Pewaukee dominates in winning crown
Pewaukee's boys basketball team didn't just win its first state championship Saturday, it did so in rather convincing fashion.
In a matchup of the top two teams in the bracket, the second-seeded Pirates proved to be too much for top-seeded Onalaska, leading throughout on the way to a 54-37 victory in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 state final at the La Crosse Center.
Junior guard Ashton Janowski led the Pirates with 19 points. He finished the night hitting six of 15 shots, but he was on fire in the first half when he scored 15 points and connected on all three of his shots from three-point range.
Senior guard AJ Hintz had a similar night, getting 13 of his 16 points in the first half when he made five of six shots.
Sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic added 12 points for the Pirates, who finished the year 27-3.
They led by as many as 15 points in the first half and had a 21-point lead, 4827, in the second half.
Onalaska finished 19-1 and got 10 points from senior forward Victor Desmond and nine from senior center Gavin McGrath. The Hilltoppers were held to 34% shooting (13 for 38).
Semifinals
Pewaukee 65, Lake Mills 51: The victory set up a short recovery time for Pewaukee.. Onalaska had about 8 hours compared to about 41⁄2 for Pewaukee.
“Some of the coaches and a lot of our parents are taking care of the actual plans,” Pewaukee coach David Burkemper said about the break between games. “We just want to get something to eat, we want to stretch and we want to watch some film. Where we do that, they'll tell me when I walk out of here.”
Junior guard Josh Terrian finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Pirates. Freshman guard Nick Janowski came off the bench for 12 points on 4for-5 shooting. Junior Emmett Loew, another reserve, finished with 10 points. Meanwhile, junior guard Ashton Janowski, scored all 10 of his points in the second half when he recorded two of his four assists.
The Pirates' balance was fitting of their effort overall, which featured each of their regulars making a big play or two at various points in the game. They weren't in awe of the moment. “When you first walk into the gym you look up at this big arena like you've never played in anything like this before, but once we settled in, we got used to it and just did our thing,” Terrian said. “We play unselfish, we share the ball, we hit shots. It's fun for us.”
Senior guard Charlie Bender led Lake Mills (23-6) with 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting but missed his final four shots and had just six points in the second half.
Pewaukee (25-3) trailed at the half, but went ahead 97 seconds into the second half and didn't trail the rest of the afternoon.
There were a number of keys for the Pirates in the second half, but it started with Ashton Janowski being aggressive off the dribble and hunting his shot. Eight of his second-half points during the first 2 minutes when the Pirates turned a 31-30 halftime deficit into a 3833 lead.
“We had a game where he scored 21 points in the second half and he's capable of that,” Burkemper said. “I thought he's the one guy who can kind of get his own shot and so I wasn't worried that we wouldn't be able to get buckets and when he was hitting shots the rest of the guys picked up their energy on defense.”
Loew also had a big second half, hitting 3-of-4 shots and ranking second on the team in scoring for that stretch with seven points.
Onalaska 66, Appleton Xavier 57: North Dakota recruit Gavin McGrath had 18 points and six rebounds and senior Victor Desmond added 17 points and five assists for the Hilltoppers.