Central gets gritty win over crosstown rival
Lancers advance to take on Whitnall in second round
An ugly win is still a win
Brookfield Central advanced to the regional final with an unattractive 44-32 win over visiting crosstown rival Brookfield East on Tuesday.
It was playoff basketball at its best: hard-nosed defense throughout with clutch play down the stretch.
"The hardest game is always that first tournament game," Central coach Mike Adams said. "We have 10 guys on varsity that have never been here before and they don't know what it's all about. Until you actually get on the floor, then you start realizing that everyone is playing for their basketball life."
Despite being limited to a season-low 13 first-half points, the Lancers rallied behind the three-point shooting of junior guard Alex Olsen in the second half.
Olsen shot 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the third quarter to help the Lancers outscore the Spartans, 14-6, and give them their biggest lead going into the final quarter, 27-22.
Spartans can't close gap
East controlled the tempo for almost three quarters and opened the fourth quarter with one of Darius Barnes' several offensive rebound put-backs. But the Spartans failed to take advantage of the bonus situation, missing three of five free throws in the first 3 minutes that could have tied the game at 29.
"You can keep playing that tempo when you've got a margin or a lead," East head coach Andy Farley said. "We just weren't able to keep it up consistently for 32 minutes… It might be a different game when you're down one or two, rather than six, seven or eight."
When East couldn't capitalize, Olsen responded and hit a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to take a 32-26 lead with 5 minutes, 8 seconds remaining.
The crowd erupted as Brookfield East called a timeout and the students chanted, "A.O.! A.O.! A.O.!"
"He's just turned into a quality, quality point guard," Adams said of Olsen. He's directing things, keeping things under control and obviously, his shooting has improved in the second half of the season."
Following the timeout, Barnes missed two more free throws and the lead grew to 35-28 at the 3:23 mark.
Senior shuts door
East used another timeout, but turned the ball over out of the break and Central senior Alex Diciaula, who was virtually shut down by the Spartans, made the most important shot of the game on a fast break, plus the foul shot, to finalize the victory with 3:05 to play.
"Give them (East) credit," Adams said. "Every game this year it has come down to the fourth quarter."
Olsen led all scorers with 15 points (five 3s) while Diciaula scrambled for 12.
East's C.J. Gregg led the Spartans with 11 points; Barnes chipped in with 10.
WHAT'S NEXT
Who: Brookfield Central at Whitnall,
What: WIAA Regional Final (Div. 1, Sect. No. 7)
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Whitnall High School
Saturday's matchup between Central guard Alex Diciaula and Whitnall guard Will Pelkofer presents fans with a potential boatload of scoring. Both seniors lead their respective teams in scoring and can score in spurts.
"It's exciting to go against another top scorer like that," Diciaula said. "But, it's still a team effort, I mean, I wasn't scoring as much tonight, but everyone around me stepped up, and the main focus is just trying to find a way to win."
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