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WSN15: Boys Basketball Top Moments #11 -- St. Catherine's dominant in winning five state titles in six years

01/23/2018, 11:15am CST
By Mark Miller

The WSN15 series will celebrate the 15th Anniversary of WisSports.net by looking back at the top players, teams, and moments of the past 15 years (2003-2017). 

We begin our WSN15 boys' basketball series with the Top 15 Moments of the WSN Era.

From March of 2005 until March of 2011, the boys' basketball program at St. Catherine's High School in Racine played a total of 12 games at the WIAA State Tournament in the Kohl Center in Madison.

The Angels won 11 of those games, including state championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 with a runner-up finish in 2011. 

That's five state titles and one runner-up finish in a seven-year period for the school located in the heart of Racine on Park Avenue. 

Long-time St. Catherine's coach Bob Letsch was the architect behind those tremendous St. Catherine's teams. His five WIAA state titles, along with the three state crowns he won in the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association, ranks second in state history to the 10 state titles won by coach Bob Haffele of Randolph. 

Letsch demanded patience on offense and aggressive man-to-man defense out of his players and they performed at an incredibly high level in beating Seymour (2005), Westby (2006), Aquinas (2007, 2009) and Regis (2010) in state-title games.

St. Catherine's more often than not was dominant in racking up its state titles. The Angels set a Division 3 state record that still holds today for largest margin of victory in a championship game when they defeated Westby 68-29 in 2006. That St. Catherine's team finished 27-0 and was led by forwards Devron Bostick, who went on to play at Minnesota, and James Haarsma, who played at Evansville and Milwaukee. 

In addition to Bostick and Haarsma, other St. Catherine's players during the period from 2005-11 who went on to play at the NCAA Division I level included Cordero Barkley (Green Bay), Jordan Fouse (Green Bay), Patrick Souter (Milwaukee), Jake Thomas (South Dakota and Marquette) and Steve McWhorter (Indiana State and Milwaukee).

Dominican was the lone school to defeat St. Catherine's at the regional or sectional level during that seven-year period as the Knights toppled the Angels in a sectional final in 2008. 

Letsch, who retired following the 2015-16 season with 661 career wins in 37 years as the Angels' head coach, is the second winningest coach in the history of Wisconsin high school basketball behind Cuba City's Jerry Petitgoue. 

WSN15 Top Moments Countdown:

#15 - Catholic Memorial's Bray fills out stat sheet
#14 - Madison Memorial outlasting De Pere in 3 OTs to win 2011 Division 1 title
#13 - Jesperson erupts in 4th period to help Merrill upend Waunakee
#12 - LaDew drills three-pointer in closing seconds to give CMH title
#11 - St. Catherine's dominant in winning 5 state titles in 6 years
#10 - Coming Soon...
#9 - Coming Soon...
#8 - Coming Soon...
#7 - Coming Soon...
#6 - Coming Soon...
#5 - Coming Soon...
#4 - Coming Soon...
#3 - Coming Soon...
#2 - Coming Soon...
#1 - Coming Soon...

For the latest and most up to date boys' basketball news and recruiting information, follow Mark on Twitter @wisbbyearbook. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Mark at wbnews@yahoo.com.

Tag(s): News Archive  BBB News  Mark Miller  WSN15