Late Free Throws Are Key As Muskego Boys Knock Off Oak Creek

When a team’s best player gets sidelined by illness or injury, it is up to the rest of the team to come together and pull out all the stops. The Muskego boys basketball team did just that in a gritty 51-49 win over Oak Creek Tuesday night.

Senior Danny Frawley missed the game because of an illness.

“You want your kids to step up and have fun doing it,” Muskego head coach Andy Capes said. “Different kids had to play a lot more tonight. Oak Creek played really hard and made a lot of tough shots but we won. I’ll take it.”

Neither team ever held more than a seven-point advantage in the evenly matched game and with under a minute to play, the Knights (3-9 overall, 0-6 Southeast Conference) had the ball with a chance to take their first lead since midway through the third quarter.

Instead, Muskego (6-7 overall, 3-3 SEC) came up with a big defensive stop, converted two free throws and then two more after Oak Creek turned the ball over on an offensive foul.

“That was a tough way to get a foul there away from the basket,” Oak Creek head coach Mike Jossie said. “We had a nice play drawn up, they listened in (the huddle), we just didn’t execute. That was a bad foul. We shouldn’t have been fouling right there but we’ll learn from it.”

While the Knights’ youth - only two seniors are on the roster - really showed on that final play, the Warriors’ experience paid of well in Frawley’s absence as the team finished 9 of 14 from the free throw line, including a perfect 6 for 6 in the final 3:08 of the game.

Muskego was led all night by the strong outside shooting of junior David Mlachnik and the impressive inside presence by senior Max Miskowiec.

Mlachnik, who also played relentless defense all night, hit four 3’s to lead all scorers with 20 points. When the defense doubled the outside shooting, the Warriors went down low to Miskowiec, who finished with 15.

Oak Creek took a two-point lead with 3:21 left in the third quarter. After that the Warriors ripped off seven straight points and never trailed again.

Muskego returns to action Fri., Jan. 21 as they travel to Racine Case (6-0 in the SEC), while Oak Creek hosts Racine Park.