Brookfield Central sophomore steals spotlight
Mortag leads Lancers; Whitnall's Pelkofer scores 37 in finale
Brookfield Central's Seth Mortag looses control of the ball as he drives between Whitnall's Nick Vermiglio, left, and Bryan Nagy during the first half of Central's 73-65 victory March 6. Mortag led his team with 18 points and10 rebounds. Photo By PETER ZUZGA
Greenfield — Saturday's boys basketball WIAA Division 1 regional final between Whitnall and visiting Brookfield Central featured two of the top three scorers in the NOW coverage area: Whitnall's Will Pelkofer and Central's Alex Diciaula.
Pelkofer, who came into the game at the top of the list at 22.8 points per game, more than held up his end of the bargain by dropping in a season-high 37.
Diciaula, who was third at 18.3, turned in a respectable 15 in his team's 73-65 win.
But as is often the case in showdowns between two prolific scorers, someone else was the difference maker.
That person was Seth Mortag.
Sophomore shines bright
The Lancers' sophomore forward tallied team-highs of 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, one of which turned the tide for good in the fourth quarter, and helped Central (14-10) advance to the sectional, where they will face Milwaukee Hamilton or Franklin at 6 p.m. Friday at Greenfield.
"Seth played like a man (today)," Central coach Mark Adams said. "A lot of guys stepped up. The further along we go, everyone knows who (Diciaula) is. And we need other guys to step up and that's what happened today."
Mortag led a post effort dominated by the Lancers, and it was his key defensive play late that sealed the win.
With the Lancers leading, 63-61, Whitnall's Stephen Pelkofer had a fast-break opportunity with a chance to tie the game. As he rose to the basket, however, Mortag came out of nowhere to swat the ball with approximately 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.
From there, Central scored 10 straight points to put the game away.
"That was the momentum block," said Whitnall coach Kent Kroupa, whose team finished 15-7. "The whole crowd went nuts. It turned everything around. When he did that, they transitioned and they scored. They had the momentum and the flow."
Lancers' balanced effort
Mortag turned it on with eight points in the second. His performance was part of a game-long effort by the Lancers' post players, which also included 11 points from Nick Hubbard and 10 from Nevan Lewis.
In addition to the solid post efforts and Diciaula's 15 points, point guard Alex Olson had 12 points and seven assists for the Lancers, who won their seventh game in eight tries.
The game plan was, "Keep their post guys off the boards, don't let their point guard make a difference, and Olson did that," Kroupa said. "We did a good job on Diciaula. That was decent, but the difference was the post play. We've gone all season without a post player. They were stronger inside, they were bigger inside."
Career comes to an end
For Whitnall, Will Pelkofer did all he could to keep his team in the game. He hit from long range (three 3-pointers), penetrated the lane with shifty and acrobatic moves and made it to the foul line often (8-of-9). He scored no fewer than seven in any quarter and had 13 in the third to help the Falcons erase a seven-point deficit. He was also extremely active early with four of his five steals coming in the first quarter.
But as has been the case often this season, the Falcons did not have another player score more than nine points.
"He wasn't going to denied, he wasn't going to lose," Kroupa said. "I'll put you on my back and try to carry you. Huge game for a senior going out.
"But (lack of balance) has been part of our problem, too. Brookfield was obviously more balanced than we were. They had nobody that could stop (Pelkofer), but it was a one-man deal."
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