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WAUKESHA − The greater Milwaukee area will send six teams to the WIAA state boys basketball tournament next week in Madison after each picked up sectional final wins across four divisions Saturday.
Reigning WIAA Division 2 state champion Wisconsin Lutheran leads the area as the sole D1 state qualifier after defeating West Allis Central, 72-53.
The Vikings gained the upper hand early with a 5-0 run that lasted nearly the first four minutes before West Allis Central scored on a Yusef Gray Jr. layup. Wisco led wire-to-wire in the win, while the Bulldogs climbed within 13-12 and 38-36 deficits but never took the advantage.
"In a big game, any time you can get off to a little bit of a start, you'll take it," Vikings head coach Ryan Walz said. "It was good for our kids to get their confidence up a little bit, believing in themselves. It was really a defensive battle the whole game, and that's what really won the game for us."
The Woodland West Conference rivals battled to a split of their meetings during the regular season. The Vikings took the first meeting, 87-70, on Jan. 10, while the Bulldogs won round two, 78-70, on Feb. 11. Walz said he hoped his players would hone in on the details to avoid a similar outcome Saturday.
"In the games like this, you're not trying to do too much. You want to keep it simple," Walz said. "They know us, we know them, so it's about rebounding, it's about staying in front of the ball on defense, it's about taking care of the ball and not turning it over."
The Vikings limited the transition game of the Bulldogs by keeping turnovers in check, but West Allis Central still hung within nine points well past the halftime score of 27-18. With 10:45 remaining in the second half, a stretch that included two steals for Gray Jr. led to a 4-0 run that cut the deficit for his Bulldogs to a basket.
Wisco was able to stretch the lead with perimeter shooting over the next five minutes, starting with an Alex Greene triple that made it 41-36. A few minutes later, a Riley Walz three to answer a West Allis Central three moved the lead to 50-42, followed by another Greene three on the ensuing Vikings possession to expand the lead to 11, and another Walz three with around five minutes left to make it 56-43.
"It hits a little different when it's your own kid," coach Walz said of the triples by Riley. "Any time you can get a couple threes, that is gonna be huge to get that gap."
Zavier Zens led scorers for the Vikings with 25 points, setting the tone with a hard-fought effort in the paint.
"He battled today, and I can't say enough about him and the maturity he's had over the last couple years, and especially this year," Walz said.
Coach Walz also lauded the efforts of Greene and Isaiah Mellock, the latter of whom scored 17 points with a dozen coming in the second half. Greene said the physicality of West Allis Central was his biggest takeaway from their second meeting, something he and his teammates tried to answer with aggressive drives in the painted area.
"It's everyone from top-to-bottom. Everyone puts in the time and hard work in practice, and it's a joy to be with," Greene said. "I'm super proud of this team, super happy to be a part of it these past four years. It's been a great ride and hopefully we can finish it with another gold ball."
The loss for West Allis Central represents the second straight year with its season ending in the WIAA sectional final. The Bulldogs lost to eventual D1 state champion Marquette in the sectional final in 2024.
"Dave (Mlachnik)'s a very good coach and they're super talented this year, and they'll be super talented again next year," Walz said. "It wouldn't surprise me if they're the No. 1 team in the state next year to start out the year. As the year went on, those kids just galvanized together and learned roles and learned how to trust each other, so they were playing some really good basketball here at the end."
As for the focus between now and next Friday's state semifinal, Walz said the emphasis will be gaining familiarity on their three potential opponents. In addition to the Vikings, who were the top seed in their sectional, No. 2 seed Marshfield, No. 7 Oshkosh North and No. 2 Waunakee were the three other qualifiers out of sectionals 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
"We've got a lot of film to watch. Some of those teams that are at state weren't the teams that people thought were gonna be at state, and I've seen a couple of them live, and I know how good they are," Walz said. "We've just got to get ourselves back to ground zero where we're even-steven, not too high again, get humble again and get ready to work this week to put it together."
Four teams had already completed their run to the Kohl Center with sectional final wins before tipoff between the Vikings and Bulldogs. The Prairie School also tipped off at 5 p.m. in a D4 Sectional 4 final against Cedar Grove-Belgium, pulling off a 61-58 win to advance to WIAA state for just the second time in program history (2021).
Cedarburg defeated Notre Dame, 86-69, in D2 Sectional 2 at Manitowoc Lincoln High School. It is the Bulldogs' fourth program appearance at state, and first since 2017. In D2 Sectional 3, Wauwatosa West beat Mount Horeb, 71-59, at Oconomowoc High School to earn a program-first WIAA state tournament appearance. Jalen Brown of the Trojans put up a playoff-best 30 points to lead Tosa West over the Vikings. Racine Park was the third greater Milwaukee area team out of four to qualify for state in D2, winning 71-41 over Waterford at Whitefish Bay High School. The Panthers return to state for the first time in 65 years with Saturday's win. Milwaukee Academy of Science is also back to state for the third time in four seasons after defeating Carmen Northwest, 97-83, at Brown Deer High School in D3 Sectional 4.
Team seedings in all five divisions will take place Sunday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will have a full preview early next week of all six programs, along with week-long coverage of the WIAA state tournament in the form of live blogs and game recaps of Saturday's championships.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: High school boys basketball: WIAA sectional finals recap
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Reigning WIAA Division 2 state champion Wisconsin Lutheran leads the area as the sole D1 state qualifier after defeating West Allis Central, 72-53.
The Vikings gained the upper hand early with a 5-0 run that lasted nearly the first four minutes before West Allis Central scored on a Yusef Gray Jr. layup. Wisco led wire-to-wire in the win, while the Bulldogs climbed within 13-12 and 38-36 deficits but never took the advantage.
"In a big game, any time you can get off to a little bit of a start, you'll take it," Vikings head coach Ryan Walz said. "It was good for our kids to get their confidence up a little bit, believing in themselves. It was really a defensive battle the whole game, and that's what really won the game for us."
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The Woodland West Conference rivals battled to a split of their meetings during the regular season. The Vikings took the first meeting, 87-70, on Jan. 10, while the Bulldogs won round two, 78-70, on Feb. 11. Walz said he hoped his players would hone in on the details to avoid a similar outcome Saturday.
"In the games like this, you're not trying to do too much. You want to keep it simple," Walz said. "They know us, we know them, so it's about rebounding, it's about staying in front of the ball on defense, it's about taking care of the ball and not turning it over."
The Vikings limited the transition game of the Bulldogs by keeping turnovers in check, but West Allis Central still hung within nine points well past the halftime score of 27-18. With 10:45 remaining in the second half, a stretch that included two steals for Gray Jr. led to a 4-0 run that cut the deficit for his Bulldogs to a basket.
Wisco was able to stretch the lead with perimeter shooting over the next five minutes, starting with an Alex Greene triple that made it 41-36. A few minutes later, a Riley Walz three to answer a West Allis Central three moved the lead to 50-42, followed by another Greene three on the ensuing Vikings possession to expand the lead to 11, and another Walz three with around five minutes left to make it 56-43.
"It hits a little different when it's your own kid," coach Walz said of the triples by Riley. "Any time you can get a couple threes, that is gonna be huge to get that gap."
Zavier Zens led scorers for the Vikings with 25 points, setting the tone with a hard-fought effort in the paint.
"He battled today, and I can't say enough about him and the maturity he's had over the last couple years, and especially this year," Walz said.
Coach Walz also lauded the efforts of Greene and Isaiah Mellock, the latter of whom scored 17 points with a dozen coming in the second half. Greene said the physicality of West Allis Central was his biggest takeaway from their second meeting, something he and his teammates tried to answer with aggressive drives in the painted area.
"It's everyone from top-to-bottom. Everyone puts in the time and hard work in practice, and it's a joy to be with," Greene said. "I'm super proud of this team, super happy to be a part of it these past four years. It's been a great ride and hopefully we can finish it with another gold ball."
You must be registered for see images
The loss for West Allis Central represents the second straight year with its season ending in the WIAA sectional final. The Bulldogs lost to eventual D1 state champion Marquette in the sectional final in 2024.
"Dave (Mlachnik)'s a very good coach and they're super talented this year, and they'll be super talented again next year," Walz said. "It wouldn't surprise me if they're the No. 1 team in the state next year to start out the year. As the year went on, those kids just galvanized together and learned roles and learned how to trust each other, so they were playing some really good basketball here at the end."
As for the focus between now and next Friday's state semifinal, Walz said the emphasis will be gaining familiarity on their three potential opponents. In addition to the Vikings, who were the top seed in their sectional, No. 2 seed Marshfield, No. 7 Oshkosh North and No. 2 Waunakee were the three other qualifiers out of sectionals 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
"We've got a lot of film to watch. Some of those teams that are at state weren't the teams that people thought were gonna be at state, and I've seen a couple of them live, and I know how good they are," Walz said. "We've just got to get ourselves back to ground zero where we're even-steven, not too high again, get humble again and get ready to work this week to put it together."
Five others punch tickets to state with wins Saturday
Four teams had already completed their run to the Kohl Center with sectional final wins before tipoff between the Vikings and Bulldogs. The Prairie School also tipped off at 5 p.m. in a D4 Sectional 4 final against Cedar Grove-Belgium, pulling off a 61-58 win to advance to WIAA state for just the second time in program history (2021).
Cedarburg defeated Notre Dame, 86-69, in D2 Sectional 2 at Manitowoc Lincoln High School. It is the Bulldogs' fourth program appearance at state, and first since 2017. In D2 Sectional 3, Wauwatosa West beat Mount Horeb, 71-59, at Oconomowoc High School to earn a program-first WIAA state tournament appearance. Jalen Brown of the Trojans put up a playoff-best 30 points to lead Tosa West over the Vikings. Racine Park was the third greater Milwaukee area team out of four to qualify for state in D2, winning 71-41 over Waterford at Whitefish Bay High School. The Panthers return to state for the first time in 65 years with Saturday's win. Milwaukee Academy of Science is also back to state for the third time in four seasons after defeating Carmen Northwest, 97-83, at Brown Deer High School in D3 Sectional 4.
Team seedings in all five divisions will take place Sunday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will have a full preview early next week of all six programs, along with week-long coverage of the WIAA state tournament in the form of live blogs and game recaps of Saturday's championships.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: High school boys basketball: WIAA sectional finals recap
Continue reading...
