Wins over Jefferson, Brodhead, loss to Hamilton
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
It can never be said that the East Troy High School boys basketball team will shy away from a challenge.
And there is a method to the madness – to get the Trojans ready for the postseason.
East Troy ran into a fast and athletic Milwaukee Hamilton squad Dec. 10 and couldn’t overcome a 20-point halftime deficit in a 107-78 non-conference setback.
The loss dropped East Troy to 2-3 overall. The Trojans opened the week with a pair of Rock Valley Conference wins, 69-46 over Jefferson on Dec. 6 and 88-59 at Brodhead on Dec. 9, to improve to 2-1 in conference play.
Despite the 29-point loss to the Division 1 Hamilton squad, East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield was pleased with how his team competed.
“We played our best game of the year,” he said. “(Hamilton has) really athletic and relentless attackers on both ends.
“Offensively, we were fine. It’s all about three things with high level-teams: transition offense to defense, defense to offense and (scoring) runs. They went on a couple ones. But we really took a step forward.”
Rayfield added he wasn’t as pleased with how things turned out against Brodhead, despite the 29-point victory.
He wanted to see how his team would respond the following night against Hamilton, and for the most part, they did just what he hoped.
“I believe in playing these type of (non-conference) games,” he said. “We learn how hard and how prepared we must continue to reach for.”
East Troy trailed 58-38 at halftime, but were outscored by just eight points in the final 18 minutes.
The Trojans’ combination of Jonathan Ciriacks and A.J. Vukovich continue to score at a high level, as they led East Troy with 25 and 20 points, respectively.
Through five games, Ciriacks, a 6-foot-5 senior, is averaging 20.6 points, with Vukovich, a 6-4 freshman right behind at 20 a game.
“They continue to stay consistently active offensively,” Rayfield said. “They are both are multi-skilled and can score in a variety of ways.”
Michael Polakoski added nine points for East Troy, followed by Nick Bourdo with eight and Jared Brehm with seven.
East Troy hosts Clinton (3-1 overall) in an RVC crossover matchup Thursday night at 7:15 p.m., followed by another tough non-conference tilt at Milwaukee Destiny Saturday at 6 p.m.
Destiny entered play this week as the state’s top-ranked Division 4 squad, according to wishoops.net.
Both will be big tests, Rayfield said.
“Clinton is a rival,” he said. “Throw out the talent and the records.
“Destiny plays at a high level. (They have) Division 1 players, and they play like a Division 1 high school. They have good size, and good, smart guards. If they are healthy, they are as good as anyone in Milwaukee. We are looking forward to the challenge.”
Trojans sweep two
Ciriacks poured in a team-high 25 points, while Vukovich added 19 to lead five Trojans in double figures in the win over Brodhead.
East Troy led by 10 points at halftime and blew things open with a 52-33 second half.
Michael Rosin and Polakoski added 12 points apiece, while Brehm had 10. Ciriacks had three 3-pointers and Brehm two.
In the week’s first game against Jefferson, Ciriacks had 19 points to lead the charge, followed by Vukovich with 15 and Polakoski with 12.
