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Gosz, Rufus King have great respect for Germantown
 
Milwaukee Rufus King coach Jim Gosz has won four WIAA state titles during his long and highly successful career at the school.
 
He knows a good basketball team when he sees one.
 
And moments after his Generals defeated Oshkosh North 59-40 in a semifinal game of the WIAA Division 1 State Tournament Friday at the Kohl Center, Gosz turned his attention to today’s state-title game matchup against unbeaten Germantown.
 
“(Germantown) is legitimate,” Gosz said. “Germantown and King can play with any high school – regular high school not these department-store high schools – in the country.
 
“Looking at Germantown, they may resemble the Harlem Globetrotters, but we are not the Washington Generals. We just have to hit some shots and do what we do best. Hopefully, we’ll hit some shots and have them chasing us a bit.”
 
King (24-1) made 46 percent of its field-goal attempts against Oshkosh North (19-8), including 55 percent in the second half, but it was their swarming defense that was the difference.

King forced 27 turnovers and outsocred the Spartans, 18-0, in fast-break points and 32-9 in points off of turnovers.
 
King players eager to take on Germantown
 
Junior point guard Austin Malone-Mitchell (5-11) had 13 points and six assists against Oshkosh North and senior forward Arroyo Edwards (6-5) added 15 points.
 
Both players said they are looking forward to the challenge of playing Germantown, but they are also a bit weary about trying to contain the Warhawks’ huge frontline of senior Dan Studer (6-7), junior Luke Fischer (6-10) and sophomores Evan Wesenberg (6-6) and Jon Averkamp (6-6).
 
“We have to box out and play hard,” Malone-Mitchell said. “We need to come out with some intensity and I think we’ll be fine.”
 
When asked what concerned him most about playing Germantown, Edwards didn’t hesitate with an answer.
 
“I think it’s their size,” he said. “They have two bigs who post inside a lot.”
 
King holds Oshkosh North’s top scorer to 1 field-goal attempt
 
Oshkosh North senior forward Izaiah Anderson (6-5) led his team in scoring this season at 12.9 ppg.
 
But he managed to get just one field-goal attempt against King’s swarming defense. Anderson finished with just five points, going 1-of-1 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line.
 
“I have to give credit to Milwaukee King,” Anderson said. “They constantly tried to front me and get around me. It was frustrating.”
 
Oshkosh North coach Frank Schade felt King’s quickness and depth were the deciding factors in the game. King forced 27 turnovers, 17 more than North normally gives up in a game.
 
The Generals set a WIAA Division 1state record by coming up with 20 steals, including four by junior Montrell Hobbs (6-1).
 
“We knew they would make it as chaotic as possible,” Schade said. “We actually practiced five against seven this week, but we haven’t faced anybody as quick this year. I think out inexperience playing against pressure like that showed. They had us pretty frustrated.”