Falcons handed first defeat of season

Greenfield - As far as Whitnall coach Kent Kroupa is concerned, his boys basketball team still has not been beaten by one of its opponents this season.

Yes, the Falcons were tipped by New Berlin West, 51-50, Dec. 20, and their record now is 8-1, but Kroupa feels the Falcons themselves had as much to do with the defeat as the Vikings.

"We created our own problems," he said. "We hit just 13 of 26 free throws. We also had a four-point lead with 1 minute, 45 seconds left but missed shots, missed free throws and were not disciplined with the ball. We defeated ourselves. We didn't take care of the ball at the crucial times."

Down to the wire

West's Darin Sowinski nailed a 3-point field goal with 13 seconds remaining to give the Vikings a 51-50 edge, then Whitnall's Stephen Pelkofer missed a highly contested shot at the buzzer.

"He was double-teamed, and it was a difficult look," Kroupa said, adding that if the Falcons had hit some free throws earlier, the game would not have come down to that shot.

Pelkofer led Whitnall with 17 points, while Bryan Nagy added 10 points and Michael Bonin six points in the game, which was close throughout.

Kroupa, much like the Green Bay Packers' players and coaches, did not think the first loss of the season would relieve any pressure or help his team in any other way.

"Maybe a nonconference game, it would be OK to have a loss, but not in conference," he said. "Now we have two weeks off and we have to live with this loss. I don't believe any loss is good for you."

He did add, though, that the team was more focused in its practices the rest of last week.

"The kids have come back down to earth," he continued, "and we know we can be beaten if we don't play well."

Keeping perspective

He is pleased with the first part of the season overall.

"You have to keep things in perspective," he said. "It was a good start, and I didn't think we would run off eight in a row."

The Falcons enter the holiday break tied with South Milwaukee at 4-1 in the Woodland Conference Black Division, 1½ games behind New Berlin Eisenhower (6-0).

They return to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Greendale (3-3, 3-6), which is coming off a 68-56 loss to Pewaukee on Dec. 20 and a 62-54 defeat at the hands of Franklin on Dec. 22.