Balanced scoring helps Tigers in opening round

Following an undefeated regular season and a third straight Central Wisconsin Conference-North championship, the Tigerton boys basketball team turned its attention to the WIAA state tournament.

If an 82-34 opening-round win over Goodman/Pembine is any indication, the Tigers are well on their way to a deep run in the playoffs.

Tigerton hosted the Patriots on March 3 for a Division 5 regional quarterfinal. The Tigers entered the postseason with a No. 1 seed, while Goodman/Pembine received a No. 16 seed.

Tigerton scored 23 of the game’s first 25 points and led 50-18 at halftime after connecting on eight 3-pointers, which is the start that coach Dan Hoffa was looking for from his team.

“We shot the ball really well to start,” he said. “They had a plan for James (Brady) from the start, so they were double- and triple-teaming him.”

The Patriots held Tigerton’s leading scorer during the season to four points in the first half and he finished the game with 10, one of four Tigers to finish in double figures.

“We hit a few outside shots early to loosen up the defense and then we were able to feed him inside a little,” Hoffa said. “That’s the beauty of our team.”

While the Patriots were able to keep Brady in check scoring-wise, they couldn’t stop Sam Anheuser, who led all players with 25 points.

Brady Miller and Tanner Dent also finished in double figures for Tigerton with 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Auron Garrow led Goodman/Pembine with 11.

Tigerton led by as many as 55 points in the second half, and the game was over in less than an hour after the teams played most of the second half with a running clock.

“Defensively, we played really well, but I know we can play a lot better,” Hoffa said. “The score doesn’t indicate that, but they had a lot of open looks. I told them at halftime, ‘If we aren’t hitting and they’re hitting, this game is completely different.’ I wasn’t too fond of that and, at times, we just looked sluggish.

“I was able to get some film on them, but you can only learn so much on film than actually seeing them in person: how big they are, how fast they are. You can’t see that on film. I’m always nervous as a coach and not having that familiarity, that kind of throws another wrinkle into the whole thing.”

The Tigers are one of only three boys teams that made it through the regular season unbeaten, along with defending Division 1 state champion Wisconsin Lutheran and Kewaunee.

While basketball fans know all about Wisconsin Lutheran, which also won the Division 2 state championship in 2023, they don’t know about Tigerton, which is fine with Hoffa.

“I want to kind of fly under the radar,” he said. “I don’t want that target. I want to be able to sneak up on people. We always preach 1-0, but when these 1-0s keep adding up to 24-0, it’s hard to not take notice. People are going to notice, and the publicity starts coming. It’s kind of hard to do when you’re 24-0, now 25-0.”

Winning a third consecutive CWC-North championship was the team’s first goal, according to Hoffa.

“That’s always a big thing, because you’re able to hang another number on the banner, and no one can take that away from you,” he said. “Goal No. 2 is to get out of the regional. Honestly, 24-0 was the farthest thing from my mind. The last couple of weeks got a little tougher, because all of a sudden, that became a goal. There was a possibility, and we were able to do it.”