Eisenhower 'D' keys win over Trojans

New Berlin - Keyed by a dominant third-quarter assault, visiting New Berlin Eisenhower looked every bit the well-oiled machine in smothering and pulling apart a young Wauwatosa West squad, 64-37.

The Lions rattled off 12 consecutive points to close out the third quarter, scraping together scores wherever they found them - at the free throw line, off of steals, driving for layups and putting rebounds back up and in.

In just a matter of minutes, an intense back-and-forth tussle that once stood at 26-20 was 38-20. The lead never shrunk to single digits.

Experience vs. youth

As evenly as Eisenhower and West were matched in the first half, though, they painted a picture of contrast.

Eisenhower has just one underclassman on its roster. It's cruising through conference play and just scored a huge victory over Whitnall on a last-second shot.

West has only one senior on the roster and its six underclassmen log significant minutes. The Trojans came into the game on a seven-game losing streak.

"Please believe that no one wants to win more than we do," West coach Chad Stelse said. "We need that one win just to realize that we can. It's hard mentally when you're working hard but not seeing it validated in victories. We don't necessarily know how to beat teams more talented than ours yet."

"It's really a matter of staying positive," said the lone senior, guard Reggie Cole. "I wouldn't say it's frustrating, but it's different. I've had to adapt, because these guys need someone to look up to and to lead them … because our team has some straight explosiveness.

"We can get to the hoop at will, and even do some special things at times. But we don't have consistency and we don't have team coordination. For now, we're focusing on playing together, staying positive and toughing it out until the bright future arrives."

The Trojans need to play a full game to be successful.

"We haven't put together four quarters of good clean basketball yet," Stelse agreed. "And we definitely have a problem with bigger teams. We do get worn down inside. We need to get stronger physically."

Height factored in win

Eisenhower was just such a tall, physical team. Senior Keith Kahlfeldt, a 6-foot-6-inch forward, had 15 points, mostly on hooks, scoops and contested layups that sent him to the free throw line. He teamed with fellow senior forward John Crowley to give the Lions a considerable advantage in rebounding, interior passing, post-play moxie and senior savvy.

Their most effective plays, though, were often kick-out passes, especially to guard Sandro Pesqueira. The junior continued his hot stretch and finished with 24 points, including four 3-pointers in the first half.

"I thought that was actually one of our better defensive efforts," Stelse said, "in the sense that we were working hard against (point guard Reed) Timmer and we slowed him down. This is the first time we've committed ourselves to shutting down an opposing team's best player, and contained him. I feel it is a matter of stepping forward and just taking pride in doing so."

Timmer had a handful of assists and steals, but was held to just five points.

"This was a road game," Eisenhower coach David Scheidegger said. "Make no mistake, those are hard to win. Especially against a team like West, which - we knew coming in - plays fired up. We knew it was going to be a battle, and they didn't disappoint.

"But we also knew we could win if we stayed focused, stayed the course, did the things we work on in practice and did them well," he said. "We worked through what they threw at us and kept grinding away. Eventually they wore down.

"I was really on the team to be aggressive on defense. Regardless of whether it was man or zone or press, just be aggressive with it. They're kids, and sometimes you have to stir that up. At the same time, any time you win, you have to have some shots made. And those took a while, but they came," he said.