Boys beat Whitewater, drop game to Turner
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A tough loss three days earlier could have snowballed a bit for the East Troy High School boys basketball team Friday night when it traveled to Whitewater.
And through the first 18 minutes, it looked like the Whippets would give the Trojans all they could handle.
From there, however, East Troy took over.
The Trojans led by just two points at halftime, but outscored the Whippets 35-22 in the second half and cruised to a 66-51 Rock Valley Conference victory.
With the win, East Troy improved to 6-6 overall and 6-3 in the RVC.
East Troy pulled away with three straight baskets late in the game that pushed the lead to 12 points.
While the win was definitely a positive, East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield said he continues to search for balance on both ends of the court.
“We had a nice bounce back (from the Turner loss),” Rayfield said. “We’re still a work in progress defensively. Somehow, we have to get connected defensively. I know we have it in us.
“We can score, but we will be like dogs that chase cars when tournament and championship games come around if we don’t start guarding.”
East Troy, which made nine 3-pointers, was led by A.J. Vukovich and Nick Bourdo with 17 points apiece, Michael Polakoski with 13 and Jonathan Ciriacks with nine points and nine rebounds.
Vukovich also grabbed eight rebounds, while Jared Brehm had eight assists.
Rayfield also was pleased with the effort of Michael Rosin off the Trojans’ bench.
“He gave us good minutes and needed depth off the bench,” Rayfield said. “He played solid.”
In the loss to Turner, East Troy ran into the two-headed buzz saw of Beloit’s Alec Fruin and Nacio Villarreal.
Fruin, a 6-foot-4 senior, who is drawing some NCAA Division I interest, poured in 46 points on 18-of-27 shooting to lead the Trojans to the 99-84 victory.
Fruin is averaging 27.7 points a game. Villarreal, who averages 24.8 points a game, had 20 points for Turner.
“(It was) two high-level offenses and low-level defenses,” Rayfield said. “We gave up 17, two-point field goals inside 14 feet to the best player in the league.”
East Troy led 48-42 at halftime, but was outscored 57-36 in the second half and never recovered.
Ciriacks led the way with 26 points, followed by Bourdo with 15, Vukovich with 14 and Brehm with 13.
“Offensively, it was extremely well done,” Rayfield said. “We shot it well and shared the ball really well. We are playing well for sure on that end.
“I love watching that part of these guys. … They sure love playing, but the challenge is to get them to understand to win, it has to be on both ends of the floor.”
