DUKES TO FACE MERRILL FOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Sometimes when things don’t go according to plan, it’s not the worst thing.

Whitefish Bay found that out firsthand Friday afternoon.

Tied at 52 with 9.5 seconds remaining in their WIAA Division 2 state tournament semifinal against Seymour, the Blue Dukes drew up a play during a timeout that saw Kelin Johnson’s shot rim out, but senior Jamie Schneck was right there and tipped the ball back in as time expired to give the Dukes a dramatic 54-52 win.

The Dukes advance to take on Merrill (16-11) Saturday evening at 6:35 p.m. The Bluejays knocked off top-seeded Waunakee (25-2), 55-52, earlier in the day.

“We were trying to run a double-high ball screen for our guard in which we roll off of it,” Whitefish Bay coach Kevin Lazovik said. “We didn’t necessarily execute to perfection, but Jamie did roll to the hoop well and was able to get the tip in the end. The end result was good, it wasn’t exactly how we diagrammed it though.”

The Dukes bench exploded after the basket and rushed to the center of the court mobbing their 6-foot-8 teammate after his game-winning bucket.

“As a big man, I’m always looking to crash the boards and I guess I knew if the shot rimmed out or whatever I could be there in a position to tip it back in," Schneck said. "Just the way the shot came off the rim right in front of me, all I had to do was jump up and tip it back in.”

It wasn’t all hunky-dory for Whitefish Bay, however. The Dukes let a 51-45 lead with four minutes remaining slip away as Seymour senior Phil Romback converted a layup with 10.4 seconds left to tie the game at 52.

Luckily for Whitefish Bay, there was still plenty of time for one last shot.

“We were certainly thankful (to have that much time left),” Lazovik said. “It’s better than having to draw up the Duke play for Christian Laettner. Nine seconds, we were definitely fortunate to be able to have that amount of time so we could bring the ball up and run something and fortunately we used every bit of that nine seconds.”

Things didn’t look good early for Whitefish Bay as Schneck picked up his third foul with 5:42 left in the second quarter.

The other half of Bay’s dynamic duo, senior Ron Patten, struggled to find open shots early as well.

Couple that with the fact the Thunder nailed six 3-pointers before halftime, and the Dukes were fortunate to only be down 27-23 at the break.

Schneck said, “Coach had kind of prepared us and said all five of (Seymour’s) starting players could shoot the three but when they started the game Phil (Romback) hit those two threes right in my face right away and I was kind of shocked, like ‘OK, they really can all shoot.’”

With Schneck on the bench and Patten struggling early, the Dukes’ role players had to up their offense and answered the call in a big way.

Senior point guard Paul Anton drilled two threes and finished with six points, nearly doubling his season average.

The real difference was the play of Kelin Johnson, though. The sophomore who averages 7.1 points per game attacked the hoop all afternoon and scored five of his 13 points from the free-throw line.

On the other side of the coin, it was a painful end to a thrilling season for a senior-heavy Thunder.

“I’ve never lost like that before,” Romback said. “I’ve always seen it on TV of course, but finally feeling it is heartbreaking.”