SPORTS

Joey Hauser puts on a show for SPASH

Scott A. Williams
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
SPASH assistant coach David Hauser hugs his son Joey Hauser following their 85-56 victory over Arrowhead in the Division 1 WIAA state championship r.r in Madison, Wis.

MADISON - A night earlier in the Division 1 state semifinals, Joey Hauser felt like he was playing in a phone booth.

He was smothered by Madison Memorial any place he went on the court. The Stevens Point Area Senior High junior found the length and athleticism of the Spartans hard to cope with. Hauser was held to a season-low 11 points on 3 of 12 shooting.

That was very bad news for Arrowhead in the state championship game. Someone was going to see a much better version of Hauser in the next game, and the Warhawks were next up on the schedule.

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The 6-foot-8 center was unstoppable Saturday night. Hauser finished with 33 points, 21 rebounds and five assists as SPASH cruised to its third straight state championship with an 85-56 stomping of Arrowhead.

"I wanted to come out in attack mode this game," said Hauser of his mindset.

Those in attendance at the Kohl Center got to see Hauser at his best. Few have been better on the D1 championship stage.

With room to operate and a renewed sense of purpose, Hauser was on a mission from the opening whistle until he was eventually pulled from the court with the outcome well in hand.

SPASH's Joey Hauser gets past Arrowhead's Ben Seefeld during their game.

Arrowhead had no answer for Hauser, who showed off his multi-faceted game by attacking the basket early either off the dribble or on post-ups. Once Warhawks bodies showed up around the rim, he pulled out the pull-up jumper. When he missed, Hauser held his own volleyball match on the backboards. He even went behind the arc to knock down a three.

Hauser tallied 17 points in the opening 10 minutes of the game to help SPASH build a 22-6 lead. Someone asked him if he was trying to one-up older brother Sam, who scored 16 points in the first quarter of the 2015 title game with Germantown.

"It's not quarters anymore, so I guess you can't compare," Joey said. "Madison Memorial (in the semifinals) was really good defensively and held me in check. Today, I just really wanted to make sure I was in attack mode."

He concluded the opening half with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

For a brief moment, it appeared as if Hauser had a chance to threaten the D1 state scoring record held by Appleton West's Brian Butch, who scored 45 points in 2003.

The lopsided circumstances on the scoreboard meant Hauser wasn't needed in the second half. He had put in a full night's work already and SPASH had a 48-20 lead at the break to show for the effort.

Count the Warhawks coaches among those impressed.

"Joey Hauser is a handful and more. We had a very difficult time defending and stopping him," said Arrowhead coach Craig Haase, who tried every option at his disposal to at least slow down Hauser to no avail.

"Their attack went through him and he delivered in every way. He was good off the dribble. He was good in the post. He was hard to block out. (Hauser) was really good."

Once The Warhawks were forced to place their full attention on Hauser that opened up scoring opportunities for the rest of the Panthers.

No one benefited more than Andrew Erdman and Beau Rosenthal. The Panthers' perimeter duo was left all alone outside the 3-point arc, and Rosenthal and Erdman made the Warhawks pay.

Collectively, Erdman and Rosenthal knocked down six consecutive 3-pointers over a 5:31 span late in the first half to turn the game into a blowout.

"I thought the real difference is they had a lot of kids knock down shots in the first half, and we had no answer," Haase said.

The same could be said for dealing with Hauser.

Scott A. Williams can be reached at 715-345-2282, or by email at ssswilliam@stevenspoint.gannett.com. Find him on Twitter as @SPJScottWill