Edgerton rolls past Evansville
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EVANSVILLE — It wasn’t exactly a reincarnation of North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Charles' dunk to win the 1983 NCAA national championship.
But Tyler Dobratz’s tip-in after Adam Gregory’s half-court heave to end the third quarter seemed to propel Edgerton High’s boys basketball team to its third win of the season over Evansville and into the WIAA Division 2 regional finals.
The alley-oop started a 13-4 run for the Crimson Tide and sparked its 42-34 victory over Rock Valley Conference rival Evansville here Thursday night.
Edgerton (16-6) faces Monroe (15-7) in the regional title game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Verona. The winner plays River Valley (19-2) or Wisconsin Dells (18-4) next Thursday at Waunakee in the semifinals of the Sun Prairie Sectional.
The regional final will be a rematch of last year, when Edgerton’s 20-3 season ended with a 54-46, down-to-wire loss to Monroe, which went on to a second straight appearance in the state tournament.
Edgerton earned another shot the Cheesemakers by tripping Evansville (15-7) for the second time in the less than a week. And the key tip-in was the talk of the Crimson Tide’s latest triumph.
“That tip-in was like NC State,” Edgerton coach Mark Wanless said. “It was nice, a good momentum-builder.
“Tyler kept his eye on the ball,’’ Wanless of Dobratz, a 6-2 sophomore, who sat out much of this season after suffering a broken leg on opening night. “Some kids would have just given up on that.”
With points at a premium all night, Dobratz’s basket gave Edgerton a 25-23 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Evansville tied it at 27-27 on Eric Nieman’s three-point play with 5:36 remaining. The Blue Devils then failed to score over the next 4:38, and Edgerton took advantage.
Bryan Gregory and Brek Perry answered with back-to-back lay-ups, and Perry added a free throw to push the Edgerton lead to 32-27. Zac Palet was next with a lay-up underneath, followed by two more free throws by Josh Eastman for a 36-27 cushion.
And that was more than enough in another defensive battle.
“It’s always a hard-fought, low-scoring game, and both team fight tooth-and-nail to try and get an edge,” said 6-4 senior Bryan Gregory, who led Edgerton with 14 points. “I just thought everybody stepped up.”
Nieman ended the Evansville drought by banking in a three-pointer from the top of the key with 58 seconds left. It cut the Edgerton lead to six points, but that was as close as the Blue Devils got.
“It’s been close every time, but we just haven’t been able to pull it off,” said Evansville guard Andrew Keister, who had eight points and played with four fouls over the final 9:07. “We just really couldn’t do much.
“We just had trouble finding open looks,’’ he said. “They play good defense.”
Evansville made just two of eight fourth-quarter field-goal attempts, while Edgerton was 6-for-9 from the field to pull away. The Crimson Tide also made 11 of 12 free throws in the game.
Nieman led the Blue Devils with 10 points, while Perry added 10 for Edgerton.
EDGERTON 42, EVANSVILLE 34
Edgerton (42)—Ozga, 3-0-8; Eastman, 0-4-4; Perry, 3-3-10; Dobratz, 2-0-4; Pallet, 1-2-4; B. Gregory, 5-2-12. Totals: 14-11-42.
Evansville (34)—Deininger, 1-0-2; Lunde, 1-3-5; Keister, 3-2-8; Nieman, 4-2-10; Moseley, 4-0-9. Totals: 13-7-34.
Edgerton 10 7 8 17—42
Evansville 10 7 6 11—34
Three-point goals—Edgerton 3 (Ozga 2, Perry), Evansville 1 (Moseley). Free throws missed—Edgerton 1, Evansville 5. Total fouls—Edgerton 15, Evansville 14.
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