Boys have five named to all-conference teams
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A convincing run to the Rock Valley Conference championship led to a number of postseason honors for the East Troy boys basketball team.
East Troy, which lost in a WIAA Division 3 state semifinal last week, landed five boys on All-RVC teams, while longtime coach Darryl Rayfield was named co-Coach of the Year.
Leading the way was sophomore A.J. Vukovich, who earned first-team and Player of the Year honors. Vukovich also was voted to the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association’s Division 3 All-State Team.
Stories on Vukovich’s All-State honor and Rayfield’s RVC co-Coach of the Year honor will be in next week’s edition.
Junior Michael Polakoski also was named to the first team, while second-team picks were seniors Logan Mitchell and Jered Brehm. Senior Nick Bourdo was named honorable mention.
Vukovich averaged 20.7 points a game for the Trojans, and with two years remaining, there’s no telling how good he can be, Rayfield said.
“I think his best basketball is still way ahead of him,” he said. “Because his basketball IQ is so high, the game really comes easy for him.
“He plays so hard for a sophomore. I’ve never seen a sophomore kid play so hard. His work ethic is off the charts. He’s one of those special guys. You don’t have to worry about him working, because he’ll always be working.”
Vukovich already has committed to play NCAA Division I baseball at Louisville, but Rayfield knows he will continue to find time to hone his skills in both sports.
“It’s nice to see a multi-sport kid do really, really well and still manage his time to get both of them in,” Rayfield said. “It can be done.”
Polakoski averaged 13.6 points a game en route to his first-team selection.
“He’s a really, really good shooter,” Rayfield said. “His greatest asset is he’s really good in the open court. He shoots with range and is very athletic. It doesn’t matter if you’re up 10 or down 10, he’s just very level-headed.
“Later in the year, we asked him to do more defensively. He became a better defender as the year went on, which made him more complete.”
Mitchell finished with 7.5 points a game, but it was defense where he made his mark, Rayfield said.
“He guarded everybody’s best player,” Rayfield said. “He sacrificed offense all year to guard the other team’s best offensive player. He did a little bit of everything for us.”
Brehm, the team’s point guard, scored 5.6 points a game, but he was the one who got things going offensively for the Trojans, who were 17-1 in the RVC and 21-6 overall.
“He drove the bus,” Rayfield said. “He’s a gym rat. I felt like he was the best ball handler in the league. He had a really good senior year.”
Bourdo scored at a 10.5-per game clip, and could have been at least a second-team pick, Rayfield said.
“He probably should have been a second teamer, but it’s hard to get five guys,” he said. “He’s just as valuable. He had a double-double (average with points and rebounds). He gave us his best basketball the last month and a half of the year.”
All-Rock Valley Conference
Boys Basketball Teams
First Team – A.J. Vukovich (so., East Troy), Zach Mielke (sr., Evansville), Trevon Chislom (jr., McFarland), Dai Vontrelle Strong (so., Beloit Turner), Jacob Fox (sr., Edgerton), Daniel Fuller (sr., Whitewater), Michael Polakoski (jr., East Troy).
Second team – Logan Mitchell (sr., East Troy), Donovan Cone (sr., Edgerton), Stephen Dillard (jr., Turner), Logan Eischeid (jr., Big Foot), Phillip Robinson (jr., McFarland), Zack Peterson (sr., Jefferson), Jered Brehm (sr., East Troy).
Honorable Mention – Big Foot: Heath Dillenbeck; Brodhead: Parker Johnson, Brekan Day; Clinton: Zach Krause, Caleb Gracyalny; Edgerton: Alec Johnson, Clayton Jenny; East Troy: Nick Bourdo; Evansville: Sulley Geske, Seth Maag; Jefferson: Ben Sukow, James Monogue; McFarland: Brady Butler, Hunter Patchin; Turner: D.J. Wash, Sereno Ferone; Whitewater: Bryce Parrish, Roberto Navejas.
Player of the Year – A.J. Vukovich, East Troy. Coaches of the Year – Darryl Rayfield, East Troy; Daryl Fox, Edgerton.
