Sky's the Limit

The CNI All-Suburban Boys Basketball Team will be featured in this week's BrookfieldNOW and WauwatosaNOW papers and web sites on Thursday and both Brookfield Central Wauwatosa East are well represented.

First of all, Tim Arndorfer was named CNI's Boys Basketball Coach of the Year, beating out some excellent candidates from the area Community Newspapers, Inc. covers.

It was the fourth time a coach from Tosa East was honored, as Arndorfer joins the man he replaced - George Haas - who earned the honors in 2004-05, 1996-97 and 1993-94.

Joining their coach on the team were the one-two combination of Brice Powell and Jake Barnett, who keyed the Red Raiders run to the state championship.

From Brookfield, Central's Cory Degner also earned All-Suburban honors. Degner, who switched from small forward to point guard, averaged over 17 points a game for the Lancers, who also made it to the state tournament, losing to Tosa East in the semifinals.

Detailed features on Arndorfer, Powell/Barnett and Degner highlights this week's sports coverage.

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As usual spring sports in Wisconsin gets to deal with Mother Nature. Some soccer matches have been played, but mainly indoor track is underway.

The spring schedules are light and won't really pick up for another week or so.

Let's hope they won't have to dig themselves out from the snow and ice when it happens.

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Always remember to be a hit and have a ball.

Following Wauwatosa East's semi-final victory over Brookfield Central at the state tournament in Madison Friday night, one of the Madison area writers asked coach Tim Arndorfer in a polite way if the Red Raiders were saving their best for last.

Afterall, East beat a tall Eau Claire North team, 50-38, pulling away in the final minutes and then had a grind-it-out 52-48 victory over Central, which played most of the first half without the Greater Metro Conference Player of the Year Cory Degner, who left the game with two fouls with about three minutes left in the first quarter.

"You must have played better in the sectional to beat Custer and King," the reporter asked Arndorfer. Basically, most media felt the only thing delaying giving Madison Memorial the gold ball Saturday night was the game which had to be played beforehand.

The fact was, this Raider team was losing to a Madison Memorial team in a summer league game and then rallied to win. When this was brought up at Friday's press conference, East junior Mike Cupertino answered the question like a pro. "What happened in the summer, has nothing to do with tomorrow night's game."

The Spartans' Jeronne Maymon put on perhaps the best single game performance I have ever seen from a high school basketball player. Like the cliche goes, he did everything but sell popcorn. The 6-foot-5 inch junior scored 33 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked three shots, but by the time the game was over he was exhausted since his teammates sat around and watched his performance.

The Tosa East players knew what they were capable of as the "Team Together" slogan on the back of their T-shirts pretty much summed up the title game. The Red Raiders were a team when it came to breaking the normal devastating Memorial press and playing a rare 2-3 zone which stopped everyone except the manchild Maymon. When coach Steve Collins was asked why Memorial called off the press, his response was simple - "Because they were getting too many lay-ups off it."

The stats showed they were a team also - Jake Barnett scored 15 points and added 7 rebounds; Eric Williams scored 14 points and was 3-for-3 from 3-point range, including perhaps the biggest 3-pointer in Tosa East history that sent the game into overtime; Brice Powell scored 12 points, had 6 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds, including the biggest one of the game which set up Williams shot; D.J. Cupertino came off the bench and played with a bad ankle, scoring 10 points and getting a key steal at the end of the game and Tony Walls, who had 5 points, 6 assists and 3 steals, played the floor game of his life, helping destroy the Spartans trap and press.

But even this impressive performance didn't change some media member's mind when after the game he said, "If these team's played 10 games, Tosa East would only win four of them."

No one will ever know, but Saturday night the Red Raiders won the only one that counted.

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Agree or disagree, feel free to comment.

And remember, always be a hit and have a ball.

Some people felt the Greater Metro Conference was down this season, but don't tell that to Wauwatosa East (23-1) and Brookfield Central (18-4). Both the Red Raiders and the Lancers will be playing at the Kohl Center starting on Thursday after winning their sectional championships.

Central had to get by top-seeded Racine Park (19-3) and one of the state's best players in Jamil Wilson in the title game. Cory Degner, the GMC Player of the Year, scored 23 points, but defensive stopper Donne Robbins had the game of his life with 25 points, including six of the team's 12 3-pointers. Wilson was amazing, as he had 37 points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the score, 72-68, closer than it was.

The Lancers, who have made seven trips to state in the last nine years, have been there six out of eight times under the guidance of coach Mark Adams and his staff. Central needs to win it's opener against Bay Port, because the Lancers are only 1-5 at state under Adams.

This team had to overcome some things to start the year.

 Brad Nortman, their best big man, decided to punt all winter instead of play basketball (he's going to Wisconsin to kick for the Badgers and is considered one of the top punters in the country); Lee Severson hadn't recovered from ankle surgery; Adams had to find a point guard; and even the coach started the year with hip surgery.

It's a credit to Adams, his staff and his kids that they are in Madison this week.

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And speaking of credit, a tip of the hat to low-key, media-shy Tim Arndorfer, who took his Red Raiders to state in his first year as head coach and for the first time since 2002.

Tosa East senior starters Brice Powell, Jake Barnett, D.J. Cupertino and Tony Walls are playing like they are on a mission - win the state title for the first time since 1989. These four guys have carried this team down the stretch.

Barnett scored 17 of his 27 points in the first half and then Powell took over in the second half scoring 14 of his 18 points in the 62-60 win over Milwaukee Custer in the sectional semi-finals. Then when King held Barnett/Powell to six points in the first half of the title game, Walls (8) and Cupertino (7) kept the Red Raiders from getting blown out at half, trailing only 29-21.

Trailing, 38-34, going into the final period, Cupertino put on one of the best clutch performances I have seen, as he scored eight points down the stretch, including two huge 3-pointers.

Madison Memorial (21-2), Germantown (22-1) and the Red Raiders are the team to watch in Madison.

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Just a comment on the type of kid Jamil Wilson is. When Brookfield East's girls team clobbered Racine Horlick in a regional semi-final game, Wilson was in the stands, cheering on the Lady Rebels. At half-time when the Spartanettes dance team did a rap dance, Wilson was cheering them and dancing in the stands.

Three nights later at the Horlick Sectional, following his team's win over West Allis Hale, Wilson showed off his dancing skills again. At half-time of the Central-Racine Case game, the Lancer fans came out of the stands at half-time to dance to the electric slide in front of the bleachers. Wilson then jumped out of the Horlick stands and joined in and the Rebel fans followed. About 150 kids from two different schools were dancing together and having fun. Even the Horlick PA announcer acknowledged the impromptu dance and asked the audience to give them a round of applause.

That, my friends, is what high school athletics is all about.

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Agree or disagree, post your comments.

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Follow all the action on BrookfieldNOW.com and WauwatosaNOW.com as I'll be blogging right from courtside.

 And remember to always be a hit and have a ball.