Lancers long-range attack successful
Defense keeps Indians at bay
Brookfield — Brookfield Central dialed in early and often from long range and rode its threepoint shooting to a 75-48 victory over Mukwonago in a non-conference boys basketball game Tuesday night.
The Lancers (1-0) finished with 11 three-pointers, including eight in the first half when they built a 35-23 lead at the break.
Junior guard Andres Peralta-Werns had 21 points and sophomore guard Gage Malensek added 17, including 3 three-pointers in the first half. Cole Nau, another sophomore starter, chipped in with 12 points. In all, five different Lancers hit from beyond the arc, including senior guard Sam Rohde, who had 3 three-pointers.
“Our guys have a pretty good understanding of what a good shot is and what’s not a good shot,” said Central coach Dan Wandrey. “And, obviously we’re blessed with quite a few guys who can shoot them, which is nice. We’re also blessed with a lot of guys who are willing to make the extra pass.”
Brandon Hau, a 6-7 forward who has committed to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, led the Indians with 16 points and Alex Gehl added 12.
Mukwonago (1-1) opened with a pair of quick baskets, but the Lancers quickly erased the lead. The Indians tied it 7-7 on Hau’s short jumper from the lane, but Brookfield Central responded with 13 consecutive points, capped by Charlie Debbink’s 3-pointer from the left side to make it 20-7.
The Lancers, expected to challenge Milwaukee Marquette for the top of the Greater Metro Conference, continued their long-range attack, stretching the lead to 2611 on 3-pointers by Malensek and Debbink.
The Indians cut the lead to 27-20 on Hau’s putback with 3:53 left in the half, but the Lancers answered with an 8-0 run.
Central quickly extended its 35-23 halftime lead to 44-25 and led comfortably the rest of the way before closing the game with an 18-3 run.
“It’s a good team, good opponent,” said Malensek. “We started off strong, saw some weaknesses we’ve got to focus on tomorrow, but overall, a good win.”
Mukwonago coach Jim Haasser said Central’s defense might have been more impressive than its offense.
“I think it caught us off guard a little bit,” he said. “It’s easy to see the threes, it’s easy to see the freeflowing offense, but when we’re trying to answer and we’re grinding, grinding, grinding and we’re making five, eight, nine passes and there’s just nothing there.”
With no starter taller than 6-2, Wandrey said the Lancers are going to have to continue to play the same type of defense they did against Mukwonago.
“They would just as soon go out and try and outscore everybody each night, but they know if we want to be what we’d like to be, we’ve got to be able to stop people,” he said.