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Sheboygan Lutheran coach Nick Verhagen could only shake his head and marvel at the outstanding performance turned in by Green Bay NEW Lutheran senior Dakota Zinser Thursday during the WIAA Division 5 State Tournament.

Zinser, an athletic 6-foot-3 wing player who will compete for coach Pat Miller and NCAA Division III powerhouse UW-Whitewater next season, poured in a career-high 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead NEW Lutheran to a 77-63 victory over Sheboygan Lutheran in the state semifinals played at the Kohl Center in Madison.

"We knew his shot is the corner three-pointer," Verhagen said. "He had two threes from the right corner and both were deflating threes for us. Credit to him. He's playing at the next level for a reason."

Zinser scored 21 of his points in the second half to help NEW Lutheran (27-1) rally from a 30-29 halftime deficit. Zinser buried a three-pointer at the end of the third period and then added another triple early in the fourth period to help the Blazers take control at 51-39.

Zinser finished four-of-five from three-point range, a far cry from the 0-for-6 showing he had from three-point range a year ago in NEW Lutheran's loss to Randolph in the Division 5 title game.

"In the first half, we took some shots we could have gotten at any time," Zinser said. "In the second half, we attacked the basket and that opened things up from the outside. Our shots were falling -- from the three, on the inside and from the foul line."

NEW Lutheran, which won the Packerland Conference title and is competing in the WIAA State Tournament for the fourth time in the past five years, shot 55 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range. The Blazers also connected on 16 of 24 free throws for 67 percent.

In addition to Zinser, NEW Lutheran got solid contributions from seniors Nathan Toenjes (6-7), who had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Kristian Zimmerman (6-3), who had 13 points and four assists.

"I call those three (Zinser, Toenjes, Zimmerman) our Big Three -- going back to the Milwaukee Bucks days," NEW Lutheran coach Mark Meerstein said, remember the Bucks' big three of Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell from the 1990s. "Those three players for us are all very talented."

 

Sheboygan Lutheran senior Tyler Zastrow came into Thursday's Division 5 state semifinal against Green Bay NEW Lutheran averaging 20.2 points per game for the Crusaders.

Thanks to the stellar work of NEW Lutheran senior point guard Kristian Zimmerman (6-3), who used his length, size and quickness to his advantage, Zastrow (5-10) managed to make just 3-of-16 shots and finished with just eight points in the Blazers' 77-63 victory.

Keeping Zastrow in check was definitely in the game plan for NEW Lutheran and was a major reason the Blazers are playing in the D5 title game for the second year in a row.

"They did a nice job of guarding Tyler," Verhagen said. "They forced him to his right hand and his shot just wasn't falling. That's tough on the big stage like this because I know how hard Tyler works."

Senior Jeff Hess (6-0) stepped up his game for Sheboygan Lutheran, which won the Central Lakeshore Conference title and finished 25-3, with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Junior sharpshooter Jake Jurss (6-0) added 20 points and six assists for the Crusaders.

Thorp senior Dakota Lindgren had it all going Thursday, leading Thorp to a 54-52 victory over Cochrane-Fountain City in a WIAA Division 5 state semifinal contest at the Kohl Center.

The athletic, active and strong 6-4 forward finished with 17 points, 16 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 steals and 4 assists to help the Cardinals (18-9) advance to Saturday's Division 5 title game against NEW Lutheran.

Afterwards, Lindgren acknowledged his big night, but he remembered one play above all his glossy statistics.

"My dunk capped things off," Lindgren said.

Actually, it was an offensive rebound with just 26 seconds left that proved to be the biggest play of the game for Lindgren.

After missing two free throws while clinging to a 52-50 lead, Lindgren zoomed in for an offensive rebound and was fouled.

This time, he sank both free throws, giving Thorp a 54-50 advantage.

"I wasn't very happy I missed those two free throws," Lindgren said. "When I saw my second shot was coming off short, nobody checked me out and it fell right into my lap."

In addition to Lindgren's huge performance, Thorp coach Rich Sonnentag felt the defense turned in by Thorp senior Eric Lewandowski (5-7) on Cochrane-Fountain City senior Garrett Marklowitz (6-0).

"Our poing guard, Eric Lewandowski, is the best defensive point guard in our league (Western Cloverbelt) and we felt he could keep Marklowitz out of the lane," Sonnentag said. "He did a great job on defense tonight."

Senior Albi Maksuti (6-2) also played well for Thorp, scoring 13 points and grabbing six rebounds.

Cochrane-Fountain City (20-8) never led in its state semifinal loss to Thorp.

But the Pirates came awfully close to leading after the final horn sounded.

Senior Cale Lisowski (5-11) had a shot from just inside the half-court line bounce off the rim in the closing moments of the game. Had the shot gone down, and it looked good out of Lisowski's hands, the Pirates would have had their first lead of the game and pulled out a memorable victory.

"Right when I put it up, I honestly thought we were going to have another miracle ending to keep going in the tournament," Lisowski said. "It just needed to go to the left a bit and it would have gone in."

Lisowski had a tough shooting night, missing all seven of his attempts from three-point range. But he did score eight points, grab four rebounds while also recording four steals and four assists.

Senior Jordan Eikamp (5-10) led the way for Cochrane-Fountain City with 17 points while Marklowitz added 12 before fouling out late.

"Offensive rebounding by Thorp was a concern for us at halftime," Cochrane-Fountain City coach Craig Baker said. "We were giving up too many second-chance points. Today we missed some box outs and that hurt us."

Still, the Pirates did a great job of battling back from an 11-3 deficit after the first period and a 13-point hole early in the fourth quarter.

"We started out a little bit lackluster," Baker said. "Their physicality in the first half disrupted our flow. But we settled down, made some shots and never quit."