Heights survives a wild week

It was a wild week for Wisconsin Heights’ boys basketball team. The Vanguards dropped a 64-55 decision to defending WIAA Division 4 state champion New Glarus last Thursday. Heights then rebounded with a thrilling 64-59 double overtime win over Palmyra-Eagle last Saturday. Heights is now 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the Southern Capitol Conference. Here’s a recap of the Vanguards’ week. • New Glarus 64, Wisconsin Heights 55 — The Vanguards and Glarner Knights exchanged leads several times in the second half. But defending state champion New Glarus made more big plays down the stretch and prevailed. “We’ve had leads in the second half pretty much the last five times we’ve played them,” Heights coach Zack Colby said. “They’re just a really tough team to close out of games, and the biggest part of that is their confidence. You don’t win state without being confident.” Lathan Parman made four three-pointers and led the Vanguards with 12 points. De’Shawn Barsness added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Everett Buol added 10 points, but it wasn’t enough for Heights. New Glarus got 23 points from Nathan Streiff and 20 from Mason Martinson. New Glarus began the game on a 9-0 run and took a 36-29 lead to the break. The Vanguards kept charging back and eventually pulled ahead with roughly eight minutes left. The teams traded leads for a stretch, before New Glarus closed the game strong. “Overall a great game, and indeed frustrating to once again lose to them,” Colby said. “To their credit, once we were forced to foul at the end and they made their free throws.” • Wisconsin Heights 64, Palmyra Eagle 59 (2 OTs) — The Vanguards outscored the visiting Panthers, 7-2, in the second overtime and won a thriller last Saturday. De’Shawn Barsness led Heights with 18 points, while Cole Cribbs had 11 and Derek Adler added 10. “They were quite a chippy team, and I give my boys a lot of credit for staying poised and not letting it get to them,” Heights coach Zack Colby said. “In my opinion, that also helped off cap off this game even though Palmyra had plenty of chances to make big plays.   “I’m really proud of the boys, and it was a big time win the get some confidence and momentum moving in the right direction for a couple of critical conference games this week.” Heights had a terrific first half and led, 27-21, at the break. “I thought we strung together one of our best halves of the season in the first half,” Colby said. “We took care of the basketball well, limited our opponent significantly and played an overall near perfect half.   “We were only up (six), but it could have been by 15 easily, it felt, if we could have made a few more wide-open shots we were able to create. Give Palmyra credit, though, as they fought back hard.” They sure did. The Panthers grabbed the lead in the second half, before Heights rallied back to force overtime. The Panthers could have won in regulation, but missed a late free throw. Palmyra-Eagle also had a clean look in the final seconds of the first overtime, but missed there, as well. The Panthers then had a technical foul in the second O.T., and Barsness made three of four free throws to help put Palmyra-Eagle away. “As a young team, we still struggle at times during pressure moments and that held true in the second half,” Colby said. “We had several unforced turnovers that we’ll have to clean up if we are going to compete with the elite teams in our regional and all teams moving forward.” • On deck: Heights was at Cambridge Tuesday night, then hosts Waterloo Friday at 7:30 p.m.   Jan. 18 WISCONSIN HEIGHTS 64, PALMYRA-EAGLE 59 Palmyra-Eagle ...... 21 38 — 59 Heights .................. 27 37 — 64 PALMYRA-EAGLE (fg ft-fta pts) — Wilde 2 0-0 5, Joyner 2 0-0 5, D. Hammond 7 4-16 18, J. Hammond 4 0-2 10, Calderon 8 1-2 17, Carpenter 1 2-2 4. Totals 24 7-20 59. WIS. HEIGHTS — Buol 1 0-0 3, Jacobus 2 0-2 5, Parman 2 2-2 8, Cribbs 4 2-2 11, Barsness 6 5-9 18, Adler 3 1-2 10, Herrling 1 0-0 3, D. Brabender 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 10-18 64. 3-point goals: PE 4 (Wilde 1, Joyner 1, J. Hammond 2); WH 10 (Buol 1, Jacobus 1, Parman 2, Cribbs 1, Barsness 1, Adler 3, Herrling 1). Total fouls: PE 18; WH 18. Fouled out: D. Hammond, Jacobus, D. Brabender.   Jan. 16 NEW GLARUS 64,  WISCONSIN HEIGHTS 55 New Glarus ............ 36 28 — 64 Heights ................... 29 26 — 55 NEW GLARUS (fg ft-fta pts) — Streiff 5 12-12 23, Martinson 8 4-6 20, Schuett 1 0-2 3, Ca. Siegenthaler 1 0-0 3, Co. Siegenthaler 1 4-4 6, James 3 1-2 7, Vasquez 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 21-26 64. WISCONSIN HEIGHTS — Buol 2 4-4 10, Parman 4 0-0 12, Cribbs 2 0-0 6, Barsness 5 1-2 11, Adler 2 0-0 5, J. Brabender 2 2-2 6, D. Barbender 2 1-2 5. Totals 20 8-10 55. 3-point goals: NG 3 (Streiff 1, Ca. Siegenthaler 1, Schuett 1); WH 7 (Parman 4, Buol 2, Adler 1). Fouls: NG 12; WH 18.