Things were looking up for Spring Valley as a few performances to remember brought the Cardinal lead to three with about five seconds to play. Disaster struck in the form of six-foot-six Turtle Lake junior Brandon Wagner, catching an inbounds pass out of a timeout in the corner, launching a three with two defenders on him. The shot bounced off the rim like a trampoline, clearing the height of the backboard before falling right through. To make matters worse, the Cardinals were whistled for a foul to give Wagner a free throw and a 51-50 lead with one second left.

The Cardinal heave was no good and it marked a heartbreaking finish to what was a historic season.

A 9-9 start was quickly negated by Turtle Lake with a big run to move it to 18-12. A tough offensive rebound and putback from Elijah Haug and a bucket inside from Caleb Bartko cut it to two before Turtle Lake kept the foot on the gas with a three and a 21-16 lead with 2:20 to play. A made triple from Cade Stasiek and a drive by him with a dump down to Masyn Wolf had the halftime score at 23-21 in Turtle Lake’s favor.

Stasiek was getting face-guarded and picked up from full court for the majority of the game, but he found more ways to get it done in the second.

A steal coming out of the break by Stasiek and a pass to Trevor Forster for a layup started the Cardinals off right. A Stasiek layup, Wolf free throw and inside bucket and a Forster triple led a 10-0 run and just like that Spring Valley led 31-23. The Lakers punched right back with four threes in a short span to snatch what was taken from them and 37-33 with 11 minutes to play.

Haug had been massive all playoffs long and he made another huge three followed by a Stasiek steal and score to tie things at 38 with 7:40 to go. A great inbounds pass to Bartko for a bucket and the Cardinals took the game back into their own hands. This lead faded quickly with Spring Valley finding themselves down 44-42 with a little over a minute to play. Stasiek drove and kicked it to Forster who had a great game, canning a three to retake the driver’s seat at 45-44. Turtle Lake’s Wagner hit a miraculous step back just seconds later, giving Turtle Lake a 47-45 lead with 49 seconds to go. Stasiek made another drive in the lane and was met with the entire defense crashing. Forster was once again open in the right corner and drilled a three for a 48-47 lead with 26 seconds to go. A stop and a couple of free throws got Spring Valley a three-point lead that was stolen in the final seconds.

“I didn’t think we played our best game,” Head Coach Rob Bosshart said. “We didn’t shoot well; we didn’t capitalize on turnovers like we had been able to do.”

Despite not having the best game execution-wise, Bosshart said the mental side with composure and mindset was strong. They battled many runs and let nothing get to them just like they have done all season.

Every single player who saw significant playing time this year was a senior for Spring Valley. Their list of seniors included Masyn Wolf, Elijah Haug, Dan Cipriano, Caleb Bartko, Trevor Forster, Tanner Dicus, Carter Anderson and Cade Stasiek.

“This was a pretty special group,” Bosshart said. “They’re such a tight-knit group and really pushed each other all the way through school to try and improve not just in basketball.”

Going into the offseason, Bosshart said he hopes the younger players have paid attention to the seniors, because it is going to take a lot of work to get back to the top.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Bosshart said. “We’re starting from scratch. We have some kids that have the ability to step up and be ready to play next year, but they have to understand the amount of work that goes into it.”

This team was Dunn-St. Croix co-conference champions, one of the best senior classes in school history and a team that focused on high character.

“Their total unselfishness and willingness to do whatever each of them needed to do for us to be successful,” Bosshart said. “We had kids that were tremendous scorers, we had some kids that were really good defensive players, other kids that were just great as far as our attitude… they’re all pulling in the same direction.”