In Tuesday night’s opening round regional win over Northland Pines, the Clintonville Truckers not only moved into the second round of the postseason tournament, but they also have a new all-time leading scorer.
With a bucket in the closing minutes of the contest, Tyler Petermann moved into first place as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,345 points. It’s an accomplishment, he says, that was something he dreamt of, but knows he couldn’t have achieved it on his own.
“To me it just shows what you can do when you put your mind to something,” Petermann said after Tuesday’s game. “I’ve been working four years on varsity and been trying to bust my butt. It’s a goal I’ve been trying to reach and not until late this year did I know I could get it, but I definitely couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
The previous record of 1,343 points stood since 1977, which was held by Joe Mauel. With the game already in hand during the final minutes, it was evident that the team recognized Petermann was close to the record, and did what they could to ensure he would eclipse the mark on their home floor.
“I had a pretty good start to the first half, started off slow in the second half, but got rolling again and they left me in a little longer, and finally got a couple of buckets to fall,” Petermann explained.
He would finish the night with a double-double, scoring 26 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. While he had the record on his mind during the game, he says his main focus was ensuring the Truckers advanced in regionals with a home win.
“I definitely wanted to set the tone in this first playoff game for my teammates and my team, to let the guys know that we got a chance to do something here and hopefully we can make a run in these playoffs,” Petermann said of his play Tuesday.
With the win, Clintonville will see a familiar opponent Friday night in Little Chute, who Petermann knows will present a challenge for the Truckers.
“We’ve played them twice, we’ve lost twice to them, but I’m ready and I’m glad to get a third shot at them,” said Petermann, looking ahead to Clintonville’s next opponent. “We’ve been competitive all year. We haven’t been able to get a lot of [wins], but we’ve been close and we can hopefully get this momentum going and keep it going.”
The Truckers fell to Little Chute by a combined 26 points in the first two meetings, their most recent a 15-point loss at home on Feb. 10. Clintonville and Little Chute square off Friday night at 7:00, a game you can hear on Frog Country 92.3.