Reusse: The Bigler family of Marshall and Southwest Minnesota State makes it a far-flung basketball day

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference had tremendous balance in men’s basketball this season. Eight of the 15 teams finished between 16-6 and 14-8, then Minnesota State Moorhead (15-7) defeated Minot State (14-8) to win the conference tournament.

Five teams wound up in the Division II national tournament and all were assigned to this weekend’s eight-team Central Region in Topeka, Kan., including Southwest Minnesota State and Concordia (St. Paul), the co-champs in the regular season.

There was an intraconference matchup between the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs and the Winona State Warriors at noon to start Saturday’s four-game first round.

Brad Bigler’s Mustangs had started the season 17-3 and then lost star Dunwa Omot to an injury for three weeks. Omot came back, but reports from Marshall were that the Mustangs never found the same groove.

It was more survival than excellence down the stretch. And the first half against Winona State was frightful, with the Mustangs falling behind 34-21. They had a 41-point second half and cut the lead to five points late, but the final was 69-62 for the Warriors.

“When you’re looking at the zone defense, you have to move the ball better than we did in the first half,” Bigler said. “We had our chances in the second half, but that’s a good team. They brought in three senior transfers and they lost three overtime games in the conference.

“They’re tough.”

Bigler was on the phone from Topeka. It was halftime for the Class 3A title game in girls basketball at Williams Arena.

The Marshall Tigers were in this game vs. Benilde-St. Margaret’s, two-time defending champion and favored to repeat. Bigler’s interest in this contest went beyond hometown sentiment:

Daughter Taleigha Bigler is a 5-9 junior guard and a standout for the Tigers. No surprise, Bigler has committed verbally to play for Tom Webb and the Mustangs.

Webb’s team had defeated Concordia (St. Paul) 77-64 on Friday and defeated Fort Hays State 77-65 on Saturday to advance to the regional final.

When it came to in-person support from relatives, Coach Bigler definitely was on the short end down there in Kansas compared to daughter Taleigha.

“Her dad wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Heather Bigler, there with Taleigha’s two younger siblings, Nash, 15, and Tatum, 11.

There were other relatives and close friends in the Marshall cheering section, going all the way up to great-grandfather Lloyd Bigler, 93, from Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The junior-laden Tigers spent the first half trying to chase down uber-talented BSM, got within six at halftime, gave up a couple of quick threes early in the second half and then was put away 73-57 by a stronger team — physically, in experience and talentwise.

That could change next March, if Bigler and her teammates make it back to the Twin Cities as seniors.

On Saturday, the problem was getting back home to almost the South Dakota border in a snowstorm.

“We’re going back,” coach Dan Westby said. “We have a very good bus driver, and he said he’s going to inch along.”

Could be a bias from my early years in southwest Minnesota, but I don’t think you will find a place where there is a greater bond between the coaching trees at the college and the high school (and thus the athletes) than in Marshall.

Westby played football for Southwest State. He coached through the 1990s at Renville County West, then headed back to Marshall.

Westby coaches both girls basketball and volleyball — two powerful programs — at Marshall High School. Terry Culhane preceded Westby as a two-sport coaching legend, eventually becoming a tremendous volleyball coach at Southwest.

Culhane’s players included setter Heather Smith — now Bigler, and Taleigha’s mother.

“Cully’s now my volunteer assistant in volleyball,” Westby said. “It was basketball also, but he got tired of the bus rides. We take a lot of trips, to challenge ourselves.”

Brad Bigler played basketball at Southwest and met Heather. Webb got his degree from Southwest, took a circuitous route before returning to Marshall. He’s now in his ninth season coaching the Mustangs women.

“I really do think the connection between the college and high school is unique,” Westby said. “They need a facility for a day, we help them; we need one, they will help us out.”

The coaches golf together. They barbecue together. They celebrate together. And they mourn together.

I was talking in the stands with Heather before the game. When leaving, great-grandpa Lloyd signaled and said: “You’re not seeing all of us. We have an angel here, too.”

That would be Drake Bigler, 5½ months old when he died. A drunk driver rammed into the Biglers’ car as the family was headed for a cabin near Starbuck, Minn., in 2012. Marshall people filled the courtroom when the drunken driver was sentenced in a Glenwood courthouse.

“Did you know that Heather played for me at Renville?” Westby said. “She came to Southwest State about the same time I was getting the job back in Marshall. She’s just a great person.”

I did not know that, Dan, but it’s not a surprise. Everything in Marshall invariably has a deeper connection.