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Guard play, perimeter shooting lift Dominican past Cuba City
 
The stellar guard play and perimeter shooting skill of Dominican guards Duane Wilson and Jamall Taylor were simply too much for Cuba City to overcome Saturday as the Knights posted a convincing 61-43 victory in the Division 3 title game of the WIAA State Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.
 
Wilson, a 6-foot-3 junior point guard who has narrowed his choice of potential colleges to Marquette, Memphis and Missouri, finished with 24 points and made five three-point baskets to lead the way for Dominican, which finished 27-1 with its lone loss coming at the hands of Division 1 champion Germantown.
 
Taylor, a 6-3 senior wing guard with strong recruiting interest from Coppin State, Seattle and Western Illinois, finished with 18 points and made three triples while also grabbing seven rebounds and handing out five assists.

The length, quickness and attack nature of both Wilson and Taylor created problems for Cuba City as it finished with 11 turnovers that helped Dominican register a 14-2 advantage in fast-break points.
 
Wilson and Taylor got things started early for the Knights as Wilson connected on a pair of long-range shots and Taylor added another to help Dominican bolt to a 9-0 lead with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first period.
 
It was a lead Dominican would never relinquish.
 
“Two things in the first half stuck out to me,” Dominican coach Paul Wollersheim said. “Hitting those three three-point shots and taking a 9-0 lead took a little wind out of their sails. I also thought our defense was stifling tonight. They average 72 points per game and we held them to 43.”
 
Cuba City coach Jerry Petitgoue, in his 40^th year at the school and the state’s all-time winnginest coach with 818 career victories, agreed the quick start by Dominican was a key to the game.
 
“They really shot the ball well, which is an understatement,” Petitgoue said. “9-0 … I didn’t want that kind of start. That’s a really good basketball team. The Wilson kid, the Taylor kid … whoa. And you (writers) will be interviewing Diamond Stone the next three years.”
 
Stone, Dominican’s sensational 6-9 freshman center, finished nine points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.
 
Wilson settles down after difficult first period
 
Wilson committed an unusually high seven turnovers in the first period while trying to penetrate Cuba City’s 1-3-1 zone defense.
 
But the state’s second-ranked prospect in the WisSports.net Player Rankings for 2013 didn’t let the difficult start affect his play the rest of the way.
 
In fact, Wilson scored Dominican’s first 12 points of the second period – all within a three-minute time period – to help the Knights turn a 12-9 lead after one period into a 24-12 advantage.
 
Cuba City (27-1) could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way and Dominican’s lead ballooned to as many as 26 points in the third period.
 
“We wanted to attack the lane against their zone and then kick it out to our shooters,” Wilson said. “We wanted to be poised against the trap.”
 
After the seven first-period turnovers, Wilson committed just two miscues the rest of the way while handing out four assists, grabbing four rebounds, coming up with four steals and blocking two shots in addition to his game-high 24 points.
 
Wollersheim has great respect for Petitgoue
 
An emotional Petitgoue said after the game he will announce his future intentions in respect to coaching at Cuba City on Monday, but to many it appears he may be stepping aside after 40 years at the school and 44 in coaching overall.
 
Wollersheim has faced Petitgoue three times, in Saturday’s state final and in a sectional final and sectional semifinal in the past.
 
Dominican’s 17^th-year coach has great admiration for one of the true giants in Wisconsin coaching circles.
 
“As long as I’ve been around the game, Jerry has been the president of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and a leader for our state coaches,” Wollersheim said. “He’s always been a perfect gentleman when we’ve faced his teams, and it’s always been a good battle against his teams.”
 
Vaassen suffers through difficult shooting performance
 
Petitgoue calls Cuba City senior Corey Vaassen the state’s best-kept secret for good reason.
 
The 6-3 wing forward can really play the game. He led the team in scoring at 19.8 ppg and added 5.0 rpg.
 
But he suffered through an off-shooting night against Dominican, finishing just 5-of-16 from the field en route to scoring 10 points.  
 
“Some nights you just have one of those nights,” Vaassen said. “I felt comfortable playing against those guys. They are athletic and quick, but my shots just didn’t fall tonight.”