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Lakeside Lutheran pulls out OT victory over South Milwaukee

12/03/2022, 11:15am CST
By Mark Miller

With the game on the line and the final seconds ticking off the clock, Levi Birkholz trusted his teammate. 

Down 70-67 to visiting South Milwaukee, the 6-foot-4 Birkholz had the ball on the top of the key, drove the lane and then kicked the ball out to teammate Trey Lauber.

Lauber took the pass, rose up for a three-point shot and hit nothing but net, sending this non-conference thriller into overtime and the Lakeside Lutheran student section into hysteria.

The Warriors then took over in overtime to register a 79-75 victory in a game that featured plenty of momentum swings and stellar performances by a pair of potential All-State players. 

Birkholz, who has committed to NCAA Division I The Citadel, scored 33 points for Lakeside Lutheran while Jake Dunham, a skilled wing player who has committed to Division II Parkside, made eight three-point shots and scored 36 points for South Milwaukee.  

Impressive comeback for 2-0 Lakeside Lutheran


Levi Birkholz

The Warriors trailed 41-28 at intermission, but closed the gap to 57-54 with 7:51 remaining on a two-handed dunk by Birkholz. 

South Milwaukee (1-1) then rode some impressive plays from senior Booka Sidibe to grab a 67-56 advantage with 4:44 remaining.

Lakeside Lutheran, though, continued to fight and made a strong run after Dunham fouled out. A big three-point basket by Ethan Schuetz helped the Warriors and set the stage for Lauber's game-tying triple. 

"What a heck of a game," Lakeside Lutheran coach Todd Jahns said. "To give up 41 points in the first half, that's not very good defense. Part of it was Dunham playing so well. He couldn't miss. 

"The talent on our team is there. But the mental part needs to grow. In the second half, we saw some of that growth. We had guys step up into roles they aren't always comfortable with."

No other player on the Lakeside Lutheran roster stepped up more than Birkholz, who scored 24 of his points after intermission. Birkholz made 12-of-22 shots from the floor, had two impressive dunks and made the biggest pass of the night to Lauber.  


Trey Lauber

"Levi felt confident in his teammate on that pass," Jahns said. "That's Levi's MO (modus operandi), that's the way he plays. He will try to do too much at times and he attracts so much defensive attention. But he's a gamer. He wants the ball in his hands at crunch time."

Lauber, a three-year varsity performer, was stellar as well, finishing with 21 points, making the huge triple and also swishing all six of his foul shots.

"Ethan is very steady," Jahns said. "He was known as a shooter in the past, but he also physical and rebounds well. He has such a passion to compete and help his team succeed. He missed a few open threes earlier in the game, but he hit the one that helped us win the game."

The Warriors used pressure defense that at times extended to the full court in their stirring rally. Jahns also made liberal use of a deep bench, an asset that may have caught South Milwaukee as the game progressed.

"I thought they showed some signs of fatigue late in the game," Jahns said. "At the end, I thought we had fresher legs."

Despite loss, outlook is bright for South Milwaukee

The improvement of Dunham over the past 12 months is apparent. He has added some weight and strength to his rangy 6-foot-5 frame. He also has improved his perimeter shooting skill.

By halftime, Dunham had 24 points, a total he quickly increased to 34 points in the second half. Foul issues and missing on four of his final five field-goal attempts slowed Dunham and the Rockets, but their strong showing Friday against a quality opponent bears well for the rest of the season.

"Lakeside Lutheran is a good team and Todd is a great coach," South Milwaukee coach Lance Marifke said. "As for Jake, we've seen what he did tonight in the past, but it was always in practice. He has taken a big step for his senior season. He's  big-game player and a big-shot maker for our team."

Dunham, who connected on eight-of-13 tries from outside the arc, came one point shy of tying his career high and increased his four-year varsity point total to 1,155.

Sidibe, a quick and shifty 6-foot-1 senior point guard, did not play last season, but turned in a very strong showing while playing almost all of the game. He finished with 16 points, but also ran the Rockets' offense and defended Birkholz at times on the other end. 

Sophomore Logan Laine (6-6) also performed well for South Milwaukee. He opened the game with a top-of-the-key three-point basket and finished with 13 points for South Milwaukee. 

"Booka is a very good player for us," said Marifke, who had three players in street clothes on the bench due to injury. "Logan started every game for us last year and has improved greatly while also adding a few inches in the past 12 months."

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