Blue Dukes continue improving, win games against Homestead, Grafton
Boys carve out co-lead in tough North Shore Conference
Whitefish Bay — All season-long it had been about balance and teamwork and everyone contributing for the Whitefish Bay boys basketball team.
Then Blue Dukes coach Kevin Lazovik looked at the box score after his team's tough-minded, 71-63, decision over Homestead on Friday and was amazed at what he saw. Guard John Johnston (27 points) and forward Jamie Schneck (25 and 15 rebounds) combined for 52 points in helping the Blue Dukes maintain a share of the North Shore Conference lead.
"That was surprising, and we haven't really seen that all winter," Lazovik said. "John (Johnston) has been so good at distributing the ball for us. It was just that yesterday was an opportunity for him to get a lot of good looks. We were able to set a lot of good screens for him."
Coupled with the 66-51 rout of Grafton on Jan. 5, the Blue Dukes improved to 4-1 in league play and 8-2 overall. They knocked Homestead (3-2, 5-5) out of a share of the NSC lead with Friday's win and coupled with Germantown's (3-2, 7-4) upset of Nicolet (3-2, 8-2) on Friday, Bay now shares the lead with just Port Washington (4-1, 9-1) in the claustrophobic North Shore.
The Blue Dukes will now host talented forward Chip Rank and Cedarburg (1-4, 5-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
"We have a whole week to prepare," said Lazovik. "It'll give us a chance to clean some things up and get the kids ready for (semester) finals (the following week)."
Bay never trailed after a 7-0 run late in the first quarter and early in the second stanza, but that doesn't mean that the Highlanders went down easily. A basket by Homestead's forward Lamonte Moore closed the deficit to 66-63 with 1:28 remaining but then point guard Alex Jamerson hit two free throws at the 1:08 mark to close the deal for the Blue Dukes.
Lazovik was impressed with the effort of Jamerson, who fouled out a short time after hitting his free throws, and also highlighted the career night for Schneck.
"He's just getting better and improving each game," Lazovik said. "That's huge for us,"
Homestead helped the Blue Dukes enormously by hitting only 13 of 30 free throws. Bryan Bronaugh had 16, Moore 13, Dominic Wilder 11 and John Laihinen 10 for Homestead.
Bay took a 36-18 halftime lead on Grafton and then coasted to the finish line against the Blackhawks. Johnston had 19 points, Schneck 12 and Ron Patten nine for Bay.
- Steven L. Tietz
