Red Raiders boys hold off West Allis Central to win cage opener

When the Greater Metro Conference opener between the Wauwatosa East and West Allis Central boys was over Friday, both locker rooms had mixed emotions about the Red Raiders' 59-56 victory.

The reason for the mixed emotions on the winning team was simple - they almost blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, but hung on to win the game when a Bulldogs' desperation 3-pointer missed.

As for Central, the Bulldogs were disappointed because they didn't get into the offense and defense until the final period.

"In the second half, our defense, we picked it up," Central coach Dave Mlachnik said. "Offensively, we started moving the ball. We made four good passes, guys weren't just pounding the basket, dribbling, dribbling. We were moving it from side to side and started to open things up, and we started to get some really good looks."

Tosa East coach Tim Arndorfer talked about the Red Raiders' inability to put the Bulldogs away.

"I think we had some chances in the first half and even in the third quarter to start pulling away," he said. "But we missed shots and had turnovers. They're (Bulldogs) a very talented basketball team. Give them credit, they could have folded, but they didn't."

The Red Raiders led by 10 points, 44-34, going into the fourth period, as they were in control for most of the game. But the talented Bulldogs battled back and made a game of it, outscoring Tosa East by 7 points.

Jarvis Garrett (7 points), Darvell Brown (6) and Ron Turkvan (5) combined for 18 of the Bulldogs' 22 fourth-quarter points.

"They have a lot of good guards - Garrett and the freshman (Brandon Key), the big men (Najeal McMillian/Tonnie Collier) are good," Tosa East's Diamonte Mckinley said.

With 23.9 seconds to play, Anthony Carroll sank one of two free throws to make it 59-51, the Red Raiders' final points of the game.

Turkvan nailed a 3-pointer at 18.7 to cut the lead to 59-54, and then missed a jumper, but Garrett put in a rebound to make it 59-56 with 9.9 seconds left.

Carroll was fouled with 7.8 seconds left - and he missed both free throws - but the Bulldogs couldn't convert on their final shot.

Mckinley had seven of his 14 points in the fourth period and Carroll had five of his 19 points to help hold off the Bulldogs.

Garrett led all scorers with 20 points, while Turkvan and Brown had 10 each. Marquise Carter, a junior guard, added 11 points for the Red Raiders.

East led 35-23 at halftime, as it looked like playground basketball for the first two quarters. Mckinley and Carroll each had 7 points in Tosa East's 23-point first period.

"We just have to work on pressuring each other in practice. Just keep our heads up," Carroll said.

"It's (the victory) so great. It feels good."

The Red Raiders, whose biggest player is 6-foot-5, had 11 players get in the game; eight of them scored.

"It was amazing to see how many guys got in there and contributed," Arndorfer said. "It wasn't just guys who got out there - we had a lot of guys do a lot of nice things tonight. And for opening night, we're very pleased, we're happy with that.

"I give our guys a lot of credit. We're undersized, we battled and a win's a win."

Whitefish Bay

Carroll scored 22 points and Bryce Kratzer added 10 as eight Red Raiders got on the scoreboard Tuesday in a 52-41 non-conference win at Whitefish Bay.

East led 25-20 at intermission, but the Blue Dukes cut the score to 33-31 going into the final period. The Red Raiders then had a big quarter, outscoring them, 19-10, to roll to the easy victory.

Vince Cupertino scored 6 points, Mckinley added 5 points, Nate Moore and Kyle Vnuk had 3 each, Riley Roe had 2 and Zak Sylvester had 1 to close out the scoring.

The Blue Dukes (2-2) were led by Keelin Johnson and Joe Sherburne with 13 points each, and Connor Weas added 12; only five players got on the scoreboard.

Up next

The Red Raiders (2-0) will travel to Brookfield East (3-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday for their next battle. The Red Raiders, Brookfield East, Brookfield Central and Sussex Hamilton are all tied for first place in the GMC with 1-0 records.

The Red Raiders play Wisconsin Lutheran at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Homestead in the NY2LA Tournament.