By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Prior to last weekend’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 regional, East Troy High School boys basketball coach Darryl Rayfield figured both teams would give his team some challenges.
But when the Trojans play team defense like they did, those hurdles were more than easy to overcome.
East Troy rolled into the sectional round with victories of 71-56 Friday night over Lakeside Lutheran and 59-40 Saturday over Lake Mills to improve to 16-7 overall.
The Trojans advance to a semifinal contest Thursday night against Evansville at Beloit Memorial. A preview of that matchup appears in this week’s edition.
“Defensively (on Saturday), we came out and had a pretty good effort,” Rayfield said. “Our seniors are really stepping up and show everybody they’re not ready to be done yet.
“We probably played our best game of the year defensively. We made them look not as good as they really are.”
East Troy led 12-6 after the first quarter before it took control in the second. The Trojans outscored Lake Mills 17-4 in the quarter to build a commanding 29-10 halftime advantage.
Both teams put 30 points on the scoreboard the last two quarters, as East Troy made its early advantage hold up.
Rayfield knew his team had to deal with the Lake Mills inside-outside combination of 6-foot-6 junior Simon Lensmire and sharp-shooting sophomore Brady Wagner.
Lensmire scored 17 points, above his average of 13.4, but Wagner, who had made 62 3-pointers for the season, was held to just two points.
“We just got a lot of ball pressure and ran some doubles (at Lensmire) from a couple different spots,” Rayfield said. “It was good ball pressure and some real good doubles (that were the key).”
Jonathan Ciriacks led a balanced scoring attack with 21 points, followed by Connor Mitchell with 13 and Joseph Ciriacks and Justin Growel each with 11.
That balanced effort proved to be another key to success, Rayfield said.
“Guys were finding the open guys,” he said. “We got into transition and were making shots. … That’s a credit to the skills that our kids have. That’s a plus, that’s for sure.”
Fast start helps in semifinal
Another fast start helped East Troy in the regional semifinal Friday, as the Trojans jumped out to an 18-6 lead and never looked back en route to the 71-56 victory.
Lakeside tried to claw its way back into the game in the second quarter, as it cut three points from the deficit, but couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.
East Troy put the game out of reach with a 40-34 scoring edge the final 16 minutes.
“It was more of the same (as Saturday night),” Rayfield said. “Both are really good teams, but what they are, is they are young. We have experience.
“We have three kids who have been on the varsity for three and four years, have been starters for three years, and we’ve been in some (big games). They have some very, very good young players, but I think we were just a little more physically mature.”
Connor Mitchell led four East Troy players in double figures with 17 points, followed by Will Iloncaie with 16, Jake Remsza with 15 and Justin Growel with 10. Joseph Ciriacks had nine for the Trojans.
