Strong finish takes Tosa East to title game
OSHKOSH - Earlier this week, Leon Bond, dubbed by his team as “the bounciest player in Wauwatosa East history” was running down the list of his teammates with complete scouting reports on who could and couldn't join him in rocking the rim.
Bond let out a chuckle when he got to Brian Parzych, the team's fiery point guard.
“Brian, if he gets that perfect set up,
he can throw one down,” Bond said. “Right side of the court, nobody near him, if he gets a good jump, he could get his.”
That situation played out identically to Bond's clairvoyance on Saturday, as Parzych caught an outlet pass in the frontcourt, streaking down the right side with no defenders in the same area code as the final seconds ticked off the floor in the Red Raiders' 56-48 Division 1 state semifinal against River Falls.
The Red Raiders advanced to face No. 1 Kimberly in the Division 1 state championship Saturday night.
Parzych leapt, reaching the rim and putting the ball through as the buzzer sounded to capitalize the win — although he stopped short of calling it a dunk.
“I was definitely getting nervous going up,” Parzych said. “If I get rimstuffed, if I miss badly on live TV, I don't really want that to be my first dunk attempt. I wouldn't call that one a dunk, it was a successful rim graze.”
Dunk or no dunk, there's no debating what to call Parzych and Tosa East's finish to the game: clutch.
Parzych buried a go-ahead three with three minutes, 51 seconds left and came away with two critical steals as the No. 2 Red Raiders finished on a 12-3 run to advance to their first state championship game since 2008.
“I didn't shoot the three ball that well today, but I shot it well this season,” Parzych said. “My guy sagged off on me. He gave me space. In that moment, I'm a senior and I want those big moments, big shots.”
Parzych finished with a team-high 19 points while River Falls forward JT Dougherty led all scorers with 25 points while hitting six of nine threes.
Tosa East led or was tied for all but 1:07, but never led by more than seven after Jay Hinson Jr. opened the second half on a three on a ball that bounced 20 feet out to him after an alley-oop attempt by Bond ricocheted off the rim.
An 8-0 run capped by a Dougherty three gave River Falls its first lead of the game at 43-42 with 5:06 left. After the teams traded layups, Parzych slowed the tempo down and held the ball at the top of the arc.
Seeing space, he let it fly and reclaimed the lead. Tosa East never looked back.
Kimberly 63, DeForest 42
The top seed in the Division 1 field looked the part.
Kimberly jumped out to an early lead and kept DeForest at a comfortable distance the rest of the way en route to a 63-42 semifinal win Saturday morning.
Jackson Paveletzke scored 28 points to lead the Papermakers.
Kimberly dominated down low, outscoring the Norskies, 42-22, in the paint.