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Defense, defense, defense.

Roncalli used its sticky, aggressive defense to stay within striking distance of Marshall for most of the second half, and then the Jets got hot from the field in the last seven minutes of the game to pull out a 50-43 come-from-behind triumph over Marshall in a WIAA Division 4 State Tournament semifinal Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Roncalli ended the game on a 14-0 run to advance to Saturday's Division 4 title game against Milwaukee Academy of Science.

"We don't shoot it as well as some of our teams from the past, but we get after it on the gritty end of the court," Roncalli coach Joe Garceau said. "This team knows defense is where we hang our hats."

Roncalli, which improved to 25-3 and will play in a state-title game for the second time in school history after winning the 2018 Division 4 championship, held Marshall without a point for the final 4:13 of the contest.

After reserve Kenyon Miggins scored on a contested layup to put Marshall up 43-36, Roncalli used two straight Cardinal turnovers to its advantage. 

Junior Brayden Yanda made a baseline three-point shot off an assist from Reece Stangel, and then senior Luke Pautz came up with a steal and layup to pull Roncalli wthin 43-41 with 2:46 left.

After another Marshall turnover, Ryan Fischer made a triple from the right baseline to give Roncalli its first lead since early in the first half at 44-43.

Moments later, Pautz got position on Bryce Frank to score off an inbounds pass and Roncalli led 46-43. After a Marshall timeout, Craig Ward's three-point attempt was well off the mark, Pautz grabbed the rebound and threw a long pass to Fischer, who converted a layup to put Roncalli in charge at 48-43 with 17 seconds left.

"They doubled the ball and switched on to me," Ward said of his three-point try that would have tied the game. "I didn't get a good look. It was a contested shot and, unfortunately, it didn't go in."

Ward, a terrific player for Marshall the past four seasons, led the Cardinals with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Seniors Reed Truschinski and Cole Denniston added 11 and 10 points, respectively. 

Roncalli got 20 points, 14 rebounds and four assists from Pautz, who overcame an 0-for-6 showing from three-point range to make huge plays down the stretch on both ends of the court. 

"I thought we made (Pautz) work for everything he got tonight," Marshall coach Dan Denniston said. "We tried to make somebody else beat us."

Three-point shots in the final seven minutes by Stangel, Yanda and Fischer were instrumental in Roncalli's comeback as were the turnovers committed by Marshall.

"It's a hard one because I thought we had control of the game and we let it slip away," coach Denniston said. "We had a couple of turnovers on top that led to easy baskets. We jsut kind of wore out."

Credit Roncalli's pressure defense for 36 minutes for the Cardinals' late-game miscues.

"We've been down this season, but we've always relied on our defense," Garceau said. "It's not easy to get guys to buy in to playing on that end of the court, but these guys do."

You kind of sensed it would come and when it did, it was impressive.

It also all but settled the issue in the semifinal game between Milwaukee Academy of Science and Cameron at the WIAA Division 4 State Tournament.

Leading 19-13 with 9 minutes, 16 seconds left in the opening half, Milwaukee Academy of Science went on an impressive 18-0 scoring spree over the next four minutes to take complete control of the game at 37-13.

Several turnovers against MAS's full-court pressure led to layups and dunks for the victors, who led 48-30 at half on the way to an 86-59 conquest.

"Wow," Cameron coach Troy LaVallie said. "Milwaukee Academy of Science is really tough. We came in and told our kids we have to keep them in front of us and rebound. I think they had four or five rebounds on the first few possessions. We just couldn't match their length and athleticism."

MAS, which improved to 23-5 and advanced to its first WIAA title game, forced 18 turnovers and scored a whopping 29 points off of those miscues.

"Cameron came in and challenged us and we were up to the challenge," MAS coach Agape Keys said. "I thought we played very well with our pressure tonight and creating turnovers."

MAS had 12 players log 10 or more minutes and had four players reach double figures -- Nacir Beamon (17), Davion Hannah (14), Tayshawn Bridges (11) and Jaquawen Overton-Allen (10).

In addition to their balanced offensive attack, MAS registered a 49-41 advantage on the glass with Hannah leading the way with 12 rebounds. 

Hannah, a 6-foot-6 freshman, was the beneficary of some excellent passes from the MAS guards and Bridges and Beamon each recorded three assists.

Cameron, which graduated eight seniors from last year's club and finished the campaign with a 19-8 record, got solid performances from sophomore Tyson Lucas (6-0), who finished with 23 points, and junior Grant Paetzold (5-11), who finished with 19 points. Sophomore Brady Quinn (6-2) had 15 rebounds for the Comets.

The MAS lead grew to as many as 33 points in the second half as the Novas continued to apply pressure defense and force Cameron to play at a fast pace.

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