ONALASKA — The West Salem High School boys basketball team was going to emphasize defense in a WIAA Division 2 regional championship game against top-seeded Onalaska on Saturday night.
The Panthers may be good shooters, but they didn’t want to take their chances in a high-scoring game against the Hilltoppers because that led to a 15-point loss the first time they played Onalaska.
So fourth-seeded West Salem buckled down and took the game down to the wire before junior Drew McConkey became a hero with a fadeaway bank shot from the middle of the lane with 7.4 seconds left that gave it a 50-48 victory on John Shelton Court at the Chuck Deeth Fieldhouse.
“We wanted to let (the clock) run down a little more, but when I got the ball at the top (of the key) and no one came up, I went for the shot,” an elated McConkey said after his team accepted its award as regional champion. “I hit it, and then I feel like I just blacked out for a little bit.”
Onalaska (21-4) had one last chance and put the ball in the hands of sophomore Tyler Kowal, who let a corner 3-pointer fly as time expired, but it was no good.
The outcome means the Panthers (22-4) will play second-seeded Central (22-4) in a sectional semifinal at a neutral local location on Thursday. The RiverHawks advanced by beating third-seeded Fox Valley Lutheran 61-39 on Saturday.
McConkey’s shot was set up by an offensive rebound by senior Spencer Kammel offensive rebound off a missed shot by Nate Dillaber with 18.3 seconds left. Kammel was fouled after grabbing the board, and that led to the inbounds play that put the ball in McConkey’s hands for the winner.
“Drew is a confident kid, and we like the ball in his hands with the game on the line,” West Salem coach Shane Schmeling said. “He didn’t have a great shooting night, but we still trust him enough that he can go make plays.
“It wasn’t pretty. I don’t know if he was trying to bank it or not.”
Schmeling said his team had to enter Saturday’s game with a different approach than the one it used in an 81-66 loss to Onalaska on Feb. 19.
“What got us to where we started believing in ourselves earlier in the year was our defense,” Schmeling said. “We had a little lull where we weren’t playing quite as well midseason and at the tail-end of the season.
“But we talked this week about how the defense has to carry us through on the tough shooting nights.”
The Panthers have a number of players able to shoot well from the 3-point line, but West Salem was just 3 for 19 from that territory on Saturday. Dillaber made the first attempt just a couple of minutes into the game, and Tyson Labus knocked down a huge one for a 46-44 lead with 2:36 left.
But between those two shots, it was ugly.
Onalaska faced its struggles, too. The Hilltoppers had 12 turnovers in the first half and 18 in the game.
Senior Ian Kowal wasn’t able to get his first shot up until midway through the first half and took just four before halftime arrived with Onalaska holding a 25-23 lead.
Ian and Tyler Kowal — both double-figure scorers — finished with a combined four field goals and 14 points.
The Onalaska offense was put in the hands of sophomore Gavin McRoberts, who finished with a team-high 16 and had nine straight of his team’s points — a 3-pointer and a dunk included — after the Panthers had taken a 34-29 lead in the second half.
The dunk put the Hilltoppers back on top at 38-37 with 7:37 to go.
Labus scored 15 points to lead West Salem, and Schmeling opted to have a top post player help out with handling the ball to create some mismatches under the hoop and bring 6-foot-7 Onalaska senior Rowan McGrath away from the basket.
“We knew he couldn’t come out and pressure or I’d get by him,” said Labus, who had 11 rebounds. “I got to the rim a little bit, but we wanted to get some specific mismatches with Spencer and Drew that we thought could help us.”
The Hilltoppers held their final lead at 48-46 when McRoberts converted a drive to the basket with 1:36 left. West Salem junior Elliott Corcoran tied the game at 48 when he scored off of an offensive rebound and was fouled with 1:09 to go.
Corcoran missed the free throw, and Kammel rebounded a missed shot by Tyler Kowal with under a minute to play to give the Panthers the ball for what became McConkey’s shot.
McConkey and Dillaber each scored 13 points for West Salem.
