Whitnall's Lion taming boosts posteason prospects
Whitnall hands Eisenhower first loss of season
Whitnall's Will Pelkofer drives to the basket this season at home against Wauwatosa West. He is one of the leading scorers in the area at 22.2 points per game. Photo By PETER ZUZGA
Greenfield — Whitnall boys basketball coach Kent Kroupa was armed with facts and figures in preparation of Saturday's WIAA Division 1 sectional seeding meeting.
On Friday, his team provided him with a whole lot more ammunition.
That night, the host Falcons handed New Berlin Eisenhower (20-1) its first loss of the season, edging the Lions, 55-50, before a packed home crowd. The win bumped Whitnall up to 13-6 overall, 10-6 conference and vaulted the Falcons into the fourth seed of the sectional.
Whitnall will host Greenfield at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a regional semifinal.
"We didn't know how big it was until I went to the seeding meeting Saturday," Kroupa said of the win. "That really solidified the number four seed for us. That carried a lot of weight."
That, as well as big wins over Pewaukee and Dominican earlier in the year, when both teams were ranked among the top 10 in their respective divisions.
"I guess we gathered enough respect for the year," Kroupa said.
Against Eisenhower, William Pelkofer led his team with 20 points and teammates Jake Lehmann (11) and Brian Nagy (nine) combined for 20 more for the victors, who led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter. The lead never got below three points.
The win followed a 70-48 home win over Greenfield three days earlier, during which Pelkofer had 18 points and Stephen Pelkofer chipped in 16. Prior to that victory, Whitnall lost two straight, including a 20-point drubbing to South Milwaukee on Feb. 12.
"We hadn't been playing too good, but the kids put together a good game (Friday)," Kroupa said. "They were 20-0, the game was televised, it was a good atmosphere and they're a pretty good rival. It was a lot of fun coaching that game."
Kroupa said since his team's loss to South Milwaukee, the coaching staff cut back on practice time to keep players fresh for games. His team also has been approaching each game like it's a tournament game with the hope it gives his players a mental edge down the stretch.
During their long winning streak, the Lions won 12 games by 10 or more points and outscored their opponents by an average of 19.7 points per game, including a 51-41 win over Whitnall on Jan. 15. They also locked up their fifth straight conference title despite playing the last six games without starting point guard Tyler Nickerson, a senior who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a win at Pewaukee on Jan. 29.
Kroupa said he understood the pressure Eisenhower was facing during the streak. Whitnall's state championship team that went 25-2 in 1988 under Kroupa won 22 straight games but lost a pair early on.
"I know the difficult of that," he said. "Everybody's gunning for you and you can't make any mistakes. They had a tough week with Tosa West and us. It's extremely difficult and the pressure weighs on you. You could kind of feel and see on those kids faces that the burden had been lifted. I liked having a loss going into that tournament and maybe we did them a big favor, but you still want to be undefeated. That's a heck of an accomplishment and honor to do that, but they still did a heck of a job, especially with all the seniors they lost last year."
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