• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Parker falls hard to Verona

JANESVILLE — After notching its first victory of the season Thursday night, Janesville Parker’s hopes of winning two straight in Big Eight boys basketball were quickly crushed by Verona here Saturday afternoon.

Verona jumped out to a 13-0 lead midway through the first quarter and never let up en route to an impressive 69-39 victory over Parker High.

Jason Ziemer paced the Wildcats with 18 points, while Scott Christensen had 11, and Matt Ropel and Ethen Malofsky each chipped in 10 to help third-place Verona (10-4, 9-3) remain two games behind first place Madison Memorial in the Big Eight.

Meanwhile, Parker coach Ryan Masterson simply gave the Wildcats their just due.

“I have the utmost for their program, and they’re very well-coached and pretty talented,” Masterson said of the Wildcats, who were 96-48 winners over Parker in December.

Ziemer racked up six early points this time to help Verona open a 10-0 lead with 4:51 left in the first. Following a Parker timeout, the Wildcats rolled up another 11-3 run and 21-3 lead after one quarter.

Verona kept the heat on the Vikings in the second quarter en route a 36-12 halftime lead.

“We talked about just getting out the first three or four minutes and starting fast, which we have generally done a pretty good job of this year,” Verona coach Alan Buss said. “This shows me that the guys are ready to play and ready to attack on the floor, which has been a key for the games that we have won this year.”

With his team on the ropes, Parker guard Jordan Thompson drained three three-pointers and racked up 11 of his team-high 13 points in third quarter to cut the Wildcat lead to 48-27.

But Parker’s momentum didn’t carry into the fourth as Ziemer rolled up eight quick points to rebuild his team’s led to 58-29 with 5:30 left.

“We played just six guys on Thursday, and we just had a shoot-around on Friday, so you could see that we were just a step slow, coming up short on our shots,” Masterson said of the follow-up to a 58-53 victory at Madison West.

“But give Verona credit,’’ he said. “They do an excellent job finding the open man and finding weaknesses in our defense and tore up our zone.”

VERONA 69, PARKER 39

Verona (69)—Platto, 1-0-2; Karls, 2-1-5; Schaaf, 0-2-2; Ziemer, 7-3-18; Ropel, 3-3-10; Peterson, 1-1-3; Malofsky, 2-5-10; Christensen, 4-0-11; Brandt, 2-1-5; Banzhaf, 1-1-3. Totals: 23-17-69.

Parker (39)—Simonson, 3-3-9; Thompson, 5-0-13; Teubert, 2-1-5; C. Knutson, 2-0-5, Husen, 1-0-2; Anderson, 1-0-3; Lehr, 0-2-2. Totals: 14-6-39.

Verona 21 15 12 21—69

Janesville Parker 3 9 15 12—39

Three point goals—Verona 6 (Ziemer, Christensen 3, Ropel, Malofsky), Parker 5 (Thompson 3, C. Knutson, Anderson). Total fouls—Verona 13, Parker 22. Fouled out—J. Knutson, Husen.