West wins for absent coach
Victory over Whitnall secures second place for Trojans
Wauwatosa West's Sam Krenzien finds room to shoot under Whitnall's Bryan Nagy during the first half at West on Jan. 22. Photo By PETER ZUZGA
The Wauwatosa West boys basketball players had a lot on their minds when they defeated Whitnall on Friday.
Most importantly, they were going into the game without their head coach, as Mike Landisch was sidelined with a kidney problem that earlier this week was diagnosed as cancer.
Landisch, who was scheduled for a biopsy Wednesday, said he plans to continue to coach.
"We knew they (the Falcons) were going to be tough coming in," senior captain Sam Krenzien said. "We came with a game plan. It kind of brought us together without coach (Landisch) tonight. We wanted to do this for him.
"But coach (Chad) Stelse and coach (Ryan) Bailey stepped in and did a real nice job of getting us together, getting us focused and getting the job done."
Both teams were tied for second with a 7-3 record in the Woodland Conference Black Division.
If the Trojans wanted to be considered an elite team in their division, they needed to step up and beat the Falcons for the first time in three years.
They also needed to bounce back from an emotional 76-72 nonconference loss to crosstown rival Wauwatosa East in their previous outing, a game they could have won.
The Trojans stepped up - led by the efforts of Krenzien, Ray Sterling and freshman Anthony Carroll - and knocked off Whitnall, earning an impressive 64-55 win.
The victory helped the Trojans (8-3, 10-5) take over second place from the Falcons (7-4, 8-4) behind New Berlin Eisenhower (11-0, 14-0) going into this week's action.
The Trojans came out firing, as Krenzien scored 10 points in the first quarter to spark an 18-9 advantage. But the Falcons - behind 11 points from Will Pelkofer - went on a 13-3 run to spark a 19-7 second-quarter advantage, taking a 28-25 lead into intermission.
But Stelse and Bailey reminded the Trojans at halftime about how much they dominated that first period.
"The way we came out in the second half, that's how we've been playing the last three weeks," Stelse said. "The second quarter we let them back in it. Matter of fact, they took the lead by three points. The way they came out and performed in the second half showed you the maturity level we have grown to the last few weeks."
The Trojans came out pressing the Falcons and went on a 16-7 third-quarter run behind Sterling (six points), Krenzien (four) and Kieviante Love (four) to go into the final period with a 41-35 lead.
Tosa West outscored the Falcons, 23-20, in a high-scoring fourth period, as Carroll scored all 13 of his points in the fourth period.
Pelkofer scored a game-high 23 points, but he was the only Whitnall player in double figures. Sterling, playing perhaps his best game of the year, added 18 to lead the Trojans, who also had excellent floor games from Jarvis Ashley (six points) and AJ Krause.
"Coming in we knew we were going to have a deep team," Krenzien said. "A lot of guys have stepped up. If one of us has a rough game, the other one steps up. Someone else will come in and get the job done. We have a lot of talent and a lot of weapons."
Stelse talked about the performance of Carroll, Sterling and Krenzien.
"We wanted some more pressure out of AC on the defensive end," he said. "That's why we took him out and talked to him a little bit. He's a gamer. He performed at the end, and he brought it.
"Ray, I love Ray as a player. He's been on the varsity three years now as a starter and we've been waiting for a performance like this. He really stepped up, along with Sam. Sam, like always."
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