West boys crush New Berlin West, 75-56

Wauwatosa West's boys basketball team continues to play well, winning for the sixth time in the last seven games on Friday, crushing New Berlin West, 75-56, at home.

The Trojans are 8-2 overall and are tied for second with a 6-2 record with Pewaukee, two games behind first-place Eisenhower (9-0). Only Ike and Pius XI have beaten Tosa West this season.

The Trojans played at Greendale (8-4, 6-3) on Tuesday, in a makeup game from Jan. 7, which was postponed when cold weather canceled school.

They play at Cudahy (3-8, 1-7) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Then on Saturday, Tosa West plays John Marshall of Rochester, Minn., at the La Crosse Center at 12:30 p.m.

Tough schedule

"Our schedule gets tougher from here," Chad Stelse said. "With four teams battling to stay within striking distance of Eisenhower, every game has added motivation.

"We need to keep playing together on both ends, rebound the ball and continue to make the extra pass. Our energy has to be there consistently and we must continue to be there for one another throughout the second half of our season."

Middle quarters key

The Trojans led after a high-scoring first quarter (21-18), but then took over the game in the second and third quarters.

Tosa West exploded for a 20-11 second quarter to take a 41-29 lead at intermission. Then Stelse had his team come out fired up in the third quarter and roll off 20-10 period taking a 61-39 lead into the fourth quarter. That's a 40-21 difference in the middle two quarters.

Once again, the Trojans had excellent scoring balance.

Steffan Brown led the way with 17 points, Reggie Cason had 14 and Andre Carroll had 12.

But it didn't stop there.

Zach Veit added nine, Blake Harvey eight and Cole Harvey seven.

Raining 3s

Tosa West was on fire from 3-point range, connecting on a season high 11 3-pointers — Cason (four), Brown (three), Blake Harvey (two) and Cole Harvey and Alou Dillon, each with one.

"Offensively, our guys moved the ball well and shot the three with confidence," Stelse said. "I always want our guys to attack first — but against the zone, we did a good job of picking our spots of when to shoot the three and when to drive and kick."

Stelse was worried because the Trojans were off for 20 days, but he was pleased with their effort.

"Not playing in three weeks was a huge concern of mine," he said. "I knew we would be a bit rusty, but I kept emphasizing that it all starts on the defensive end with energy.

"I thought we came out with enough energy on the defensive end, they just moved the ball well and made shots early. Overall, I feel our defensive intensity wore them down as the game went on."