PLAINVIEW – The Wausa boys basketball team might not feel great that its 2023-24 campaign ended up short of a district playoff appearance.
However, the Vikings have every right to look back on how they wrapped up this season with plenty of pride and left it all out on the court.
Wausa (12-11) defeated rival Bloomfield 51-40 in the Subdistrict D1-6 semifinal game on Feb. 20 at Plainview and evened its season record at 2-2 with the Bees (13-8).
The Vikings returned to Plainview on Feb. 22 and dropped a dramatic 54-50 decision against the host Pirates (16-7) in the subdistrict final. The teams had not played since Dec. 1, when Plainview beat Wausa 58-43.
Coming into the contest against Bloomfield, the Vikings had lost two games in a row to the Bees.
“We came out early and got good looks on the offensive end,” Wausa head coach Tim Schindler said. “Defensively, we did a good job trying to make things hard on Bloomfield.”
Senior Cashe Carlson (17 points, eight rebounds), freshman Mac Carlson (13 points, four rebounds), freshman Matthew Schindler (seven points, 12 rebounds, five assists) and sophomore Preston Schlote (seven points) keyed the Vikings’ vital victory over the Bees.
“Cashe Carlson and Mac Carlson scored 30 combined points,” Coach Schindler said. “Point guard Matthew Schindler had a huge night on boards with 12 rebounds and also had a team-high five assists.”
In the subdistrict final, Wausa trailed Plainview by six points at halftime, took a lead in the third quarter and ended up dropping a tense back-and-forth battle.
“We missed a potential game-tying shot late and Plainview made a free throw to seal it,” Coach Schindler said.
Junior Colton Baue (17 points, five rebounds), Cashe Carlson (14 points, five rebounds) and Mac Carlson (eight points) led the Vikings in the tough loss.
Cashe Carlson said he was impressed with his teammates coming out “dialed in” for the two subdistrict games.
“We knew it was win or go home, and I think everyone just took that into consideration and just played their butts off,” he said. “I mean, everyone played very well – I wish we could have played as well as we did in the subdistricts like that all season. I could just tell they didn’t want to go home. It was just different.”
Cashe Carlson added that he was happy with Wausa’s overall winning record for the season and that he and his fellow seniors – Henry Kumm, Matthew Rumsey and Cade Wakeley – helped be a part of a culture-changing run of play these past three years.
“(The loss) is not the way I wanted to go out, but I’m excited to come home and watch my brother (Mac) and all of them in the future,” he said. “I’m excited to see where they are going to go next year. I feel the final loss hurt them and they are going to bounce back tremendously next year.”
Coach Schindler agreed with the precedent that has been established throughout this season.
“It was a great season – the third winning season in a row, even though we had very little experience coming back this year,” he said. “I am sad to see our four seniors leave (and hope the best for them). The team did a great job molding together and playing their best ball at the end of the season. We had a lot of close games against some real good teams.”
Cashe Carlson said the Vikings’ season was still overall a “happy one,” but he wishes he could have seen himself and his teammates have one last chance to make the state tournament dance.
Coach Schindler believed the momentum of the last three years will not stop anytime soon.
“We are excited for next year already,” he said, noting all but one of Wausa’s starters are back next season and lots of “youth that is excited for their chance. We got to have a great summer of improvement and we hope to make some real noise.”
Cashe Carlson agreed. “Their potential is tremendous and they have such a great chance to go to state next year,” he said. “Hopefully, after this Plainview game, they realize what it’s like to go home, and they take that into consideration and go make it to state next year.”
