Waunakee over Wauwatosa East at Buzzer

This game truly was a game of runs, just like the NBA announcers always say on tv. Tosa East jumped out to the early 10-0 lead and Waunakee crawled back into it to make the score Tosa East up 18-17 after one quarter. Second quarter Tosa East only made one basket and Waunakee was up 29-20 at half. In the third quarter Waunakee was the team that couldn't score but, still clung to a 32-31 lead after three. Tosa East continued dominating up until the final three minutes of the game when they were up by 10 and then Waunakee finished on their final run and got the 51-48 win.

Wauwatosa East was able to jump out to their early lead by pushing the tempo in the fast break behind 6'1 sophomore Anthony Carroll and 6'6 junior Darrell Bowie who got easy layups and were able to hit the three pointers in transition. Waunakee was feeding the fire by turning the ball over time and time again as they looked to feed the post. Midway through the first quarter Waunakee turned things around by not turning the ball over and controlling the boards on the offensive and defensive side. Waunakee also benefited from some officiating that went their way and allowed them to spend most of their time scoring from the free throw line. I'm not sure if the Tosa East fans got to the officials or if it was coincidence by the first five fouls in the second quarter went against Waunakee but, not one of them were on shooting fouls so Tosa East couldn't take advantage of it. Tosa East went ice cold shooting and Waunakee continued to dominate the rebounding advantage behind their pair of 6'6 senior big men Austin Maly and Jacob Soper. On the offensive end 6'2 senior Beau Murray led them as he was able to drive the right side and pull up for the short jumpers which he was making without really being opened.

In the second half Waunakee was the team that went ice cold and their offensive was very stagnate as no one wanted to shoot besides Murray and fellow 6'2 senior guard Jared Staege. Waunakee only got three points in the third while Tosa East climbed within one point by the end of the third. Tosa East had only three players score through the first three quarters in Bowie, Caroll, and 6'4 senior Aaron Uden. Tosa East took the lead in the fourth and grew that lead to 10 behind their ability to get fouls on the Waunakee defenders and hitting their free throws. Tosa East was up by 10 with three minutes remaining in the game when Waunakee really turned up the pressure and Tosa East turned the ball over three straight trips and never got the ball past the half court line. East's struggles combined with Staege finally getting hot Waunakee was able to bring the game close. Staege had 10 points in the fourth quarter alone. In the end the turnovers and inability to break the full court press doomed East. With under a minute to go in the game the star of the game finally made his presence known. 6'4 sophomore Will Decorah made a three to tie the game with about 30 seconds left in the game. Tosa East came down the court and got a questionable travel call called on them where it appear Bowie was tripped by a Waunakee defender. Waunakee came back down the court and found Decorah in the exact same corner where he hit a three with two seconds left to give Waunakee the win.

Top Players
Anthony Carroll 6'1 sophomore Tosa East- Was great in transition and was very quick with the ball in his hand. Can hit the three point shot as well with great regularity.
Darrell Dowie 6'6 junior Tosa East- Got in foul trouble early that limited him but, another guy that show great ability in the transition game and could step back and hit the three point shot.
Beau Murray 6'2 senior Waunakee- Showed the ability to really elevate on his shot particularily when he was guarded. Very solid jump shooter from the 15 foot range.
Jared Staege 6'2 senior Waunakee- I've loved watching this kid play the last two years and does a great jump running the point and isn't afraid to take a crucial shot when the game is tight and has a real smooth shot from the outside.
Will Decorah 6'4 sophomore Waunakee- I believe he only took two shots in the game but, they were te biggest shots of the game so he gets the nod here having the ability two hit those two shots when he hadn't played many minutes throughout the game.

Box Score
Tosa East- Carroll 20 Bowie 13 Uden 8 Vince Cupertino 3 Walter Clark Jr 2 Kyle Vnuk 2 Jackson Orin 0 Diamontae McKinley 0 Marquise Carter 0 Ben Carpenter 0
Waunakee- Staege 15 Murray 13 Soper 8 Decorah 6 Joe Tagarelli 5 A Maly 2 Zak Hoglund 2 Ross Maly 0 Andrew Dorscheid 0

Waunakee my be ranked #1 in division two but, honestly would be very surprised to see them win state. They are a very disciplined team and rebound well but, they really only have the two scorers that they can go to in Staege and Murray so if either of those two have a bad game in the playoffs they will have a very hard time winning when they get deeper in the playoffs. Looking at Wauwatosa East's season they have been very up and down and they could just as easily go to state as lose in the first round. No matter what they do this year though they will be one of the top teams next year in division two as they play very few seniors and have lots of juniors and sophomores seeing action this year.