Alone at the top

Brookfield Central's dynamic duo of Riley LaChance and Seth Mortag had the big numbers in the Lancers' 76-63 victory at Wauwatosa East on Friday night, but there were some unsung heroes who didn't go unnoticed.

LaChance poured in 24 points and Mortag scored 22, but coach Mark Adams also was happy with contributions from sophomore Elijah Goodman and seniors Nate Rohde and Jack Sandstrom, who all finished with seven points off the bench.

The win gave the Lancers a 6-0 Greater Metro Conference record and moved them a game ahead of the Red Raiders (5-1). Both teams are 10-2 overall. Central now hosts Sussex Hamilton (3-3, 7-6) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and last-place West Allis Hale (0-6, 3-9) on Tuesday and should improve their record to 8-0.

"I'm really proud of these kids," Adams said. "It's a typical game with that much on the line; there must have been three, four major swings by both teams. Sometimes those are the kind of things that cause people to fold, and neither team did."

Tosa East jumped out to an early lead, as Kyle Vnuk came off the bench to score six points in the first quarter and spark East to a 17-9 lead after 12 minutes. But the Lancers went on a 28-11 run in the second period behind 12 points by sophomore LaChance, taking a 37-28 lead into intermission.

LaChance had 14 points at half and Mortag had 10, while East's Diamonte Mckinley, Vnuk and Bryce Kratzer each had seven.

"I loved the way we finished the second quarter; I thought that was huge," Adams said. "Then we wavered a bit in the third quarter but when we finished the third quarter it was still a nine-point lead. So that was really big too."

With Central leading, 47-36, the Red Raiders started an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 47-44 with 1:54 left in the third period. Nate Moore scored twice, Vnuk scored on a pass from Anthony Carroll and Moore hit another basket in the run.

But the Lancers closed out the quarter with an 8-2 run of their own to ease into the final period with a nine-point lead (55-46).

LaChance banked in a jumper and then Mortag did the same and also hit two free throws before East's Riley Poe hit a lay-up with 25.6 left in the quarter. But Mortag scored the final basket in the run for Central.

The Lancers held off the Red Raiders as reserves Rohde and Goodman had five points each in the final quarter and Carroll had five for the Red Raiders.

But the key to game was obvious - the Red Raiders couldn't handle the Lancers' 1-3-1 zone defense.

"They did what they do well longer than we did," Tosa East coach Tim Arndorfer said. "We were uncomfortable all night and that's a credit to them. They played that 1-3-1 pretty well. We'll try to figure things out. I will take the blame for that; some things we may not have prepared them for.

"We just couldn't get into a rhythm and when we needed stops we couldn't get them. But that's a credit to them. They dictated the tempo of the game."

LaChance led all players with 24 points and Mortag had 22, while Tosa East had four players in double figures: Kratzer (13), Moore (12), Carroll (12) and Vnuk (11).

"I'm really proud of a couple other guys - Elijah Goodman came in tonight and did a good job. He's just been plugging away in practice, sort of biding his time. He just played great. I thought Nate Rohde came in and gave us a nice lift too. And the couple threes that Jack Sandstrom hit were huge also.

"Nick Olson has been playing well, but he got in foul trouble and we couldn't get him going, so it was a next-man-up type of thing."

LaChance was thrilled with the win, especially since it came on the Red Raiders' court.

"It was probably our best game of the year right now," he said. "To come in here - it's probably one of the hardest places to play in the state, actually. Their crowd is the main thing.

"A lot of guys off the bench stepped up - everybody did a great job for us."

vs. Arrowhead

The Lancers let the Warhawks (7-7) hang around for three quarters and then blew them out in the final period to win a non-conference game going away, 71-52, Jan. 17.

The Lancers led 37-35 in a high-scoring first half and then outscored Arrowhead, 12-9, in the third period to go into the fourth quarter with a 49-44 advantage.

But Central put the game away with an explosive 22-8 final period.

Kenny Finco led Arrowhead with 12 points, the only player in double figures. On the Central side, four players got into double figures: LaChance (16), Mortag (14), Rohde (12) and Jason Meichtry (11). Nick Olson just missed double figures with eight.