Sports Wrapups: Jan. 5
In a physical and messy affair, the Homestead boys basketball team had its chances but couldn't come up with the title in its own John Chekouras Classic on Dec. 29, as Oshkosh North's Taylor Cameron hit one of two free throws with five seconds left to break a 54-all tie and give the Spartans the championship, 55-54.
But the late Homestead Hall of Fame coach Chekouras probably would have loved the effort put forth, and he probably wouldn't have minded a friend taking home the hardware in the end. Homestead has now lost in the final of his tournament three of the four years it's been held.
"Maybe I shouldn't schedule all these top-four-in-state teams (that's where the Spartans finished last season)," chuckled a rueful Highlanders coach Ray Curry. "The big picture is, is that we would love to win the tournament, but I'm OK with the other guy winning it. Frank Schade (North's coach) was tight with John. He respected John, and he's been around a long time. He understands why we do the tournament and what it means to us."
In the second quarter, the Highlanders made a strong adjustment to North's zone and surged ahead on the strength of back-to-back 3-pointers from Dominic Wilder and Coy Smith. The lead got as high as 12 (26-14) before Homestead (5-3) settled for a 26-16 advantage at the break.
Bobby Hansen led the Highlanders with eight points in the half.
But strong 3-point shooting got North back into the game in the third quarter (37-36 Homestead) and the final stanza was a tense affair filled with missed opportunities on both sides. Laihinen got the game-tying basket with 13 seconds remaining on a wild scramble play. North got two looks at the end of regulation, neither of which was close.
In the overtime, the Highlanders got the lead twice on baskets from Andrew Debbink and Wilder, but a baseline 3-pointer from North's Alex Anderson gave the Spartans the advantage at 54-52 with 31 seconds left. Laihinen tied it up on a put-back with just eight seconds remaining.
Cameron, the Spartans point guard, then drove hard toward the basket and was fouled. He made the first free throw and missed the second. Homestead called timeout with 3.8 seconds left, but the final shot was hurried and off the mark.
Cameron finished with a game-high 21 points. Laihinen led Homestead with 15 points while Hansen and Wilder had eight apiece.
"What I told the guys after the game is that I thought we played a very good team well," Curry said. "They're long and athletic. We also had a lot of missed free throws (eight), we had some really bad turnovers (12 after the break) and we missed a lot of bunnies (20 misses in the second half). On the flip side, so did they.
"But we were at home, and we have players who should be able to finish in those situations."
Homestead will be at Whitefish Bay (6-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
University School hockey
It was a fine time for the Wildcats to pick up their first wins of the season, as they overpowered Marquette, Cedarburg and Arrowhead to win the RBC Wealth Management Shootout in Milwaukee Dec. 27-29.
In doing so, they downed two of the state's top 10 teams as well as their oldest rival (Marquette) and improved to 2-4-2 overall.
The Wildcats wrested the championship trophy from the tournament's defending champion, Arrowhead, by a 4-2 margin Dec. 29.
USM came to play in the final and quickly made its point clear. As a Wildcats power play was finishing, senior Alex Tesensky received a pass from classmate Charlie James in center ice. Tesensky roared off down the left side. As he entered the high slot, he swerved toward the center in front of an Arrowhead defenseman and released a quick shot. Blinded by his defenseman's back, Arrowhead's junior goalie Jake Michael didn't see Tesensky's shot, and the puck sailed into the net just 2:12 into the game.
Tesensky made it 2-0 just two minutes later.
USM senior goalkeeper Dan Smyczek convincingly stopped all five that the Warhawks were able to put on net in the first period.
The Wildcats increased their lead midway through the game. Taking a faceoff in the Arrowhead zone, Tesensky won the draw and pushed the puck forward. His linemate, junior Aaron Storch, stepped in and one-timed a shot at 9:48 of the second period.
USM sophomore Ashton Wackym provided an insurance goal on a rebound shot at the 4:56 mark.
Smyczek stopped 20 of 22 Warhawks shots.
To advance to the final, the Wildcats overpowered tournament top seed Cedarburg, 3-2, in the semifinals after beating old rival Marquette, 2-1, in a shootout, in the first round. Storch provided the key goal in the shootout against Marquette while Tesensky broke a 2-2 tie early in the third period against Cedarburg.
Metro Swim Officials Invitational
North Shore area boys teams stayed sharp over the holiday break at the Metro Swim Officials Invite hosted by Homestead on Dec. 29.
Whitefish Bay had the best overall effort, taking fourth of 17 teams with 238 points, while Shorewood was eighth with 143.5 and the host Highlanders were 12th (73).
Homestead had the leading individual performances as both Ben Sjulson in the 50-yard freestyle (22.69 seconds) and Cody Burkard in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.99) earned seconds.
Bay was led by thirds from Chris Fink in the 200 backstroke (2:04.06) and 100 backstroke (56.2) and D.J. Friesch in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.77) and 200 individual medley (2:07.42).
Jay Tomasiewicz had the best finish for Shorewood, earning a third in the 200 breaststroke (2:20.08).
The meet is an alternative to traditional prep swim events as it features collegiate-length races (200 yards and up).
Arrowhead won the meet with 476 points while Bay Port was second (347) and Lake Forest, Ill., was third (301).
Other top 10 finishes for the area teams included the following:
• BAY
200 medley relay: Fink, Jason Castillo, Tommy Hiller and Rob Colton, sixth (1:44.57); 100 breaststroke: Castillo, fourth (1:04.66); 200 butterfly: Hiller, fifth (2:05.46); 50 free: Colton, fifth (23.31); 100 free: Colton, eighth (51.64); 200 breaststroke: Castillo, sixth (2:25.16); 100 butterfly: Hiller, fifth (57.61); 200 free relay: Fink, Friesch, Castillo and Colton, sixth (1:33.04).
• SHOREWOOD
400 individual medley: Tomasiewicz, eighth (4:38.83); 200 medley relay: Tomasiewicz, Asher Kaufman, Peter Morris and R.J. Hayes, 10th (1:48.48); 200 free: Hayes, sixth (1:54.9); 100 breaststroke: Mike Ross, eighth (1:07.65); 100 free: Hayes, ninth (51.89); 200 free relay: Tomasiewicz, Andrew Eder, Kaufman and Hayes, seventh (1:33.82).
• HOMESTEAD
400 individual medley: Burkard, sixth (4:33.64); 200 free relay - Sjulson, Erik Erlandson, William Schlageter and Burkard, 10th (1:35.65).
Shorewood will be at the Cedarburg Invite on Saturday (1 p.m.) while Homestead will be at Nicolet for a dual on Thursday (6 p.m.) and then will be at the Marquette Gator Invite at Waukesha South on Saturday (12 p.m.). Bay will host Grafton at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Homestead boys basketball
In a physical and messy affair, the Homestead boys basketball team had its chances but couldn't come up with the title in its own John Chekouras Classic on Dec. 29, as Oshkosh North's Taylor Cameron hit one of two free throws with five seconds left to break a 54-all tie and give the Spartans the championship, 55-54.
But the late Homestead Hall of Fame coach Chekouras probably would have loved the effort put forth, and he probably wouldn't have minded a friend taking home the hardware in the end. Homestead has now lost in the final of his tournament three of the four years it's been held.
"Maybe I shouldn't schedule all these top-four-in-state teams (that's where the Spartans finished last season)," chuckled a rueful Highlanders coach Ray Curry. "The big picture is, is that we would love to win the tournament, but I'm OK with the other guy winning it. Frank Schade (North's coach) was tight with John. He respected John, and he's been around a long time. He understands why we do the tournament and what it means to us."
In the second quarter, the Highlanders made a strong adjustment to North's zone and surged ahead on the strength of back-to-back 3-pointers from Dominic Wilder and Coy Smith. The lead got as high as 12 (26-14) before Homestead (5-3) settled for a 26-16 advantage at the break.
Bobby Hansen led the Highlanders with eight points in the half.
But strong 3-point shooting got North back into the game in the third quarter (37-36 Homestead) and the final stanza was a tense affair filled with missed opportunities on both sides. Laihinen got the game-tying basket with 13 seconds remaining on a wild scramble play. North got two looks at the end of regulation, neither of which was close.
In the overtime, the Highlanders got the lead twice on baskets from Andrew Debbink and Wilder, but a baseline 3-pointer from North's Alex Anderson gave the Spartans the advantage at 54-52 with 31 seconds left. Laihinen tied it up on a put-back with just eight seconds remaining.
Cameron, the Spartans point guard, then drove hard toward the basket and was fouled. He made the first free throw and missed the second. Homestead called timeout with 3.8 seconds left, but the final shot was hurried and off the mark.
Cameron finished with a game-high 21 points. Laihinen led Homestead with 15 points while Hansen and Wilder had eight apiece.
"What I told the guys after the game is that I thought we played a very good team well," Curry said. "They're long and athletic. We also had a lot of missed free throws (eight), we had some really bad turnovers (12 after the break) and we missed a lot of bunnies (20 misses in the second half). On the flip side, so did they.
"But we were at home, and we have players who should be able to finish in those situations."
Homestead will be at Whitefish Bay (6-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Nicolet wrestling
Competing on a higher level, the Knights got places from Chris Morrell and Ethan and Tamir Klein in earning 29th in the 39-school Mid-States Invitational on Dec. 29 and 30.
"It was definitely a pretty good tournament for us," said Knights coach Gus Kaufmann. "Getting three guys to place is a big step forward for us. Hopefully that'll carry us through the month of January."
The Knights scored 52.5 points for their spot as Kenosha Tremper edged Burlington 195-193 for the title.
Ethan Klein at 112 pounds (17-2 overall) took fourth to lead Nicolet, going 4-2 overall. He dropped a tough 8-6 decision to a Harvard (Ill.) wrestler who was 21-4 overall.
Morrell (7-2) took seventh at 103 pounds, also going 4-2 with a decision over a Kettle Moraine foe in his final match. Tamir Klein (15-4) was eighth at 119 going 2-3.
Others who turned in good efforts included Dakota Mitchell at 130 (14-3) going 2-2 and Bobby Herrick (11-6) at 140 doing the same. Austin Bay at 125 and Matt Dineen at 135 also won matches.
Nicolet will be at the West Allis Hale Invite on Saturday.
Whitefish Bay wrestling
Taking their game up a notch, the Blue Dukes won 14 matches all told in taking 51st in the 58-school Oshkosh-on-the Water Invitational on Dec. 29 and 30.
"We've never been in position to compete in an event like this before," said Blue Dukes coach Dale Loebel. "It was an awesome event. Guys from 58 schools and nine mats going constantly. We had a great time."
The Blue Dukes, who will also be at the Hale Invite on Saturday, scored 42 points for their spot as Coleman won with 326.5.
No Bay wrestler placed, but three seniors (Luke Davey at 130, Logan Schwenker at 160 and Jake Beckert at 171) all won three or more matches.
Davey (10-6) went 4-2 while Schwenker (8-3) and Beckert (15-3) both went 3-2. Beckert was just coming back from a holiday trip, but Loebel said Beckert didn't want to use that as an excuse for his double overtime loss in his first match after a first-round bye.
Loebel said that Davey is gaining more confidence everyday and noted that Joey Davey at 103 (7-11) and Andrew Reidy at 112 (10-7) both won two matches apiece.
"We're doing all right," Loebel said. Bay took seven competitors to the event.
- Steven L. Tietz
