It was 80 years in the making, but Reedsville has something more than the long-held record of being the smallest town ever to win a state basketball championship.
“In our gym there’s the big wall that shows the 1946 championship and the 2021 football
championship,” senior guard Ben Prochnow said. “It’ll be cool to look up there and see 2026 and know that’s our class.”
The village now has about 1,200 residents compared to the 476 eight decades ago when it won the single-division state title. The village also has 100 percent more state basketball championship trophies after the Panthers’ 56-48 win over Southwestern in the Division 5 title game Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison.
After a frenetic first half, the game settled into a grinder over the final 18 minutes, with the teams valuing each possession and combining for just 36 points. The teams also combined for just 10 turnovers – just one each in the second half – as neither team could open a lead of more than eight points, which came in the final 10 seconds.
“It became a grinder and that’s not the way we want to play,” said Reedsville coach Ron
Prochnow, who is also Ben’s father. “If you’re the better team in a game you want more
possessions. Without a shot clock, that’s not a factor so they played a little slower.”
It was a two-point game for much of the second half after the Panthers led 35-33 at the break. Reedsville (28-3) finally made it a two-possession game for good with 5:28 remaining on Arden Strenn’s driving layup to go up 46-42. Strenn led the Panthers on Saturday with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
The Wildcats would not let Reedsville get away, but they also could not string together baskets and stops to get back to even as Reedsviile went to a spread, ball-control offense.
“In the second half, they did a tremendous job of keeping us off the boards,” said Southwestern coach Clinton Nemitz, who had experience as a player on Cassville’s state tournament teams in 1999 and 2000. “It’s probably the first time all year we’ve lost the rebounding battle. We couldn’t get any second-chance opportunities; it was one-and-done for us.”
Reedsville outrebounded the Wildcats 33-29.
In the first half, the teams each shot 14-of-28 from the field in a steady parade of transition offense. Southwestern dominated inside, outscoring Reedsville 18-8 in the paint but added a long three-point bank shot from Aiden Keleher at the end of the first 18 minutes.
Southwestern (24-7) did get balanced scoring, with Remi Lawrence, Keleher, and Cayden DeMuth each scoring 13 points. Ben Prochnow added 19 points and Will Taddy nine for Reedsville.
