Cissna Park opens regional play with win at Grant Park

GRANT PARK − It was a back-and-forth battle Monday in the IHSA Class 1A Milford Regional quarterfinal between Grant Park and Cissna Park.

There were 10 lead changes in the first three quarters, but just one in the fourth belonging to Cissna Park. The Timberwolves managed to get hot in the final frame, turning a 36-34 deficit early in the quarter into a 50-40 lead with under two minutes to play.

Grant Park would not go away, eventually cutting the deficit to three points with 13 seconds to go, but Cissna Park managed to hold on for a 55-51 win.

It was the first postseason win for the Timberwolves (9-23) since 2020. They will advance to the regional semifinals Wednesday in Milford, where they will play top-seeded Lexington.

Cissna Park head coach Josh Marquez said he liked how the team handled pressure down the stretch to hold on for the season-prolonging win.

“The one thing that we’ve been preaching as our mantra is just to play through adversity and think in terms of solutions, not problems,” he said. “Whenever we got into that close battle, we’re not thinking about the last possession where we turned it over, we’re thinking about the next possession and how we can make up for anything that happened on the previous play. It’s always next play mentality with these guys.”

Junior Dierks Neukomm, who finished with a game-high 24 points, said this mentality helped them maintain their composure late in the game.

“We went into the huddle and said ‘we’ve got this, just chill out,‘” he said. “We came out and kept performing, kept going at them and going at them and came through with it.”

Neukomm featured heavily in the Timberwolves' strong second-half performance, as did fellow junior Seth Walder.

Walder had a team-high eight points at halftime while Neukomm had six. Neukomm then exploded in the second half, scoring 10 points in the third quarter and eight more in the fourth. Walder went scoreless in the third but poured in nine points in the fourth quarter to finish with 17.

For Grant Park, Monday’s loss ended their season at 10-20. Head coach Matt Russell praised the team’s ability to push through adversity through the season, including grappling with sophomore Luis Maldonado’s ongoing battle with stomach cancer. The team wore their warmup shirts honoring him on Monday.

“I’m proud of the kids for how they dealt with adversity that kids shouldn’t be dealing with at this age with Luis having cancer and some of the things they’ve gone through,” Russell said. “It’s definitely a learning experience and they’re better off for dealing with the adversity, but at the same time I wish it could have been a little easier for them.”

Monday’s loss was also tough for the team as a farewell to seven seniors, including the program’s all-time leading scorer in Blake Brown.

“I can’t think of any player that has to do more for a team than he’s had to do for us,” Russell said. “Tonight obviously wasn’t his night. It hurts, and I hurt for him, because I know how much this meant for him. Cissna Park did a great job tonight, but that doesn’t take away from his accomplishments for his career.”

Brown was held to nine points in his final game with the Dragons. Senior Jayden Kaack scored the team’s first 15 points and finished with 21. Caiden Benson, also a senior, added 10 points.

Cissna Park on the other hand does not have a senior on the roster. As the Timberwolves head into a tough matchup with Lexington, Marquez said the game can be big for the team to build on next season, regardless of the result.

“We don’t have to play them, we get the opportunity,” he said. “This is a position we see ourselves in next year, being a top seed in a regional. We’re a young group and we’ve got everybody coming back next year. So being able to play a top tier team like this is going to do so much for us in terms of growth and experience.”