Hoops move into tie for first place

Posted: Jan. 31, 2012

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Michael Sears

Mukwonago's Nick Blohm (left) pops the ball away from Pius forward Larry Fitzgerald as he drives toward the basket Jan. 27.

Michael Sears

Mukwonago's Nick Blohm (left) pops the ball away from Pius forward Larry Fitzgerald as he drives toward the basket Jan. 27.

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Since the foundation of the Classic 8 Conference in 1997, the Mukwonago boys basketball team has never finished better than 7-7.

But forget gunning for a first winning record. The Indians have their sights on something much bigger.

MHS held off a late push from Milwaukee Pius on Friday, winning 40-38 and staging a season sweep of the Popes to pull into a tie for first place in the Classic 8 with a 7-2 league record (10-5 overall). Mukwonago used a 26-10 run to open the second half, take control of the game and move into rare standing perched atop the league.

"I think anybody looking at the Classic 8 would have to say yes, it's surprising," said MHS coach Jim Haasser, whose team has zero seniors on the roster. "Those guys felt like they had it in them. The parents and fans felt like it was within their reach. Obviously, if anybody's not a believer, they better be now."

Nick Blohm's basket at the 1:22 mark gave Mukwonago a healthy 38-30 lead. The Popes made it somewhat interesting with a quick 3-pointer and turnover, but Pius still fell short despite scoring 5 points in the final 12 seconds, including a basket at the buzzer.

Pius standout senior Carrington Love (9 points) took three deep 3-pointers among four shots on one late possession and missed them all.

"Carrington is a heck of a player, but I think he was frustrated tonight," Haasser said. "Even when we were in man (defense), I thought Aaron Nixon one-on-one both games did a great job of managing Carrington. That's a tall order, especially for a sophomore. We switched it up on them and thought we were just active enough on the baseline."

The game wasn't especially pretty in the first half, with MHS falling behind at the break, 20-12. Pius forward Larry Fitzgerald hit a basket at the buzzer to move his team's lead to 8 points, though the team's second-leading scorer only finished with six points.

Mukwonago leading scorer Nate Tanguay spent much of the first half on the bench after picking up his second foul with 2.6 seconds to go in the first quarter - both calls on the offensive end. Tanguay didn't score until the fourth quarter, where he poured in 9 points, including a 3-pointer at the 3:15 mark to give his team a 34-30 lead and two clutch free throws down the stretch.

"I don't know if he quite gives himself enough credit for his leadership and his talk, just calming the guys down," Haasser said of Tanguay. "Sometimes I think he thinks he needs to be lighting up the scoreboard in order to contribute, but you saw tonight that it doesn't have to be the case. I thought he settled down in the second half. We ran a lot of different sets, tried to get a lot of different guys in the post. We made the right passes. If we weren't scoring, we were getting fouls."

Tanguay said the first half wasn't discouraging for his team.

"We didn't really focus on the 12 points; we focused on their 20," he said. "Them scoring only that much in a half got us going. We kept doing the same thing (in the second half). It felt great."

Mukwonago also took care of the basketball, committing just three turnovers in the second half and 11 overall while forcing 20. Dominic Cizauskas scored 14 points and played an aggressive floor game, hitting the bench just once late in the third quarter.

"Dominic, he's just a great athlete and he never stops," Tanguay said. "He's got a motor that always keeps running, and we can keep counting on him for whatever we need."

MHS switched between man and zone all night, and the cumulative effect allowed the Indians to conduct a 16-2 run from late in the third through much of the fourth. Tanguay's steal and subsequent layup gave MHS its first lead of the game since 2-0 at 20-28 with 5:04 to play, and Cizauskas answered a Fitzgerald basket with one of his own to make it 31-30 at the 4:16 mark. The Indians never trailed again.

"They get to the hoop really, really well, and we wanted to stop them and make them shoot from outside a little bit," Tanguay said. "I think we shut down one of the best players in the state (Love)."

On Feb. 3, the Indians welcome Catholic Memorial - one of the two teams to hand MHS a league defeat this season.

Orioles stun Indians

Hartford's Nick Holzman hit a basket with seven seconds to play, and Mukwonago's answer wouldn't fall in a 48-46 nonconference road loss to the Orioles last Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The Indians led throughout the second half until the late fourth quarter but still had a chance to answer the go-ahead score. Tanguay's shot in traffic bounced over the weakside backboard, and Cizauskas wasn't able to put the ball back in time.

"Hartford did a great job of playing our game; they outscored us in the paint and made more free throws than we did," Haasser said. "Two huge stats for our program."

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