BRUSSELS (WLUK) -- Every time Drew Daoust steps on the basketball court the opponent knows it's in for quite a test and in most cases it fails.
Friday night the opponent was rival Kewaunee, which needed a win to keep its faint hopes of catching Southern Door at the top of the conference alive. The problem is it was playing Daoust and Southern Door, which had not lost a conference game all season.
The Storm hoped Southern Door could not weather its challenge, but in the end Daoust was too much. The senior scored 45 points in leading the Eagles to an 85-71 win and in the process cinched their third straight Packerland title.
"We thought we were ready and obviously there's things we can clean up, do better going forward, but we got the win, we did what we had to do," Daoust said. "This game was really big for seeding for us because obviously we have the seeding meeting (Sunday), so having that last game before the seeding and with them in our regional is a huge win for us."
Daoust set the tone in the first half. The state's second all-time leading scorer pumped in 26 points, ending with about a 30-footer before the halftime buzzer as the Eagles led 44-29.
The second half got interesting after Southern Door, ranked No. 9 in the FOX 11 Top 11, opened an 17-point lead. Daoust went to the bench for a couple minutes after being called for his fourth foul and the Storm began chipping away and eventually closed the gap to 65-61, even after Daoust returned.
Daoust then turned into a playmaker and found Tyler Neinas on a baseline pass and Neinas drilled a three-pointer to move the lead to 65-58 and Southern Door closed the game on a 20-10 run.
Daoust credited his teammates to keep the lead while he was on the bench.
"When I was out the guys grouped together and it was great to keep that lead," Daoust said. "That's just a testament of how much I trust these guys, how good they are as players as well. Sometimes I think they get overshadowed because of me. In a moment like that on the biggest stage they showed out. It means a lot to me."
"It's not often Drew's off the court," VandenBush said. "Drew's done a very good job staying out of foul trouble. We have a lot of seniors ... they've been though the moment before and they can step up and handle the basketball and take care of what they need to care of and buy that time for Drew to be able to come in."
The conference title has now been secured, but Southern Door (19-3, 14-0) has more business to tend to, as it wants go undefeated for the conference season and have momentum entering the playoffs.
VandenBush told the players after the game to savor the moment.
"All the conference championships this group has been able to win over the years, don't take it for granted," he said. "There's not a lot of other schools that get to celebrate like we've been fortunate to celebrate the last two years.
"Winning conference is that first step on our season goal list. Tonight we were able to clinch it outright. Now we have two more games and want to keep that momentum going and have a strong end of the season entering the playoffs."