Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

By Dick Knapinski, for WisSports.net

Block Party

Sheboygan Lutheran and McDonell Central combined for 17 blocks in Thursday’s semifinal, with the Crusaders’ Sam Dekker and the Macks’ Kyle Cody each setting Division 5 game and tournament records with seven blocks apiece. Cody had six of his snuffs in the first half, including an early one on Dekker.

“That doesn’t happen very often,” Dekker said after leading the Crusaders (24-4) to a 63-61 win and a spot in Saturday’s Division 5 title game against Racine Lutheran (26-2).

Cody, who is heading to the University of Kentucky next fall to play baseball, heard the reaction to that block.

“All the guys were talking about that early in the week, whether I was going to block him or whatever,” said Cody, who averaged about four blocks per game this season. “It felt good, but I’d take a win over a block.

“The emotion after that felt great, though. The other guys were yelling and screaming.”

Game changer

Dekker finished with a huge double-double of 35 points and 16 rebounds Thursday, but it was one three-pointer with 1:15 remaining that will be his most memorable shot of the semifinal win.

With the Crusaders trailing 57-56, Dekker went up high to catch a nearly errant pass, then dropped a rainbow three from the right wing to give Sheboygan Lutheran a lead they would not relinquish.

“That was a good player hitting a tough shot,” McDonell coach Archie Sherbinow said.
It also put an exclamation point on Dekker’s second half of 21 points, including 10 straight in the third quarter.

“In the second half I knew it was a battle and I had to get my points,” Dekker said. “In the third quarter, fourth quarter, I felt I had the hot hand and could take it at the net.”

Location scouting

Dekker also played his first competitive game on the Kohl Center floor, where he’ll bring his talents next fall as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin.
“I’m looking forward to many more,” he said.

Fresh outlook

Sheboygan Lutheran’s Jake Jurss may only be a freshman, but the reserve guard came up big in the tensest moments Thursday.

Jurss, who finished with 14 points, had a steal with 1:20 that led to Dekker’s three-pointer, then hit three of four free throws in the final 29 seconds to ice the win.

“I have the confidence and I want the ball in those situations,” he said.

Next up …

Sheboygan Lutheran has the opportunity to turn around an earlier 73-55 loss to Racine Lutheran in Saturday’s championship game. This time, though it will come into the contest well rested.

“We had a game the day before (Dec. 26 against Cuba City at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout), so we weren’t well rested,” Sam Dekker said. “We know (Racine Lutheran) really gets after it defensively, so it will be a great game.”
Meanwhile, Racine Lutheran knows that they could be facing a team with a different attitude in the title match.

“Dekker’s going to be playing on his future court, so that will probably give him some adrenaline, too,” Racine Lutheran guard Ty Demuth said. “It’ll be a challenge, but we’ve got a tough team.”

Clinic is open

Even after holding Drummond to nine first-half points, including none in the second quarter during Thursday’s 64-35 semifinal win, Racine Lutheran coach Jeff Christensen wasn’t sure it was the Crusaders’ best defensive effort of the year.

“It was a clinic in the first half,” he admitted, however.

“I don’t know if it was the best ball pressure all year because we play this way pretty much all the time. Some teams might be a little bit better ball handling, but this is what we do.”

Meanwhile, Drummond coach Josh Hansen admitted his team hadn’t seen anything like Racine Lutheran’s defense, which limited the Lumberjacks to 31 percent shooting.

“They’re so aggressive attacking on the ball,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve seen anything that much on our face.”

No easing off

Even though Racine Lutheran had emptied its entire bench by the middle of the third quarter as its second-half lead approached 40 points, the Crusaders knew they couldn’t get sloppy.

“I said at halftime that we had a big lead and (the starters) would play a little bit in the second half, but we’re going to play the way we’ve been taught,” Christensen said. “They don’t want to feel the wrath of me if they do something fundamentally wrong.”

Memorable moment

Even in the lopsided loss in which the Lumberjacks admitted they may have been a little overwhelmed and intimidated by the state experience, 6-foot-6 junior forward Ben Best added one play to his highlight reel.

Best took an alley-oop pass from Mitch Bonk early in the fourth quarter and slammed home a dunk to give the Drummond crowd something to cheer about.

“That works most of the time,” said Best, who finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds. “If we could have executed a couple of plays like that in the first and second quarters, we probably would have played a lot better.”

Name game

Racine Lutheran’s Demuth and Clay Stevens were asked if they gave Crusaders point guard Pete Drummond any grief about playing a school by the same name.

“He laughed about it,” Stevens said. “He said he wants a Drummond T-shirt.”


The WIAA announced the attendance of the D5 afternoon session as 6,963.