A pressing problem

The Brookfield Central boys played a perfect basketball game for 22 minutes against Nicolet in the championship game of the Luke Homan Memorial Basketball Tournament on Dec. 30.

Unfortunately for the Lancers, who lost 65-54, a high school basketball game lasts 32 minutes.

After Nevan Lewis passed to Seth Mortag for a basket and Alex Diciaula drilled a long field goal, Central led by seven points, 42-35, with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in the third quarter, and Nicolet coach Paul Hepp called a time-out.

Nicolet came out in a full-court press, hit the backboards with a vengeance and outscored the Lancers, 30-12, the rest of the way for the victory.

"It was a momentum-changer," Hepp said. "They had 10 turnovers to our one in the second half. You look at it from both ends. At one end, we were creating the turnovers and we were getting some easy transitional baskets.

"At the other end we did a good job of taking care of the ball, and when you have that cooperation you are going to come out on top."

Game plan gets lost

The Knights went on an 11-0 run, sparked by seven points from 6-foot-6 junior forward Christian Griggs-Williams, before Central scored with 6:14 left to play and Nicolet (7-1) leading 46-42.

"I'm not going to use young as an excuse," Central coach Mark Adams said. "Someone else can. We just didn't handle it well in the last 10 minutes. They put a press on us. That shouldn't have been an issue, but it was."

Central used eight points from Lewis and seven from Diciaula to take a 29-28 lead into halftime.

"In the first 22 minutes we played as a team," Adams said. "Nobody cared what we got. And I mean that defensively, too. I felt like we had them looking like they were fatigued. We just didn't take advantage of it."

Griggs-Williams, who scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, and teammate Myles Henry, who led all scorers with 18 points, were named to the all-tournament team, and Henry was the MVP.

Central was led by Nevan Lewis and Diciaula with 11 points each.

"I will give our kids all the credit in the world," Adams said. "We had a game plan to a T for 22 minutes. It was being followed until the last 10."

Victory in semifinals

It was the Alex Diciaula Show in the semifinals, with the Lancers' senior captain pouring in 27 points as Central pulled away from Hartford in the fourth period for a 65-49 victory.

The Lancers led 16-9 after one quarter and 29-25 at intermission before increasing their lead to 45-37 going into the fourth quarter. Central put the game away with a 20-point fourth period.

Mortag helped out Diciaula with a 13-point effort.

Luke Homan tournament

Semifinals

Nicolet 65, Bay View 50

Brookfield Central 65, Hartford 49

Consolation

Bay View 65, Hartford 42

Championship

Nicolet 65, Brookfield Central 54

All-Tournament

Alex Diciaula, Brookfield Central

Alex Olson, Brookfield Central

Robert Littleton, Bay View

Joe Glynn, Hartford

Christian Griggs-Willams, Nicolet

Myles Henry, Nicolet (MVP)