the third quarter. The Knights (25-3) had only a 36-28 lead at halftime.
While the difference was Stone, Dominican also outrebounded B-T 51-42, thanks to Jack Jelacic’s 14 boards.
The big three for the Wildcats, who scored all but three points in the semifinal, scored 35 points on 12-of-47 shooting. Dalton Soto had 14 points, 11 rebounds, while Brett Ladsten scored 14 and Simeon Pooler added seven.
MSHSL TOURNAMENT
CLASS A CHAMPIONSHIP
BELGRADE-BROOTEN-ELROSA 42, RUSHFORD-PETERSON 40
MINNEAPOLIS – On the 25th Anniversary of R-P coach Tom Vix’s first state title, he was supposed to win another.
For a half, it looked like it was headed that way. The Trojans were up 25-21, but the shots stopped falling after that at the Target Center.
After going 9-for-18 from the field in the first half, R-P (31-2) shot just 5-for-19 (26.3 percent).
After B-B-E (31-1) tied the game at 30-30 with 12:13 remaining, the two teams went back and forth for a bit. It was tied again with 6:14 left before the Brian Goodwin, Billy Borgerding and the Jaguars put the game away.
The two scored and/or assisted on the final 19 points, as B-B-E went on a 19-1 run to close out the game.
During the run, R-P went 0-for-6 from the field – 0-for-4 from beyond the arc – with one turnover and was held to just one shot on each possession.
Goodwin, a 6-foot-4 senior guard and a Minnesota Mr. Basketball finalist, had 24 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals. He was 7-for-17 from the field and 10-for-15 from the line.
R-P, which was outrebounded 42-20, got 12 points from Alex Vix and 11 from Cole Kingsley.
Coach Vix won a state title as the Rushford High School head coach in 1989, and , again, with R-P in 2006. This was the Trojans third consecutive trip to state.
CLASS AA THIRD PLACE
CALEDONIA 79, FAIRMONT 65
ST. PAUL – Caledonia got 21 points from Austin Bauer and 18 more from Kyle Sorenson in a game that was never really in doubt.
The Warriors (29-3) were up 10 points less than 10 minutes into the game and led by as many as 20. Fairmont (25-6) was down double-digits for the final 16:28 at Concordia-St. Paul University.
Caledonia outrebounded Fairmont 40-31 and held it to 38.6-percent shooting (22-57). The Warriors, again, got things done at the line, going 22-for-27.
Colton Lambert came off the bench to score 18, while teammate West Spier had 16. Sorenson, who was 10-for-11 from the line, also had 10 rebounds.