McDonell’s Mittermeyer playing in WBCA All-Star Game

Eddie Mittermeyer walked into McDonell a shooter.

The now graduated senior left his mark on the boys basketball program and will have one more activity as a Mack next week when he plays in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 5 All-Star Game at Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.

Mittermeyer joins Chi-Hi’s Mason Monarski, McDonell’s Marley Hughes and Gilman’s Tatum Weir as competitors in the games on Wednesday and Thursday. McDonell teammate Canan Huss was chosen to compete in the game but will not play.

The UW-Superior signee had a stellar three-year run as McDonell after playing his freshman year in Cadott. Mittermeyer joined the program as a sophomore and found an immediate role as a knock down shooter from distance for a Macks team that finished as the Division 5 state runner-up. But following that year and the graduation of a large senior class, Mittermeyer and others took on bigger roles and this year McDonell once again finished as the state runner-up.

“I started to need to facilitate the game more and my senior year that all worked out,” Mittermeyer said.

Offseason work set the tone as Mittermeyer gained confidence and credited his coaches and teammates at McDonell and in AAU for his growth.

This year Mittermeyer led the state in 3-pointers made (126) and finished among the top players in 3-point percentage in Division 5. Those 126 threes were also the most in a single season in area history. Mittermeyer scored a school-record 52 points in a 93-51 win over Chequamegon on Dec. 29. The 5-foot-11 guard made 13 3-pointers in the contest as he had a hot hand out of the gate. Chequamegon started the game with a triangle-and-2 defense, playing man-to-man on Mittermeyer and Huss with the other three players in a zone.

“I gotta give a lot of credit to my teammates,” Mittermeyer said. “They set good screens, they got me open, they looked for me when I was open. A lot of credit goes to them.”

As Mittermeyer moved away from being strictly a shooter to a scorer, he found the chances to get open shots from deep opened up as well when opposing teams had to respect his ability to get to the basket.

Mittermeyer averaged 20.9 points per game this year as he and Huss formed a formidable 1-2 combination. Mittermeyer earned WBCA Division 5 All-State first team honors and was an All-Western Cloverbelt first team selection as well. He ends his McDonell career second on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,397) and will take his game north to Superior to play for the Yellowjackets beginning this fall.

“I’m super grateful,” Mittermeyer said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my coaches, my teammates, the fans, my parents. I’m just glad to represent McDonell and the community.”

Huss averaged 21.1 points per game this year for the Macks, with his 653 total points being the most in a single season in program history. The 6-foot-4 combo guard/forward also pulled down 9.7 rebounds per game and was an all-state honorable mention and first team all-conference honoree.

Huss saved one of his best games for last, a 28-point, 11-rebound effort in McDonell’s 66-54 state championship defeat to Wausau Newman, a game Huss willed McDonell back into in the second half.

“McDonell was awesome just due to the community aspect,” Huss said. “Everyone was so close and so invested in the basketball program which was great. I always felt like I was cared for and actually paid attention to and always appreciated, which was nice. And then the teammate aspect, I loved all the guys on the team (and) a lot of good friends that I made.”

The Alaska native played two years at McDonell and will spend this summer back home as he prepares to return to Wisconsin this fall to start his college career at Ripon College.

“I’m going to be like three hours away from Chippewa so I’ll be able to stay in touch with some close friends and still be far enough where I can have my own experience but close enough to where I can still maintain some relationships,” Huss said.

The girls games will be played on Wednesday as Hughes and Weir team up for the Division 5 North squad at 9 a.m. Mittermeyer will play for the Division 5 white boys team at 9 a.m. on Thursday with Monarski suiting up for the Division 1 white team in the final game of Thursday at 4 p.m.