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D2 championship notes
By Dick Knapinski
For Wishoops.net

Division 2: Blue Dukes shoot way to top

Most expected a shooting display in the Division 2 title game Saturday night. It was not Merrill’s Paul Jesperson who provided the most thrills, though, but instead Whitefish Bay’s Ron Patten.

Patten scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting as the Blue Dukes won their third state championship since 1996 by shooting 56 percent from the field.

“That one shot early gets me going, and my coaches and teammates always tell me to let the shots come to me,” said Patten, who had three three-pointers as part of his total.

“Jesperson was kind of overplaying me so I back cut on that. It opened me up and opened up the gaps to get me some big shots.”

Merrill’s standout, meanwhile, struggled with a 6-for-26 night from the field but still finished with a game-high 22 points.

“I thought a lot of those looks were in and out. I don’t know if I wasn’t getting enough legs or what but I was trying to be aggressive,” said Jesperson, who was 3-of-18 in the second half.

“(Paul) was doing exactly what I asked him to do,” Merrill coach Kurt Soderberg said. “We’ve asked him to do that before. It was a slippery slope; the more we got down, the more we relied on him. The more we relied on him, the harder it got for him.”

Picking it up

A more up-tempo game was a major part of Whitefish Bay’s plan in the second half, as they tried to force transition on the Bluejays.

“We thought it could be to our advantage,” said Blue Dukes coach Kevin Lazovik, who played on the school’s 1996 Division 2 state championship team. “We thought if we played faster it would be good for us, and we did that.”

A big move

Early foul trouble on Jamie Schneck and Cal Ehrke forced Lazovik to look down his bench, where another big body was waiting to enter. Senior Jack Beck, a 6-5, 270-pound forward who is bound for Drake University to play football.

“He comes in and contributes, and he had to play more than we had planned prior to the game, but he came up huge,” Lazovik said without meaning the pun. “He’s a big young man. It was good to see that battle of the football players in there.”

Beck, who scored five points in seven minutes, was matched up against Merrill’s Sam Arneson, who is heading back to Madison to play football at the University of Wisconsin next fall.

Bench coach

A man well versed in state titles was a special help to the Blue Dukes this weekend, as former Milwaukee Lincoln coach Jim Smallins was on the bench for Whitefish Bay.

“For him to be a big part of another state championship was another great thing,” Lazovik said of Smallins, who lead Lincoln to state championships in 1966 and 1967.

Turning point

On Feb. 11, The Blue Dukes lost 51-45 to Grafton, one of just six games the Blackhawks would win this season. It was a decision junction for the Dukes.

“We knew that we didn’t want it like the Grafton game again,” said sophomore Kelin Johnson, who chipped in 17 points Saturday. “Each and every one of us needed to play hard in practice after that.”

Point of no return

Soderberg saw the Bluejays’ chances to win the state title drifting away in Saturday’s second half, despite the best efforts of the Merrill sideline.

“You’ve all felt it as athletes where it was slipping fast,” he said of the second half when Whitefish Bay built its lead. “When we hit the point, it was palpable. Until the point, it was like we just hadn’t played well in the first half. We were two-of-seven in the first half and guys missed free throws who usually don’t miss free throws. But still we were just down by three.”

Special visitor

University of Virginia coach, and former Green Bay Preble and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay standout Tony Bennett came to Madison this weekend to see Jesperson play. The Merrill senior is committed to the Cavaliers next season.

“For him to come here even after I had committed to him, I thought that was a real great thing,” Jesperson said.

Quotable

“I dated the prettiest girl I could and I married that girl. Anytime you have a great player, you struggle where guys are trying to score and contribute. But we’re counting on him to do stuff.” – Soderberg on relying on Jesperson to lead Merrill’s offense.