Right from the start, Wauwatosa West’s strategy went out of the window, resulting with a 75-54 loss to New Berlin Eisenhower on Friday in the Woodland West Division opener at West.
“Part of our game plan was shot from the opening tip,” Trojans coach Chad Stelse said. “We wanted to contain Reed (Timmer) and shut down everyone else and I have to give them a ton of credit – Reed’s supporting staff played very well today.”
Yes they did, as the Lions worked the ball, found the open man and were in command the entire game.
Timmer finished with a team-high 23 points, but 11 came in garbage time in the final period, as he sank 9-of-10 free throws and had Ike’s final basket.
The Lions took a 22-6 lead in the first period, as eight players scored, 2-4 points. Their balance was great, as Timmer led the way with seven points followed by Brett Hanson and Ben Uelner with six each and Jack Sirek and Bennett Kohlhard with five apiece.
“Everyone understands what their job is to do,” Ike coach Dave Scheidegger said. “The pressure (on Timmer) will be less and less. Already other guys are making teams pay for just focusing (on Timmer).”
Stelse gave the Lions credit for their performance.
“When you get down against a good team like that – as fundamentally sound as they are – it’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.
Eisenhower outscored West, 53-48, the final three quarters, as the Lions put the game away in that first quarter.
“Against fundamentally sound teams – defensively and offensively – you are going to struggle unless you take care of that basketball,” Stelse said.
Scheidegger feels his team’s depth will be a key as the season gets going.
“The seniors have done a nice job providing the intensity, the depth,” he said. “But some of the younger kids rounded it out and playing intense is not always easy to do seamlessly.
“It looked that way at times, but it’s getting better and I do think with our depth, we have a chance to wear people out a little bit. We have fresh legs.”
Timmer had 23 points, Hanson and Uelner had 13 each, but four others scored 5-6 points.
Ricky Landers and Andre Carroll, who did a good job on Timmer, led the Trojans with 13 points each, and Steffan Brown came to life in the second half with 10 points.
“I’m happy with everyone’s attitude in the second half,” Stelse said. “They did not fold, they kept battling and battling. But they’ve got to realize next time we can’t dig ourselves a hole like that.”