Central finds many ways to win over the holidays

Brookfield Central won the Luke Homan Memorial Tournament last week and did it with two different approaches. Veteran Lancers coach Mark Adams likes the first one better.

Central used a great first quarter to roll to a 76-51 decision over Nicolet on the first night, jumping off to a 26-8 first-period lead. The Lancers then defeated Bay View, 71-56, in the championship game, but were trailing by 12 at halftime.

"That's one of our greatest turn-arounds," Adams said. "That's a 27-point swing."

Central trailed the Redcats, 34-22, at intermission before the Lancers' defense kicked in and Seth Mortag (nine points) and Riley LaChance (eight) combined for 17 of their 28 third-quarter points.

"We had no energy in the first half," a frustrated Adams said. "With two minutes to go in the half I told my coaches to start thinking about what we can do on defense because what we were doing was not working."

Against the Lancers' 1-3-3 zone, Bay View's Marlon Northern scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers from downtown in the process.

The Lancers pressured Northern more in the second half, but they had to be careful about coming out too far and leaving space in the zone.

"The pressure (on Northern) seemed to help," Adams said. "But the biggest difference is we had more energy, a sense of urgency."

The Lancers surpassed Adams' expectations with their third-quarter production.

"I told them if we get the score down to six we would be in good shape," he said. "But we were up two (50-48). It seemed that when one guy did something, that energized another guy. Suddenly, we had five to eight guys energized."

It started with Mortag, who scored 11 points in a row when the score was tied at 52-52.

He scored on two drives, tipped in a shot and made a foul shot. He scored another basket and then LaChance stole the ball and led him perfectly and he slammed down a dunk for a 63-52 lead.

While his scoring was impressive, Mortag was modest about his run.

"We were just going with the flow and took what they gave us," he said. "I just kept going at it; then things started to happen. It all started with defense, deflections and steals. We got fastbreak points. Getting good looks and taking care of the ball."

Mortag helped get Northern, who fouled out with 1:01 left in the third period, out of the game and when he left, the Redcats couldn't match up with him.

"His teammates were looking for him (Mortag)," Adams said. "When he plays like that he is nearly unstoppable."

Nicolet

Central jumped off to a 26-8 first-period lead and coasted to a 42-23 lead at intermission. The Lancers then added 15 third-quarter points and held the Knights to 10 to take a 57-33 into the fourth period.

Central had 10 players get on the scoreboard, led by LaChance's 29 points. LaChance had three 3-pointers and was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Mortag had 13 points, the only other Lancer in double figures. Sophomore Elijah Goodman was next with nine.

Up next

Central travels to Brookfield East for a 7:30 p.m. game Friday, its only game in a 12-day period.

ALL-TOURNAMENT

Co-MVP - Brookfield Central's Seth Mortag and Riley LaChance.

All-Tournament - Carlin Dupree and Jamal Kern of Bay View, Armilles Terry and Tony Dallman of Hartford and Gregg Pigg of Nicolet.

LUKE HOMAN RESULTS

Finals - Brookfield Central over Bay View, 71-56

Third-Place - Hartford over Nicolet, 54-49

Semi-Finals - Bay View over Hartford, 49-46

Semi-Finals - Brookfield Central over Nicolet, 76-51