Wisconsin Dells and Waunakee move on

In my first game of the double header I took in Wisconsin Dells vs River Valley at Baraboo. This was a great game with momentum swinging back and forth and was highlighted by some stretches of defense. The game opened up with River Valley in a box and one defense on Dells star Jade Royston. This seemed to work in the favor of the Dells as they jumped out to the early 9-0 lead. River Valley countered this by going to a man to man defense and getting three or four steals on each of the Dells's next possessions. Valley was able to knock down some outside shots and go on an 11-0 run, which put the score at 11-9. Once each team had gone on their runs both teams settled in and the game went back and forth from there. The game featured a great match up of guards between Valley's Marc Manske, Craig Johnson, and Noah Baryenbruch verse Royston, Ryan Wenkman, and alittle help from Laddie Lucke. There was also a nice matchup on the inside between Garrett Peck and Nate Gibson. In the end the game came down to free throws as River Valley struggled from the line late in the game while the Dells was able to knock down their free throws to seal the game. River Valley had some opportunities to knock down the three to tie the game at the end but, were unable to and Wisconsin Dells hung on for a 64-61 win.

For Wisconsin Dells the story all year has been that they are only a two man team with Royston and Wenkman and even though they are both two great players they still need some more help to take them far in the tournament. In yesterdays game 6'9 sophomore Nate Gibson stepped up to help the big two. In the first half of the game it seemed every time Gibson got the ball he was going to score. Gibson has a very wide body and was able to turn and clear out space and score with ease on the inside. Royston didn't score in the first half so it was Wenkman who teamed with Gibson to carry the Chiefs. Wenkman was able to get to the inside and finish with either hand and also knocked down a three or two. For anyone that's never seen Wenkman play he's a right handed guy, QB in football, shortstop baseball, that plays basketball left handed, which allows him to be able to finish with both hands equally well. In the second half Royston was able to break out a bit and hit a couple 10 foot floaters alone the base line and knock down a pair of threes and then finished off making 8 of 10 free throws to finish with 18 second half points to lead the Chiefs in scoring.

For River Valley the story was the hot shooting of Marc Manske who seemed to be able to knock down everything in the first half whether he had a defender in his face or not. Johnson was able to add alittle help as he was able knock down three, three pointers. Garrett Peck also made a really big impact as he was able to use his quickness against Gibson to get around him and score and also did a nice job on the offensive boards to give Valley second and third chances.

Scoring Breakdown
Wisconsin Dells 64- Royston 18 Wenkman 16 Gibson 16 Lucke 6 Alex Buesing 6 Jimmy Alvin 2 Ryan Field 0
River Valley 61- Manske 20 Johnson 13 Peck 12 Baryenbruch 8 Drew Umhoefer 4 Joel Benson 3 Justin Bindl 1

So far is the playoffs Wisconsin Dells has done just enough to get by and will probably struggle against Monroe in the next round and I will be very surprised if they are able to beat Monroe.


In game two of the double header Madison East took on Waunakee. Waunakee took an early lead and never looked back in this one. Waunakee was able to extend their lead to as much as 12 at one time in the first half but, East was able to pull back into it and get within three of Waunakee at half time. In the third Waunakee once again got their lead up to double digits then late in the third quarter East was able to pull within in two. Early in the fourth quarter Madison East just could not hit a shot and Waunakee got up by 10 or 12 around the four minute mark when it seemed that Madison East just gave up. In the end the final score was 54-37 and each team cleared the benches.

For Madison East they never could get Marquis Mason going as he had some foul trouble early on that limited his playing time and Waunakee used their size and strength to limit Mason's touches. East top outside shooter Augustine Avelleyra really struggled from the outside and couldn't seem to knock down the outside shots. Add in their third offensive option Al Mayne was in foul trouble the entire game. These three factors were the reason that East struggled in this game and could never really close the gap in this one.

This was the first time that I have seen Waunakee play and they are a very good team that deserves their undefeated record. They are an extremely balanced team that really spreads out the scoring, rebounds well as a team, and has very good overall team size. They have some very good shooters in Ryan Staege, Mitch Roelke, and Eric Helt. Have some scorers off the bench in Devin Coyle and Derek Dailey and some solid big men in Zach Ripley and Hal Krantz. They are a very good team that should be able to defeat Lafollette because of their height and discipline but, won't be able to handle the athleticism to defeat Madison Memorial.

Scoring Breakdown
Madison East 37- Mason 8 Avelleyra 8 Mayne 6 Stafford Park 6 James Bartelt 4 Robert Steele 3 Kody Johnson 1 Jeff Hull 1 Sam Schuler 0 Jonathon Wilson 0 Walt Hetzel 0 Sam Kubly 0 Leonard Love 0 Yamil Bacallao 0
Waunakee 54- Ripley 14 Helt 8 Krantz 8 Staege 7 Dailey 6 Roelke 4 Coyle 4 Jason Paulson 2 Dustin Murray 1 Jeff Tagarelli 0 Austin Goetsch 0 Nick Gilles 0 Kyle Wittwer 0 Ryan Gilles 0 Adam Burns 0

Following this week I'll be doing some more predictions on state tournament and then I'll be doing an updating of player and team rankings.