Games of the WBY Shootout

Some notes on the games and teams of the WBY shootout

Day 1:

St. Bernard's vs Madison East. SB was ahead 39-32 in the 4th, then fell asleep to allow East star Marquis Mason to get 8 in a row to get back in the game. Bernard's hangs on 54-47.

Sussex Hamilton vs Germantown. Kameron Cerroni gets 23, but him and Brett Meinecke are their only offense (40 of their 53 pts). They're small and start 4 sophs so they're building for 2 years from now. Ben Averkamp and Germantown's size were too much as Germantown wins 66-53.

Milwaukee Vincent vs Oshkosh West. Vincent led 16-4 early with pressure, but West fought their way back. Vincent leads 38-33 with 5 minutes left and goes 4 corners, which was the only offense they ran all night. After a minute of stall and a Vincent timeout, Oshkosh West goes 1-2-2 trap and Vincent takes bad shots and commits turnovers. West takes the lead in the last 90 seconds only to see a Steve Stovall bucket off a scramble tie it with 26 seconds left. John Benkoske of West gets the ball on top and gets fouled throwing up a prayer with 0.8 left, tough call. He makes both FTs and West wins 42-40.

Milwaukee Pius XI vs Mobile, AL LeFlore. LeFlore sleepwalks to a 16-14 deficit after 1 quarter. After that, their depth and pressure was too much. Korie Lucious shoots 5-22 with many of them tough shots. Nick Williams and DeMarcus Cousins only play half the game for LeFlore as they roll 79-51. The steal and behind the back dribble and dunk by Cousins is my play of the year, absolutely sick move. LeFlore coach Otis Hughley is the worst dressed coach around. Jumpsuit???!!! Please, you make Dennis Stockmo look like he's wearing Armani. He also makes Larry McKenzie look like Mother Teresa. You make a mistake, you get an ear full and then you're on the bench. But when you have the level of talent they do, you can reasonably tell a kid "I've got 15 guys who can play, if you won't get it done, I'll get somebody who will." Their 3rd stringers are more athletic than just about anybody I see play.

Whitefish Bay Dominican vs Racine Horlick. WBD tried to use run and jump all game without success. Horlick made them pay with layups and on the glass. Add in poor shooting vs Horlick's 2-3 zone and the Rebels pull off a 70-60 upset to knock Dominican from the #1 spot in D3. Jamil Wilson gets 14 and 10, but Antwon Oliver had 17 and played really well for Horlick.

Day 2:

Manitowoc Roncalli vs St. Bernard's. Roncalli runs as good a motion offense as you'll see anywhere. I haven't seen anything like it since Kraig Ulveling's Red Wing boys teams. A real treat to watch in both games. Bernard's holds Roncalli down to 34% shooting overall, but Roncalli rains down 3s late to tie it up and with 5 seconds left tied at 45 Roncalli inbounds, passes out of a trap and throws up a prayer only to have it bounce to C Adam Koss who puts it in at the horn for a 47-45 Roncalli win to move them up to #1 in D3. Great game, Jordair Jett was a force with 18 pts and getting to the rim at will for Bernard's.

Milwaukee Vincent vs Mobile, Al LeFlore. Vincent matched athletes and didn't turn the ball over vs LeFlore's pressure and made them pay. A great game plan by coach Tom Diener to sandwich DeMarcus Cousins. Vincent also got every rebound and led 45-32 after an early 4th quarter score. Nick Williams brought the Rattlers back with 10 pts in a 13-0 run and with DeMarcus Cousins hitting 9 of 10 FTs down the stretch it looked like LeFlore would win, but Marvin Fitzgerald hit a desperation 3 to send it to OT

In OT, Cousins fouls out with 2:28 to go so they're without the inside force they used at the end of regulation. LeFlore leads by 2 with 1:01 to go. They turn it over and Nick Williams gets called for an intentional foul. Vincent makes the 2 FTs and after a timeout, they get a layup with 20 seconds to go to take the lead. LeFlore gets the ball across halfcourt and with 6.7 left, LeFlore takes 3 consecutive timeouts before inbounding (that's not a typo). Nick Williams gets denied coming to the top but they get a open 10 footer because of that help and it rims out. Vincent rebounds and makes 1 of 2 FTs to win 69-66 in an OT thriller. It was very interesting to see coach Hughley's yelling and screaming and then trying to be positive and keep his team believing they were still in it, don't know if the players see thru this or not. Williams had 29 in the game and Cousins had 20.

Milwaukee Pius XI vs Whitefish Bay Dominican: A battle of the top 2 seniors in the state. Korie Lucious of Pius didn't shoot well in this game either (9-25), but he had 9 pts and an assist to start the 4th quarter to bring Pius back. He ended with 25. He had a chance to tie it late, but missed. Kwamain Mitchell very quiet in the game but Dominican holds on 51-47.

Teams

• Wauwatosa East is loaded and they have enough to win it all despite being in brutal section 8.
• Manitowoc Roncalli isn't the most talented team around, but they work hard and really execute and are very well coached. A pleasure to watch, especially their motion offense.
• Germantown will be a tough out with solid guards (Rick Bowers at the PG) and a star inside in Ben Averkamp
• Madison East gets nothing from anyone besides Marquis Mason.
• Wisconsin Lutheran can be very dangerous in D2 with Flavien Davis and they have other talent around him.