For the first time since 2001, Castlewood has won a state boys basketball championship. The Warriors defeated Viborg-Hurley 52-31on Saturday night in Aberdeen to claim the title.
This was also a big moment for Castlewood head coach Paul Raasch. Earlier this year he joined the 600 wins club, and now he’s won his very first state basketball championship.
“I actually told [my team] today, “none of this is about coaches, it’s about you kids. I’ll feel the same tomorrow whether we win or lose. I’m still the same guy, still come back and go to work and try to get another one, whether we win one tonight or not.” Best fun you can have is to win it and it’s a great feeling,” said coach Raasch.
Castlewood came out of the gate red hot. They led 14-3 at the end of the first quarter and continued their stretch into the second quarter. It was 19-3 in the first nine-minutes of the game. Viborg-Hurley did start to find a groove from there as they tried to claw their way out of the early hole. At halftime it was a 21-14 lead for the Warriors.
“I can’t ask for a better start. But when you get that you know that they’re good enough to make a run, so that’s the thing you have to deal with when they do,” explained Raasch. “Our guys kept their poise and hung tough. That zone game gave us some trouble for a while, then we finally hit a few shots against it in the third quarter that opened the game up.”
It was 38-26 through three quarters of play. Castlewood kept the pedal down to outscore the Cougars by nine-points in the final eight-minutes.
“They’ve been doing that all year. This has been a great group. From day one we’ve been locked in on a goal, a mission and we didn’t really spread it around. We kept it in house and talked about it. We wanted to get a shot at it,” Raasch told. “Last year we missed out in the semi’s. We wanted to get at it this year and we got that. We said in the locker room “the table is set, let’s go out and eat tonight,” and our guys did that.”
As a team, Castlewood shot 45% from the floor and 35% from beyond the arc. Senior center Bryon Laue finished the game with a double-double. He led the team with 13-points, grabbed ten rebounds, and had a couple of blocks as well.
“I just knew I had to be a leader. Showing up to practice early and everything like that,” told Laue. “Last year we came short and that really hurt us. We took that personally and we used that as fuel. We came into it this year with a goal, and we did everything we could to reach that goal.”
Luke Baumberger also contributed on offense for the Warriors with 12-points. Brody Bass also had a nice night with 11-points, seven rebounds, and a couple of steals.
Another senior leader for this year’s Castlewood squad was Jamison Keszler. He had seven-points, five assists, and a pair of rebounds in the winning effort.
“That’s really what we came for,” said Keszler. “We came to win and it happened, so it paid off.”
Viborg-Hurley and Castlewood met up earlier in the season at the Hanson Classic. The Cougars won that one in a tight game, but it was the Warriors getting revenge on the biggest stage in March.
This is the third state boys basketball championship for Castlewood. They won it in ’99 and ’01, and now can add ’25 to their trophy case.
