G-E-T wraps up 20-win regular season

For the first time in a decade, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball team is headed into the postseason with 20 wins already under their belt.

The Red Hawks (20-4, 10-2 Coulee) wrapped up the regular season in a winning fashion, using a strong finishing kick to get past the Luther Knights (13-11, 7-5) 84-74 last Thursday in Onalaska. 

With that victory last week, G-E-T completed a sweep of Luther — having previously beaten them 90-68 in Galesville on Jan. 26 — and put the final touches on their second-place finish in the Coulee standings.

A consistently tight opening half yielded a fitting 37-37 tie at the halfway intermission, though the decisive Red Hawk surge would come in the second half.

G-E-T junior Sam De Jager’s offensive rebound and putback basket with 11:36 to play resulted in an and-1, gave his team the 52-50 lead and started a 7-0 Red Hawk run. With 5:19 remaining, sophomore Talon Fabian buried a corner triple to extend the G-E-T advantage to 68-61. Another Fabian three a minute later from the opposite corner made it 74-63 as the Red Hawks closed out the win.

Senior Mason Brone and Fabian were the dynamic duo that powered G-E-T, pouring in 31 and 28 points, respectively. Brone nearly recorded a triple-double by adding 10 assists and eight rebounds, while Fabian hit 6 of his 11 shot attempts from beyond the arc.

Senior Travis Theisen and junior Luke Herman chipped in eight points apiece to the scoring ledger. As a team, the Red Hawks were 14 of 32 on threes and 20 of 22 on free throws, with Brone himself going 13 of 14 at the charity stripe.

Double-digit scorers for Luther were freshman Javon Zenke with 18 points, junior Trent Berg with 15 and senior Max Huelskamp with 11.

Though G-E-T has posted a couple of 20-win seasons in recent years — going 20-5 in 2016-17 and 20-8 in 2023-24 — on both occasions they hit that mark during the playoffs. The Red Hawks last reached 20 wins during the regular season during the 2015-16 season, when they finished 25-1 and made it to the Kohl Center for the state tournament.

G-E-T will aim for another deep postseason run starting this week. The Red Hawks are a No. 2 seed in their half of a D3 sectional and receive a bye into the regional semifinals, where they will host either No. 7 seed Amherst or No. 10 seed Westfield on Friday at 7 p.m.

With a win, G-E-T gets to play for a regional title at Russ Lund Gymnasium against No. 3 seed Mosinee, No. 6 seed Elk Mound or No. 11 seed Black River Falls on Saturday at 7 p.m.

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Herman 3/5-0/0-2-1-8; Thell 0/3-0/1-2-2-0; Brone 7/17-13/14-8-1-31; Fabian 9/16-4/4-4-2-28; Theisen 2/7-2/2-4-1-8; Giemza 1/2-0/0-3-2-2; De Jager 2/4-1/1-2-1-5; Sebion 0/1-0/0-0-0-0; Foust 1/2-0/0-3-2-2