An athletic Wisconsin Lutheran team used outstanding scoring balance and a good defensive effort by senior guard Larry Moore to beat New Berlin Eisenhower, 60-42, and run away with the WIAA Sectional Championship and a trip to the state tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison on Friday and Saturday.
After scoring five points in the first quarter, New Berlin Eisenhower junior guard Reed Timmer looked like he was on his way to another big scoring night, but Moore, at 5-foot-6 inches, then held Timmer to two, three and four points in the last three quarters, for a total of 14 points.
Even though Timmer led all scorers, The Vikings spread the ball around as nine players got on the scoreboard, as five players scored between six and 13 points, the latter by star senior guard Deion Cunningham.
“They are all very good basketball players,” Eisenhower coach Dave Scheidegger said. “They’re physical, they’re strong. With the flow of the game — there were not a lot of fouls called. I don’t mind that, but then you better be the more physical team. You have to match their physicality. We tried, but it wasn’t enough.”
The Lions got off to a fast start and led 13-8 when Sandro Pesqueira hit Mitch Arman with a pass for a layup with 2 minutes, 7 seconds left in the first quarter. But then The Vikings went on 11-0 run, 9-0 to close out the period with a 17-13 lead.
Keith Franklin hit a 3-pointer, Moore hit a jumper, Cunningham scored off a steal, Jalen Sims scored on a fastbreak to end the quarter and Cunningham hit a jumper to open the second period for a 19-13 lead.
After a rebound basket by Timmer, it was all downhill for the Lions, as WISCO went on an 11-4 run to take a 30-20 lead into intermission. A jumper by Arman and a 3-pointer by Pesqueira were the Lions only points.
Anthony Carver’s rebound basket, a jumper and a fastbreak basket by C.J. Polk made it 36-20 with 5:45 left in the third quarter.
The Lions last run came when Timmer hit a jumper, was fouled and scored, Pesqueira hit a jumper, Corbin Messman hit a 3, Nick Ganzke hit a jumper and Pesqueira nailed another 3 to cut the lead to 44-33 with 1:06 left in the third quarter.
But that was the closest Eisenhower got the rest of the game.
“They were good,” Scheidegger said. “With some teams if you make a mistake, you can get away with it. But with them, boom, they capitalize in two seconds. They let nothing go. We only had eight turnovers, but we had problems with rebounding all year.
“And once they separated from us, well they are just too good a team.”
Timmer (14), Pesqueira (13), Messman (9), Arman (4) and Ganzke (2) were the only Lions to score. Cunningham (13), Polk (11), Dez Cockroft (9), Carver (8) and Franklin (6) led the way for the Vikings.
Eisenhower finished with an excellent 22-4 record, having won the Woodland Conference West Division with a 15-2 record. The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak to end the year.
Wisconsin Lutheran is 21-5 and opens with Stoughton (17-8) at 3:15 p.m. Friday at state.
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