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A couple of things factored into Wisconsin Lutheran's convincing 64-44 victory over West De Pere Friday afternoon in a WIAA Division 2 State Tournament semifinal at the Kohl Center in Madison.

First and foremost, the Vikings put incredible defensive pressure on the Phantoms from opening tip until the final buzzer. It helped to account for 24 West De Pere turnovers that led to 24 Wiscnsin Lutheran points.

In addition, Wisconsin Lutheran jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game. And though West De Pere managed to get within four points early in the third period, it could never catch the Vikings. 

"We knew they would be fast, but they were faster than we thought," West De Pere coach Andy Werner said. "We thought we needed to get off to a good start, and we didn't. Everything was dictacted by that slow start."

Wisconsin Lutheran (25-2), which lost to Pulaski in last year's Division 2 title game, put pressure on West De Pere senior Chandler Diekvoss (6-5) from endline to endline and eventually wore down the Richmond recruit.

"We wanted to make sure we put good pressure on No. 22 (Diekvoss) right from the get go," Wisconsin Lutheran coach Ryan Walz said. "He is a huge part of their team. We wanted to put pressure on him full court and wear him down." 

Diekvoss, who took over the point-guard duties for West De Pere after a mid-season injury to junior Jessie Owens, finished with seven turnovers and scored just four points, well below his season average of 15.8 points per game.

"We conditioned a lot this week so we could keep the pressure up the whole time," Wisconsin Lutheran junior Anthony Carver said. "And that is what we were able to do today."

The Vikings' quickness really hindered West De Pere in the third period. After Aaron Fink converted a three-point play with 5:23 left in the quarter to help the Phantoms close within 36-32, Wisconsin Lutheran went on a 10-0 run that was fueled, in part, by seven West De Pere turnovers.

"(Wisconsin Lutheran) was very aggressive," said West De Pere junior Cody Schwartz, who led his team in scoring with 15 points. "You can't really simulate that in practice. We haven't seen that good of pressure or that disciplined a team all year."

Wisconsin Lutheran (25-2) is excited to play in the Division 2 title game for the second straight year and for the third time over the past six years.

Taking on sensational 6-foot-10 junior Henry Ellenson and his talented teammates from Rice Lake will be both a huge opportunity and an enormous challenge.

But Walz says the Vikings will stay true to form and rely heavily on their pressure defense and unselfish offense.

"I believe you have to stay true to yourself," Walz said when asked about his gameplan for Saturday's title game. "Maybe tomorrow, we will mix things up a little bit on defense. We'll see if we have the legs to pressure full court the entire game."

Four players reached double figures for Wisconsin Lutheran in its win over West De Pere.

Carver led the way with 15 points, while senior CJ Polk added 13 and seniors Keith Franklin and Jamare' Griffin contributed 10 apiece.

Rice Lake never trailed after the first period of its Division 2 state semifinal game against upstart Greendale.

But the Panthers (19-9) made things interesting in the Kohl Center by twice rallying from deficits to forge deadlocks with the favored Warriors (23-2).

After trailing by as many as 15 points in the second period, Greendale came out of halftime on fire and used a 12-2 run to tie the game at 36. 

Then in the fourth period, after again falling behind the Warriors, Greendale tied the game for the sixth time at 53 on a three-point basket by Braxton Joehnk.

But Rice Lake made all the plays down the stretch as junior point guard Ben Widdes (6-0), senior wing Shawn Magee (6-4) and Ellenson were simply too much for the Panthers to overcome as the Warriors posted a 70-58 triumph.

Widdes, an intelligent point guard with excellent court vision, finished the game with 14 points and seven assists. His contribution to Rice Lake's victory did not go unnoticed by his teammates.

"Ben is a big playmaker," said Ellenson, who finished with 21 points and a whopping 22 rebounds. "He's able to find kids well. He can also knock down some shots."

Magee, who finished with 18 points and seven assists, agreed with Ellenson's assessment of Widdes.

"He's a big-time playmaker for us," Magee said. "Ben locks in defensively and is always able to find the open player."

Ellenson was certainly a marked player for Rice Lake as Greendale went with a box-in-one defense and rotated players on the dominating junior.

While Greendale was able to hold Ellenson in check, at least to some degree, through three quarters, Ellenson broke lose in the final period, scoring nine of his points over the final eight minutes.

"I thought both Mitch Brees and Chris Carloni did a tremendous job of face-guarding him," Greendale coach Ryan Johnsen said. "Yeah, he had 21 points and 22 rebounds, but he worked his butt off to get them.

"I do think we wore down a bit, though. It's tough to contain a kid like that for 32 minutes."

As hard as it is to believe, Greendale senior Jordan Perez (6-4) remains without a scholarship offer from a NCAA Division I school.

The talented wing player has some offers from several Division II schools, but Johnsen has been telling anybody who will listen all season that Perez is worthy of a DI scholarshp.

After Perez's impressive showing on the big stage otherwise known as the WIAA State Tournament, it would be hard to argue against Johnsen's assessment.

Perez finished the game with 26 points, making 10 of 22 shots from the floor and 2 of 6 from three-point range. He added seven rebounds and three assists in his final prep game.

"Jordan's had a heck of a season," Johnsen said. "He had the opportunity to play on the big stage and he shined."