Tuesday night, the Mauston Golden Eagles boys’ basketball team traveled to Pardeeville to take on the Bulldogs in non-conference action for the first time. Mauston was coming off their dominating performance against Adams-Friendship last week, while Pardeeville was looking to snap a 2-game losing streak.

The Golden Eagles never trailed in the game, but the Bulldogs put up a good fight. Mauston led 16-11 after the first quarter, and maintained their 5-point lead at halftime with a 31-26 score. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 10-points in the third quarter before Pardeeville trimmed the lead to two. Mauston stretched the lead to 43-37 at the end of the quarter, but the Bulldogs fought all the way back to tie the game at 47 late in the fourth quarter. The Golden Eagles outscored Pardeeville 13-6 in the final minutes to pull-off the 60-53 victory.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by junior Eric Schepp who finished with a season high 29-points. Junior Cameron Knutson added 7-points and senior Mackenzie Manthey finished with 5-points off the bench. Senior Nate Schmidt and junior Tyler Bush both finished with 4-points, while seniors Eric Curtis and Trace Osborn had 2-points a piece. Pardeeville shot 78% from the free-throw line making 15 of 19.

Mauston was once again led by junior Joel Heesch who finished with a game high 34-points. Heesch had 25-points in the first-half alone and was well on his way to breaking his season high of 36-points before being shut-out in the third quarter. Besides Heesch, senior Taylor Ingraham was the only other player to contribute with the scoring in the first half for the Golden Eagles and finished with 9-points in the game. In the second-half, senior Jack Orton added 7-points, junior Ross Thompson had 6-points, and junior Hunter Nelson and senior Dale Osthoff both contributed 2-points a piece. Mauston shot just 44% from the line making 8 of 18.

The Golden Eagles improve to 7-3 overall and Pardeeville falls to 5-5. The battle of the conference unbeatens will happen Friday night as Mauston travels to Wisconsin Dells to take on the Chiefs. The winner will have sole possession of first place in the South Central Conference.