Boys head into playoffs, girls end season in regionals
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The East Troy High School boys basketball team managed to navigate quite the non-conference schedule during the regular season.
And with that 23-game slate now complete, the Trojans have their sights set on a WIAA Division 2 Tournament run.
East Troy closed out the regular season at 17-6 with a 2-1 record in its final three games. The Trojans wrapped up the three-game week with a 68-62 loss Feb. 12 to visiting West Allis Hale.
That loss came on the heels of an 85-51 win Feb. 10 over Kingdom Prep Lutheran, followed by a 62-51 win Feb. 11 over Beloit Turner.
“I’m really happy with (how we fared against) the tough schedule,” East Troy coach Darryl Rayfield said. “It was really nice to be able to do that because of all the stuff that was going on (this season), obviously.
“We really played well, and I think it’s going to help us here (in the tournament). To try and get to where we want to get to, I think it’s going to help us. It really made us aware of some things we had to do to become more complete as a basketball team.”
The Trojans drew the No. 2 seed in the regional tournament and now await the winner of a first-round matchup between third-seeded New Berlin Eisenhower and sixth-seeded New Berlin West. East Troy will host the regional semifinal Friday at 7 p.m.
Pewaukee is the top seed in the regional and will host either fourth-seeded Waukesha Catholic Memorial or fifth-seeded Wilmot in the second round. Pewaukee is ranked second in Division 2 by WisSports.net.
The regional final is set for Saturday.
Rayfield said Pewaukee is a legitimate threat to win the state title.
“It’s going to be really, really challenging,” he said. “Pewaukee, I think can win the state championship in any division. They are that good. To not have them on a neutral site is going to be very difficult for anybody who is in our bracket.”
Ryan Nixon led the way against West Allis Central with 23 points, followed by Colin Terpstra with 15, Dayne Lindow with nine, Michael Schaefer with eight and Chase Cummings with seven.
East Troy was just 5-for-28 from behind the 3-point line. The Trojans had a two-point lead with eight minutes left, but turnovers and several missed possessions turned the tide the other way.
Big first halves were the key in the two wins this past week.
East Troy, which finished Rock Valley Conference play undefeated – an overall champion wasn’t crowned this year because of the pandemic – opened up a 29-16 lead over Turner and never looked back.
Cummings led three players in double figures with 19 points, followed by Nixon with 16, Terpstra with 15 and Schaefer with nine.
In the first game of the week, the Trojans built a 44-23 first-half lead over Kingdom Prep Luther and cruised from there.
Cummings and Nixon had 28 and 26 points, respectively, followed by Terpstra with 14.
Girls fall in opener
The East Troy girls basketball team’s season ended with a 59-56 Division 2 regional loss last week at Whitewater.
Whitewater led by three points at halftime and made that stand up the rest of the way.
Emma Scurek led the way with 24 points, followed by Lauren Lindow with nine points, Riley Pluess with eight, Emily Aleckson with seven and Morgan Golabowski with six.
