Heavyweight clash
BROOKFIELD - Tim Arndorfer had a simple message.
Enjoy this one.
It hasn't been often that Wauwatosa East has gone into Brookfield Central and come away with a win. The Red Raiders went into Tuesday night's showdown with the Lancers having gone 11 years without such a win.
Thanks to another balanced offensive attack and relentless defensive effort, Tosa East, the area's No. 2-ranked team put an end to the streak with a 7360 defeat of the No. 3 Lancers.
“It's been a long time since we won here,” Arndorfer, the Red Raiders head coach, said. “And that's because every year, these guys put together a team that's tough to beat. I'm really proud of our guys for getting it for our seniors.”
While Tosa East was all but a blip on the radars of many not even two months ago, they now have caught the attention of the state. After a win on Friday, the Raiders improved to 9-0. They are 2 games up on second-place Brookfield East in the Greater Metro race.
“Their maturity is what separates them,” Arndorfer said. “They embrace that. They don't run from the target they have now and you don't get that without some senior leadership. These guys wanted it really bad.”
While it's a senior-heavy team, it was junior Leon Bond who stirred the drink against the Lancers. The junior led the team with 18 points on just 12 shooting possessions and grabbed seven rebounds. His defense on Brookfield Central star forward David Joplin was just as critical.
West stays perfect
Cam Palesse makes a difference. Heading into Friday night's showdown at the top of the Classic 8 with Muskego, no player in the area had accounted for a greater percentage of his team's scoring than Palesse.
The senior guard and Valparaiso recruit was averaging a tick over 30 points per game, good for nearly 43% of the Wolverines' scoring as a team.
He was held to his second-lowest total of the year, 20 points, against Muskego due in large part to foul trouble in the second half. But once he returned, he was the player most responsible with putting the Warriors away and remaining undefeated in the conference.
Palesse scored nine points after returning with a one-point lead, four personal 1. Racine St. Catherine's (12-0) did not play.
Up next: vs. St. Thomas More, Wednesday. fouls on his docket and four minutes to play. He hit a pull-up jumper and converted a three-point play on consecutive possessions to balloon the lead to six with just 2 minutes, 30 seconds to go.
His pair of free throws and ensuing breakaway dunk in the final seconds iced the 64-57 win in a game that saw Muskego storm back after trailing 12-0 and 22-7 in the first half.
A pair of marquee non-conference games Saturday set the stage for perhaps the contest of the year in the Woodland West.
Both Pewaukee and Wisconsin Lutheran are undefeated in conference play after wins over Milwaukee Lutheran and Greendale on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Both have done so rather convincingly, as well.
And after they play top-tier opponents Saturday — Wauwatosa East for Pewaukee and Menomonee Falls for Lutheran — they have each other on the schedule Friday.
Podziemski’s pace
There was no rust for Brandin Podziemski.
Arguably the best scorer in not only the area but the state was back at it on Friday following nearly three weeks off for St. John's Northwestern, scoring 41 points in a win over HOPE Christian.
Podziemski upped his scoring average on the year to 35.6 points, which has him on pace to reach 2,000 points before the end of the season.
Entering Saturday's contest, Podziemski sat at 1,486 points with 15 scheduled regular season games left. He would need to average 34.3 points over that stretch to reach the 2,000point club.
BOYS BASKETBALL HIGHLIGHTS
10. Waukesha West (7-1) beat Muskego, 64-57.
The Wolverines remained undefeated in Classic 8 play after closing out the game with an 11-3 run in the final four minutes.
Up next: at Catholic Memorial, Friday.