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East Troy falls to top-ranked team

WAUKESHA — East Troy High School’s boys basketball team saw its season end here Saturday the same way it began just over three months ago—with a loss to Waukesha Catholic Memorial.

Watching its 28-26 halftime lead disappear quickly as Memorial rattled off 17 straight points to open the second half, a short-handed Trojan squad was held to its lowest point total of the season in dropping a 66-42 decision to the Crusaders in a WIAA Division 2 regional championship game at Waukesha South.

The loss broke East Troy’s 18-game winning streak and left the eighth-ranked Rock Valley North champions with a 21-4 record.

“This is definitely a tough time,” East Troy coach Darin Lottig said. “This hurts real bad for those seniors that are done, but it also hurts for the coaches and everyone else.

“We just have to be careful and not lose our perspective by putting too much weight on this one game and having it sour our whole season. We had a heck of a season and these kids have every right to hold their heads up high.’’

Memorial, a 72-60 winner over East Troy in a nonconference season opener, improved to 23-2. The top-ranked Division 2 team plays defending state champion Wisconsin Lutheran (21-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at Waukesha West in the semifinals of the Al McGuire Center Sectional.

In the third quarter, which also happened to be the pivotal period in the season opener, Memorial held the Trojans scoreless on their first nine possessions. Memorial, meanwhile, was nearly perfect offensively—scoring on eight of its first nine possessions.

By the end of the quarter, the Crusaders had outscored East Troy 20-1 and had taken a commanding 46-29 lead.

“I think they just turned up the heat a little bit. We had a few turnovers, we didn’t get a lot of good shots, and when we did, we didn’t hit them,” Lottig said. “We also just couldn’t stop them when we needed to.”

Memorial, after going just 1-of-12 from three-point range in the first half, made a conscious effort early in the second half to take the ball inside. The Crusaders scored 17 of their third-quarter points on post moves, drives to the basket or free throws.

Doing most of the damage for the Crusaders was senior forward T.J. Bray, who had 13 of his game-high 26 points in the third quarter. That followed a 72-62 regional semifinal win over Lakeside Lutheran in which he had 24 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists.

“The big thing today was our defense, because good defense creates good offense,” Bray said. “Offense is going to come and go, but your defense can be there every game.’’

East Troy’s only point of the third quarter came on a free throw by senior guard Brett Bouwman with 2:53 remaining.

In fact, the Trojans didn’t record their first field goal of the second half until freshman forward Nate Dodge made a three-pointer 19 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Even before their third-period troubles, the Trojans were dealt a devastating blow with 4:53 remaining in the second quarter when senior guard Brandon Schmidt injured his right ankle on a play away from the ball. Schmidt, the team’s second-leading scorer, had to be helped off the court and did not return.

With senior guard Scot Beckwith, the team’s leading scorer, and sophomore forward Tanner Plomb already out for the remainder of the season, Schmidt’s loss left the Trojans with three starters watching helplessly from the bench.

“Losing Brandon was just too much adversity for us to overcome,” Lottig said. “I really think we were able to overcome losing two starters, but Brandon is a senior, and he’s a leader and he just does so much for us.

“He had 25 points against Pewaukee on Thursday night, so we don’t even win that game and we don’t even make it here without Brandon.”

The only Trojan player to score in double figures against Memorial was Dodge, who made two three-pointers and finished with 12 points.

MEMORIAL 66, EAST TROY 42

East Troy (42)—Olsen, 5-1-12; Bouwman, 0-4-4; Schmidt, 1-2-5; Jones, 1-0-3; Dodge, 5-0-12; Prahl, 3-0-6. Totals: 15-7-42.

Memorial (66)—Schell, 3-4-11; Conners, 0-4-4; Peske, 3-0-6; Bray, 10-5-26; Neary, 3-1-7; Schultz, 4-0-8; Pytlik, 1-0-2; Pucylonski, 0-2-2. Totals: 24-16-66.

East Troy 15 13 1 13—42

Wauk. Memorial 13 13 20 20—66

Three-point goals—East Troy 5 (Dodge 2, Olsen, Schmidt, Jones), Memorial 2 (Schell, Bray). Free throws missed—East Troy 2, Memorial 2. Total fouls—East Troy 16, Memorial 13.