Posted: Jan. 5, 2010 |(0) Comments

Nicolet — Aside from head coach Paul Hepp, there was only one other person on the Nicolet bench who knew what it was like to win a holiday tournament title like the Knights did when they claimed the Luke Homan Memorial at Brookfield Central last week.

And that was assistant coach Ryan Kroeger, who happened to be playing for Hepp on one of the Knights last good squads in 2003-04 when they claimed the Custer Tournament.

"So it's been a long time," said Hepp.

And a bit overdue, as the Knights impressively strode past Bay View, 65-50, in the semifinal on Dec. 29 and then used a late rally to push past host Central, 65-54, to improve to 7-1 overall.

"Our biggest thing right now," said Hepp, "is to get a little more consistency into our games. The other team wants to win, too, so we have to start better. But I have been proud of how we finished games."

The Knights, who are 2-1 in North Shore play, were back into league action against Homestead on Tuesday and then will host two-time state tournament qualifier Germantown (5-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

"We're in good shape, but we can't afford any stumbles," said Hepp.

"I think we're really ready for conference," said senior guard and Homan Tourney MVP Myles Henry. "We're really looking to turn it around."

Turning on the pressure

The Knights executed one of those turnarounds in the final against Central (5-4).

The Lancers led by seven points with 2:12 left in the third quarter when Hepp called timeout. The Knights came out in a press and then took control of the boards and went on an 11-0 run before Central scored with 6:14 left to play and Nicolet (7-1) leading 48-44.

"It was a momentum-changer," Hepp said. "They had 10 turnovers to our one in the second half."

Nicolet's 6-6 junior forward Christian Griggs-Williams scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to spark the win. Griggs-Williams was also named to the all-tourney team. Henry finished with 18 points and Griggs-Williams had 15 to lead the Knights.

Central was led by Nevan Lewis, Alex Diciaula and Alex Olson with 11 points each.

In the semifinal, Henry scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the final two minutes after the Redcats had gone on a 7-0 run to cut a 14-point advantage in half.

"We have a lot of returning players this year," said Henry. "So it's all about senior leadership and strapping it up."

The strong close helped take the edge off an erratic overall effort, Hepp said.

"Experience did help us pull through," he said, "but it would be better that we play consistently for the full 32 minutes. We really didn't have a good warm-up, and we had to challenge ourselves to play better."

Knights take control early

Bay View hit several shots in succession to start the game and put the Knights on their heels, but behind a balanced effort and two late 3-pointers from senior guard Clem Robinson, Nicolet was able to pull out to a 23-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Behind strong zone defense, Nicolet stretched the lead to 32-20 at the break.

"We've really stepped it up with our team defense this year," said Henry. "It's been a big turnaround for us."

The Knights were able to keep the lead in double figures all the way through the second half until the Redcats made their late run. Bay View had two chances to get it to five or less late in the fourth quarter but a turnover and a miss denied it the chance.

Henry started his run with a nifty drive and layup and then two free throws. The lead would never dip below nine again. Nicolet would hit 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter, including seven of seven by Henry.

Helping out Henry for the Knights were Griggs-Williams with 15 and Jarel James with 10.

Hepp was pleased with the defensive effort.

"Good defense has been the nature of this team," he said.