Jets get the job done

MADISON – Manitowoc Roncalli had the perfect opponent Saturday at the Kohl Center, finding out the race to win a state title truly is a marathon and not a sprint.

The Jets trailed Marathon at halftime, 17-14, after shooting just 27% in the WIAA Division 4 state championship game.

“First half I thought we were tight a little bit, coaches and players alike,” said Roncalli coach Joe Garceau.

Mitchel Schneider was 0 for 9 from the field and it looked like Roncalli might have lost its offensive touch at the worst time.

But the players and coaches never lost faith.

“Probably the worst half of basketball in my life on the biggest stage of my life,” Schneider said.

As bad as it seemed, Garceau and Schneider believed they’d turn it around.

And turn it around Schneider and Roncalli did, outscoring Marathon, 3920, in the second half en route to a 53-37 victory.

Schneider finished with 18 points, all after halftime, while teammate Chombi Lambert had a game-high 21.

“When we went into halftime I was just thinking to myself I put way too much time in for this moment to keep my head down and let it slip,” Schneider said.

Said Garceau: “We knew because of their preparation they weren’t going to stay that shooting percentage for long.”

Schneider and Lambert reflected that this first-ever state championship in boys basketball has really been a process since the school’s founding in 1965.

“This is 50 some years in the making, this doesn’t just happen in one year,” Schneider said. “We’re just the players receiving the gold ball but we know that every one of the players before is just as deserving as us.”

Lambert added it’s not lost on him the significance of the Jets’ accomplishment.

“To be able to win this gold ball for them means everything to me,” Lambert said.