By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Last week’s Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout at Concordia University gave every hoops junkie plenty to enjoy.
And it also may have been a preview of things to come when the season comes to an end in Madison.
At least that’s the East Troy boys basketball team is hoping for.
The Trojans split a pair of exciting, hard-fought games to see their record move to 7-2 overall. East Troy edged Milwaukee Riverside 52-50 the first night, followed by a 56-53 loss to Little Chute Friday.
Little Chute entered the weekend as the state’s top-ranked Division 3 program, while East Troy was ranked second.
The game certainly didn’t disappoint the packed house at Concordia.
“It was a sectional final atmosphere, that’s for sure,” East Troy coach Daryl Rayfield said. “The place was packed. We didn’t play so well for about two minutes. It was a little bit worse than their best two minutes.”
East Troy led by eight points in the third quarter, but had what Rayfield said were four bad possessions that helped Little Chute get back in the game.
Neither team could build much of a lead throughout the contest. East Troy led 14-11 after the first quarter and 26-22 at halftime.
Little Chute rallied in the second half, however, with a 34-27 advantage to earn the three-point victory.
Nate Dodge led the way with 19 points, followed by Brett Prahl with 17 and Alex Prahl with 11. Rayfield also lauded the play of Will Iloncaie, especially on defense.
“It was just a great, great game to find out where we are at,” Rayfield said. “I like where at. Now, can we continue that somehow?”
The first game of the tournament followed a similar script – hard fought to the end.
Dodge tied the game with Riverside when he drained a 3-pointer with 1:02 left, followed by the game-winning layup by Matt Kaminski on the Trojans’ next possession.
Kaminski gave East Troy a spark with a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
Riverside jumped out to a 15-9 lead after the first quarter before East Troy tied the game at 22-22 by halftime.
After Riverside regained the lead by six points in the third quarter, the Trojans answered with a 10-point advantage in the fourth to hang on for the win.
Dodge had a team-high 19 points, followed by Brett Prahl with 13, Kaminski with 10 and Alex Prahl with eight.
Rayfield continues to be pleased with the efforts of both Prahls, who are each headed to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee next year to continue their basketball careers.
“(They) are playing really, really well,” he said. “They are playing Division 1 basketball right now. (UW-Milwaukee) got a steal with those guys. They got a two-for-one there.”
Back to the RVC
East Troy take a 6-0 Rock Valley Conference mark into a home game against Whitewater Friday night. The Trojans also will host Pewaukee Monday, Jan. 7, at 7:15 p.m.
Whitewater entered this week at 1-9 overall and 1-5 in the RVC, while Pewaukee is 9-3 overall and leads the Woodland West standings at 6-2.
Rayfield said he hopes to use both games to establish other players on his team as scoring threats to go with Dodge and the Prahl twins.
Doing that will help the Trojans when the games start to mean more later in the season, he said.
“What we’re going to try to do is have three or four other guys, other than the three main guys, between now and tournament time to get some consistent scoring,” Rayfield said.
