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Boys Basketball Alumni Round-up: February 13th

02/13/2020, 3:00pm CST
By Colton Wilson

Many high school basketball standouts in Wisconsin go on to big things at the college level and in the pros, and this is our spot to recognize those athletes each week and help you keep up with what is going down on some of your favorite players from the past. If you have alumni news, please send it to Colton Wilson by 6 p.m. on Mondays

Alumni Update

Last week we started the article highlighting the youngest and oldest alumni from the state of Wisconsin to be playing in the NBA. This week, a pair of high school rivals, now potential NBA teammates will kick things off.

Matt Thomas graduated from Onalaska High School two years before Rice Lake’s Henry Ellenson. That didn’t keep the two from squaring off in high profile matchups in their prep careers. In both Thomas’ junior and senior season, his Onalaska Hilltoppers ended Ellenson’s Rice Lake squad’s season in the sectional semi-finals.

Fast forward seven years and Thomas, the 2012-13 WSN Shooter Award winner and Ellenson, the 2014-15 WSN Wing Award winner are a part of the same professional organization.

Matt took a different path in his pursuit of the NBA dream. After graduating from Iowa State in 2017, Matt spent two seasons playing overseas in Spain where he honed his craft. This past July, he signed a three year contract with the Toronto Raptors. This past Saturday, Matt had a career high 15 points off the bench as Toronto took down the Nets 119-118.

Unlike Matt, Henry spent only one year in college, attending Marquette, and went on to be drafted eighteenth overall in the 2016 draft by the Detroit Pistons. After three seasons spent between the G-League and the NBA roster, he was released and signed with the New York Knicks. He then signed a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets before being dealt to the Toronto Raptor’s G-League affiliate, the Raptors 905. Since joining the Raptors 905, Henry has averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds, dominating at that level.

With Ellenson’s production, it may be sooner than not, that the once rivals take the court in the NBA as teammates.

Speaking of rivalries, Storm Murphy attended Middleton High School where his Cardinals squared off with Rod Johnson and the Cardinals of Sun Prairie three times in their prep career. All three times, Murphy and Middleton came away with victories.

Johnson now attends Chattanooga University and Murphy is at Southern Conference rival Wofford. This past week Rod scored 18 points as Chattanooga beat Wofford 84-77. Murphy had 15 points for the Terriers. Despite Storm getting the best of Rod in high school, Rod is 2-0 in his matchups with Storm in their collegiate careers.

Te’Jon Lucas has been playing at a high level since his arrival at UW-Milwaukee. The former Milwaukee Washington High School standout, and 2015-16 WSN Point Guard Award winner, had a career high day this past week. In an 80-79 overtime thrilling win over IUPUI, Lucas had a career high 31 points and 12 rebounds. He demonstrated his clutch ability by scoring six of Milwaukee’s seven points in the overtime period. Te’Jon was named the Horizon League Player of the Week for his top notch play.

Brandon Myer of Superior High School went and earned his third Northern Sun Conference Player of the Week honors this past week as Minnesota-Duluth picked up a pair of wins. First in a 73-67 win over Augustana, Brandon had 26 points and nine rebounds. He followed that up with 21 points and nine rebounds in a 91-70 win over Wayne State. Brandon added seven assists and seven blocks in the two games.

The University of Wisconsin Badgers have been an extremely up and down team this season. Thankfully De Pere High School’s own Brevin Pritzl has upped his assertiveness lately. In a 70-57 win over Ohio State, Brevin scored a team high 19 points, connecting on five triples. The confidence exuded on the court as he upped his season shooting percentage to 40% from beyond the arc.

Despite an 87-60 loss to Minnesota State-Mankato, the Bemidji State boys basketball team had something to celebrate. Logan Bader, a Unity High School grad, scored 13 points in the loss and in doing so crossed the 1,000 point mark in his collegiate career.

Cedarburg alum Jordan Johnson has had an impressive three year career at Concordia-Wisconsin. Having already joined the 1,000 point club, Jordan garnered his first NACC Player of the Week honors this season. In an 85-71 win over MSOE, Jordan had 23 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. For an encore, he had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists despite a 78-73 loss to Lakeland College.

Brown Deer High School alum Devante Jackson has been a constant steadying force for Grambling University. Jackson, the 2013-14 WSN Post Award winner, tallied a season high 23 points in a 66-62 win over Southern University. Devante added nine rebounds and three blocks in the victory.

It’s been stated many times over and over what an incredible freshman season 2018-19’s Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin is having at Southern Illinois. Marcus Domask, a Waupun grad, added to already impressive campaign with a miraculous game winner in a 68-66 win over Missouri State. Tied with 1.6 seconds left in overtime, Marcus took a three-quarter court pass and buried a 20 foot jumper with two guys in his face as time expired. He was named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Newcomer of the Week for the second time in three weeks.

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