Converse Eastbay Classic

The Converse Eastbay Classic is slowly becoming one of the most popular in season tournaments in Wisconsin High School Basketball. While the WBBY tournament is still the number one tournament in the state the Converse Eastbay Classic is right there with the WBBY. Both tournaments have been able to attract teams outside of the state of Wisconsin which has brought in not only fans of the schools that are participating in the tournament but, fans that are just fans of basketball as a whole. After attending the WBBY a year ago and the Converse Eastbay Classic this year, there are more fans in attendance of the WBBY then the Converse but, the games are just as good. Typically about half the games end up being good games and you get a wide array of teams from throughout the state.

Valders 69 Shorewood 44

In the opening game of the tournament Valders was able to take down Shorewood in dominating fashion. Valders was the much more disciplined team and ran their offense much better and it showed. The Valders players appeared to be thicker then the Shorewood players which allowed Valders to completely dominate the game. Shorewood on the other hand didn't appear to be running an offense at all and relied on going one on one which didn't seem to work. These things all led to an easy Valders win.

Top Scorers
Shorewood- Austin Malone-Mitchell 14 Chase Miller 10
Valders- Andrew Schwoerer 19 Derek Madson 13 Derek Buck 11 Steven Baur 10

Waukesha West 42 Milwaukee South 41

This game may of been an extremely close game but, it didn't feel like it with the lack of fan support in this game. South was similar to Shorewood in that South didn't run much of an offense and seemed to pass the ball once and shoot and didn't look to get the ball on the inside at all and for the most part the threes were not falling. This may of been because Waukesha West had superior size at nearly every position. Waukesha West wasn't that impressive but, South was even less impressive.

Top Scorers
West- Ryan Solberg 23
South- Derrick Cook 13

Appleton East 49 LaCrosse Logan 37

In a battle of inside verse outside game Appleton East took down Lacrosse Logan using their superior three point shooting which led to the victory. Logan looked to get the ball inside to their big man 6'7 senior Trevor Jorgenson but, East did a very good job of defending the post though. On the other side East was knocking down the threes in the first half and took a huge lead but, in the second half they did go cold from the outside which allowed Logan to at least make the game some what close in the end.

Top Scorers
East- Caleb Zeegers 13 Johnny Coenen 11
Logan- Jorgenson 15

Oak Lawn Richards 70 Sussex Hamiliton 61

This game really started out the way that I expected as Oak Lawn looked to pressure Hamiliton into turning the ball over and allowing Oak Lawn to push the tempo. Like I expected Hamiliton handled the pressure very well and were able to get wide open jump shots and they dropped them. Throughout the first three quarters Hamiliton completely controlled the game but, in the fourth quarter things completely changed. For whatever reason Hamiliton begain turning the ball over and Oak Lawn really got things going with the up tempo game and were able to knock down the threes in the transition game. Some huge calls went against Hamiliton at the end and a technical which gave Oak Lawn a cushion and a nice win in the end.

Top Scorers
Hamiliton- Brett Meinecke 22 Brian Krohn 20
No box score available for Oak Lawn.

Port Washington 73 Waupun 67

This game lived up to the hype as the number one and two ranked teams in division two went head to head. The biggest difference in this game was Port Washington's height and that they had a team effort while Waupun relied too much on one player. That one player was 6'3 senior Austin Armga who was nearly unstoppable in the first half and in the second half just seemed to run out of gas as he played nearly the entire game.

Top Scorers
PW- Josh Gasser 25 Shane Kennedy 14 Cory Steinmetz 11 Zach Schultz 11
Waupun- Austin Armga 31 Cory Nickel 14

Madison Memorial 56 Milwaukee King 43

In the markee match up of the tournament Madison Memorial was able to take down Milwaukee King. The game went back and forth throughout much of the first three and a half quarters before Memorial finally grabbed the lead for good and hung on for the win. Early on King did a great job of taking Memorial star 6'4 senior Vander Blue out of the game. With Blue struggling 6'2 senior Tre Creamer took over and carried Memorial through the first half. King on the other side just couldn't get any going at all offensively, the only time they could was when they were able to get Memorial to turn the ball over and getting easy transition buckets. For as much as I dissed 6'5 senior Ed Kluender in my last post he really showed me something in this game and I take back nearly everything I said. Kluender ended up with a handful of rebounds and blocks, had 12 points, and dove on a couple loose balls on the floor. Kluender was the biggest reason that Memorial won this game. In the end Blue finally found himself hitting a couple threes and knocking down the free throws to help complete the win.

Top Scorers
Memorial- Vander Blue 22 Tre Creamer 21 Ed Kluender 12
King- Courtilin Scott-Johnson 14

Top Players of the Tournament
Ander Schwoerer 6'4 junior Valders- Completely controlled the inside in this game and showed some very good foot work and soft hands on the fast break.
Derek Madson 6'3 senior Valders- Does a little bit of everything from grabbing rebounds to helping bring the ball up the court.
Austin Malone-Mitchell 5'8 freshmen Shorewood- Probably the most impressive player for a not so impressive team but, was able to free himself and knock down some shots.
Derrick Cook 6'0 senior Milwaukee South- Did a nice job of letting the game come to him and was able to go inside and score against bigger defenders.
Ryan Solberg 6'6 senior Waukesha West- Runs the court very well for a big man and has a nice mid range jump shot.
Trevor Jorgenson 6'7 junior Lacrosse Logan- Very soft touch around the rim. Very solid in the post on both ends of the court.
Johnny Coenen 5'8 junior Appleton East- Really liked his game running the point for East and despite his size can get his shot off at any time. Has a wide array of moves and can knock down the three.
Dean Danos 6'0 sophomore Oak Lawn Richards- Another point guard that I really liked. Has great handles and shoots the three very well.
Keith Sconiers 6'3 senior Oak Lawn Richards- Really took the game over in the second half. Rebound extremely well and was great in transition knocking down threes or getting to the hoop.
Brett Meinecke 6'2 senior Hamiliton Sussex- Does a nice job of running the team and for the most part handled the pressure defense really well. Knocks down the outside shot when its there and can get to the rim.
Brian Krohn 6'2 senior Hamiliton Sussex- Guy that is not afraid to go inside and battle for the rebounds and can hit the spot up three point shot.
Austin Armga 6'3 senior Waupun- Probably the most impressive player of the entire tournament. Armga could get anywhere he wanted at any time. Nearly impossible to stop until he got tired.
Josh Gasser 6'4 senior Port Washington- Another guy that does a little bit of everything from running the point to grabbing rebounds and was the teams leading scorer.
Zach Schultz 6'7 senior Port Washington- Big man that controlled the inside with his scoring and rebounding.
Courtlin Scott-Johnson 5'11 senior Milwaukee King- Only King player that could get things going has a very nice outside shot.
Ed Kluender 6'5 senior Madison Memorial- Pretty much said it all earlier in the post. Was the reason that Memorial won the game.
Vander Blue 6'3 senior Madison Memorial- Didn't have a great game but, really stepped up when the game was on the line. Showed some great handles with the ball and hit a pair of threes late in the game.
Tre Creamer 6'2 senior Madison Memorial- Completely carried this team in the first half of the game by knocking down the outside shot and hitting the floaters.

This was a great tournament to attend and I would recommend making a trip to this tournament if your a fan of high school basketball or even just a fan of basketball.