A night to remember

At the beginning of the season, Jan. 9 was just another day on the calendar, which included a scheduled Badger North Conference boys basketball game between Baraboo and host Sauk Prairie. But recent events made it far more than that. During the previous nine days, the night morphed into an event designated to help raise funds for Alyssa Gruender, the fiancée of Sauk Prairie boys basketball coach Sean McGann, who has been dealing with consistent seizures due to an undiagnosed brain disease. Alyssa was present to watch the host Eagles storm out to an early 16-point lead en route to a 62-29 victory over Baraboo. “It was an awesome game between Baraboo and Sauk Prairie, a special game,” said McGann, a 2012 graduate of Baraboo and in his second year as head coach of the Eagles. “I’d be lying if I said it was the same game. “I went to Baraboo and having strong ties there with the community, I thought this was the perfect game to have our fundraiser for Alyssa, just because those are the two communities I care about the most.” Gruender was hospitalized on Halloween when, while having lunch with McGann, she began slurring her words and losing her ability to formulate a sentence Although no diagnosis was found, Alyssa experienced a major tonic clonic seizure on Nov. 1, which sparked a long road of testing and hospital stays and eventually a brain biopsy on Dec. 11. McGann said while there is still no diagnosis, Gruender has had numerous overnight stays at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee the past two months. The amount of time in the future that she will continue being readmitted is also unknown. “The hardest thing right now is everyone goes through hard times, but right now, we don’t know what we’re facing,” McGann said. “It’s kind of been the waiting game for almost three months now. It’s one thing if we’re facing something bad and we know and have a treatment plan. But right now, it’s just kind of trial and error.” A GoFundMe — www.gofundme.com/f/fight-like-a-soldier — surpassed its’ goal of $50,000, and McGann said the evening’s fundraiser, which was held during the junior varsity and varsity games, raised $22,267.54. “I told our guys, I don’t say this often in the locker room, ‘Just have my back and play for Alyssa tonight,’ ” McGann said. “She was here all the time last year, and this was her first game this year. She was so excited to see those guys play. She knows them a lot of times better than I do. She’s always talking to them when she’s at practice. “It was great to have everyone here to pack the place. Everyone coming together as one team tonight was the coolest thing.” Added McGann’s sister, Sarah Puttkamer: “We put this together in nine days. That just goes to show how amazing the two communities are.” The Eagles (4-6, 3-3 Badger North) didn’t waste any time making sure they had McGann’s back, racing out to an 18-2 lead midway through the first half. Senior guard/forward Trevor Spray posted a double-double with 17 of his game-high 19 points and 12 of his game-high 13 rebounds in the first half to send Sauk Prairie into halftime with a 34-9 lead. “We just had to come out with energy and win this game for Alyssa and coach McGann,” said Spray, who sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer heading into halftime. “It meant a lot for her to be able to come and be here. It was cool for everyone to come out and support us, and it helped us with a lot of energy.” Junior forward Brandt Wilson added 12 points, and senior point guard Ben German chipped in with nine points as nine Eagles contributed to the scoring. McGann cleared the bench for the final 6 minutes of the game. “It meant a lot to coach, so we wanted to play well for him,” German said. “I’m just happy we did because he’s been through a lot these last couple of months.” Calvin Peterson led Baraboo (2-9, 0-6) with 12 points, including 10 in the second half. McGann delivered an emotional speech to the crowd before the opening tip-off that summarized the emotional evening. “I get pouty sometimes, I get down, I get sad, I get frustrated,” he said, pausing to compose himself. “She’s always there to pick me up when it should be the other way around.” An Appleton North High School graduate, who ran track at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and is a member of ROTC, Gruender also spoke prior to the game while standing alongside her parents, Brian and Laura, and McGann. “Thank you for coming out tonight,” Gruender said “We don’t know what this is, and it’s really hard to not have any answers, so anything helps. Thank you so much for coming out tonight and supporting us, it means a lot.” McGann expressed his gratitude for the response of the Baraboo and Sauk Prairie communities. “Coming into it, I really didn’t know what to expect, but when people started coming in an hour before the JV game I was like, ‘Holy cow, this might be really special,’” McGann said of the excited buzz in the gym and hallways. “I told our guys that I love basketball, and they should love basketball, but there are things in life that are way bigger than basketball. This was a prime example of that tonight. Yes, at the end of the day we played a basketball game, but coming together for a person that really deserves it, that was the greatest thing.” McGann previously witnessed the support of the community when he was an assistant coach under former Eagles’ head coach Levi Massey, whose wife Katie battled breast cancer. “I talked to Levi for 30 minutes (Wednesday) night, and Katie and I text every single day,” McGann said. “They’ve been like rocks for me. As unfortunate as it is, Levi and Katie have helped us prepare for what we’re facing. “It’s just been awesome to have that support system, and I know I can give Levi a call at literally any time and he’ll answer it. They’re great friends for life. I’m lucky to have them.” McGann said the experience has brought the Eagles’ program closer together. “Last night, I had a senior text me and say, ‘Hey coach, we know you’ve been going through a hard time and you’ve been handling it great, thanks for sticking with us,’ ” McGann said. “It actually brought me to tears, because these kids are 16, 17, 18 years old. “A lot of times they don’t really know what I’m dealing with, but for them to have the maturity to come up and say that. There’s some people that might say it’s weird I tell my players I love them, but we always use the word love. He just said he loves me and that really hit me. ‘Wow, these kids are starting to get what it means, what life’s really about.’ That’s cool.” • Lake Mills 59, Sauk Prairie 49 — Junior Isaac Breunig scored 17 points but the Eagles lost to the host L-Cats in a non-conference game on Jan. 7. Lake Mills (9-1), ranked ninth in the Associated Press Division 3 poll, sprinted out to a 32-20 halftime lead. Mike Herrington and Drew Stoddard led the L-Cats with 17 points apiece. Adam Moen chipped in with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds Trevor Spray posted a double-double with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Brandt Wilson added 10 points and eight rebounds for Sauk Prairie (3-6). • On deck: Sauk Prairie travels to Portage to wrap up the first-half of the Badger North Conference schedule on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.   Jan. 7 Lake Mills 59, Sauk Prairie 49 Sauk Prairie …..… 20 29 — 49 Lake Mills ….....… 32 27 — 59 SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) — Tyler Uselman 0 0-0 0, Ben German 3 0-0 8, Isaac Breunig 6 3-4 17, Garrett Hertzfeldt 0 0-0 0, Trevor Spray 6 1-4 14, Brandt Wilson 4 1-1 10, Parker Breunig 0 0-0 0, Eddie Breunig 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 5-9 49. LAKE MILLS — Mike Herrington 6 1-2 17, Drew Stoddard 6 2-6 17, Jaxson Retrum 3 0-0 6, Adam Moen 4 0-0 9, Charlie Bender 1 1-2 3, Matt Johnson 2 2-3 7. Totals 22 6-13 59. 3-point goals: SP 6 (German 2, Breunig 2, Spray 1, Wilson 1); LM 9 (Herrington 4, Stoddard 3, Moen 1, Johnson 1). Total fouls: SP 13; LM 8.   Jan, 9 Sauk Prairie 62, Baraboo 29 Baraboo …...…….. 34 28 — 62 Sauk Prairie …......   9 20 — 29 BARABOO (fg ft-fta pts) — Will Jurvelin 1 0-2 2, Max Koenig 3 3-4 9, Calvin Peterson 5 0-0 12, Gabriel McReynolds 2 0-1 4, Justin Phillip 1 0-0 2.Totals 12 3-7 29. SAUK PRAIRIE — Tyler Uselman 1 0-0 2, Ben German 4 0-0 9, Isaac Breunig 2 0-0 6, Garrett Hertzfeldt 1 0-0 2, Trevor Spray 9 0-1 19, Brandt Wilson 5 0-0 12, Parker Breunig 2 0-0 5, Elliot Drew 2 0-0 5, Sam Drescher 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 0-1 62. 3-point goals: B 2 (Peterson 2); SP 8 (Wilson 2, I. Breunig 2, Uselman 1, Spray 1, P. Breunig 1, Drew 1). Total fouls: B 6; SP 8.