Eagles soar past Jets on way to Division 4 final
MADISON - Eventually all that size and depth and balance got to Manitowoc Roncalli.
The Destiny boys basketball team defeated the Jets, 71-54, in a WIAA Division 4 state semifinal at the Kohl Center on Thursday night. The victory improved Destiny’s record to 24-1 and put it in the title game at 12:45 p.m. Saturday against undefeated Darlington.
Roncalli, which came back from a 3-10 start to advance to state for the first time since 2014, finished 13-14.
The Jets shot 39.3% (22 for 56) and struggled to run their offense against Destiny’s big, long lineup.
On the other end of the floor, Destiny got a big game off the bench from senior guard Romaine Robinson, who had 19 See PREPS, Page 9B
points, and junior Diovonte Caldwell, who scored all of his six points off the bench in the first half during a 19-5 run that gave the Eagles a 12-point halftime lead.
The squad also got a near-triple double from senior forward Sarion McGee, who checked in with nine points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and an it got 14 points from senior forward Zachary Markland.
Junior guard Mitchel Schneider had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Roncalli.
The game began to turn in Destiny’s favor late in the first half, but it pulled away for good midway through the second.
Roncalli went on an 8-0 run to cut the Destiny lead to 43-39 with 11 minutes left. The Eagles, however, came back with a three-point play from senior guard Pierre Johnson (10 points). The next time down Caldwell connected with Markland for an alley-oop to push the lead to 48-39.
That was the start of five straight possessions with scores for Destiny and a run of points on six of seven trips down the floor. The run allowed it to take a 56-43 lead with 6 minutes 47 seconds to play.
The Eagles led by as many as 19 points before the final buzzer.
Destiny started slow, but by the end of the half their length, defense and depth were starting to take effect.
The Eagles’ 19-5 run to close the half was fueled by a scoring punch off the bench. Robinson, who scored a game-high 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the half, had 10 points during that stretch. Six more came from Caldwell.
Caldwell’s jumper started the run and tied the game, 18-18, with 5:47 left. Destiny forced a five-second call on Roncalli’s next possession and Caldwell cashed in with another jumper that gave his team a 20-18 advantage.
The next time down the floor, the Eagles got a
three-pointer from Johnson. Destiny would score on seven straight possessions to take a 3023 lead with 1:43 left in the half.
Destiny added five more points before the break, getting a three from Johnson to make it 33-23 and two free throws from senior guard Cameron Posey to give the Eagles a 35-23 halftime lead.
Darlington 63, Cameron 52: Senior guard Trevor Johnson scored 20 points and made 6 of 10 shots to lead the Redbirds into their first final since 1990, when they won the title.
Both teams shot 39.6%, but Darlington cleaned up from threepoint range, where it connected on 8 of 19 attempts (42.1%). Johnson went 3 for 5 beyond the arc. Senior guards Will Schwartz and Ryan Glendenning had 2 threes each.