By TYLER DRUMMOND
of The Gazette
Ten years ago, the Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) boys basketball team won the state championship, the last boys basketball team at the school to do so.
Back in 1994 head coach Bob Schultz and company completed a feat not many teams accomplish - the perfect season. That season SPASH went 26-0, beating a previously undefeated Milwaukee King, 59-54, in the championship game.
"The feeling of winning a state championship is indescribable," said Schultz. "Having all those people on the floor, all feeling the same feelings, is truly something special."
In 1994 SPASH was coming into the season fresh off a state berth in '93 in which they went 16-5. When the preseason poll was released in 1994, team members weren't really happy with the low No. 7 ranking they received.
"I never said anything about it to the players, but I thought we should have been ranked higher," said Schultz. "We had the same core group intact from the previous season so we thought we'd be higher."
The Panthers ripped though the regular season, winning the Wisconsin Valley Conference title in the process and proceeded on to the playoffs.
"We had some tough competition in the regular season, but for the most part some of our toughest competition came in practices," said Schultz.
One such game proved to be late in the season against D.C. Everest. "Both our guards were injured, so Everest tried to slow the tempo, but we eventually prevailed," he said.
The reason Schultz feels his team was able to overcome the injuries was because the team was exceptionally deep. "We could have taken the starters off the team and still had a reasonably good shot at winning the Wisconsin Valley Conference title," said Schultz.
As the Panthers got to the playoffs, Schultz feels they made one mistake. That season they were set to face off with New London in the first round of the playoffs so Schultz, along with the team, went to New London to scout them during New London's final game of the year.
"New London played a horrible game," said Schultz. "They still won, but I think we left with a sense that we could mop them up. When we finally played them, they were actually winning with only a few minutes to play before we finally pulled the game out in the end."
The road at the state tournament proved to be even harder for the Panthers as they played two undefeated teams that were both ranked ahead of SPASH.
"Both Fond du Lac, who I feared the most, and Milwaukee King were undefeated that season, so it makes winning the championship all that more special," said Schultz. "There's no one that can say we took the easy route to the title."
That game against Fond du Lac proved to be one of the most exciting games in the history of the WIAA tournament. In the closing minutes of the game and with Fond du Lac leading by two, the point guard for Fond du Lac dribbled the basketball off of his foot and into defender Brian Nelson's hands, who then took it the length of the court for an easy layup to tie the game and send it to overtime where the Panthers eventually pulled the game out.
Another memorable moment at the state tournament was Schultz's unusual tie, which was a Three Stooges tie.
"As a coach, it's sometimes hard to sleep," said Schultz. "So I'd wake up at four a.m. and watch TV, and most of the time only the Three Stooges were on, so that's what I'd watch. The kids knew about this so when we got to our hotel in Madison we were looking around the gift shop and the boys found a Three Stooges tie.
"I thought the tie was cool, but, if we lost with me wearing that tie, I'd be the one looking like a stooge. But I wore it for the Fond du Lac game and it seemed to bring us luck, so I just wore it for the whole tournament," said Schultz.
The year didn't end with just a state championship, as many of the Panthers were honored with awards. Such awards included All-Conference first team for Brian Nelson and Gabe Stevens and second team All-Conference for Nate Menzel and Tom Johnson. Ryan Friedrich, SPASH's sixth man, ended up with honorable mention.
"They were just a great group of guys to work with," said Schultz. "I'd often get compliments about how great this team was, on the court and off of it. They were so close, almost like brothers, and it really showed."
Schultz is also quick to give a lot of credit to parents. "They were as close as the team was. They put in so much effort to fund raise and help out so they were as much a part of this championship as everyone else."