Posted: March 2, 2010 |(0) Comments

Muskego — The Muskego boys basketball team's game plan was simple: try and limit Franklin junior forward Nick Romanowski.

The Warriors were mildly successful in doing so in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal at Franklin on Tuesday, holding the 6-foot-7 post player to 18 points, four below his average.

But when Romanowski wasn't filling the basket, his teammates were.

Four Sabers scored nine or more points as Franklin blew out its guests, 75-57, to advance to Saturday's regional final against Milwaukee Hamilton.

"We knew we were going to see zone (defense) and we knew they were going to want to take 'Romo' out of the game," Franklin coach Tim Hogan said. "And we ran our offense very, very well.

"It was a great job offensively making sure we executed. We made a lot of smart decisions. We were smart with the ball."

Oh, yeah, the Sabers made a ton of shots, too.

Scoring early and often

Franklin (13-10) finished 25 of 40 from the field, a blistering 62.5 percent that included 6 of 9 from beyond the 3-point arc. More impressively, the Sabers made a whopping 17 of their first 22 shots, and built a 20-point lead by early in the third quarter.

Holding down Romanowski, "is part of the plan," Muskego coach Andy Capes said. "You've gotta kind of hope they don't make every shot they take, and they did. They executed and made shots. Tip your hat to them."

Franklin took control early thanks to an 11-2 first-quarter run during which Muskego missed nine consecutive attempts. The Sabers took a 7-6 lead on Paul Lincoln's 3-pointer and never trailed again.

"The game plan was to attack the rim and stay away from taking jump shots," Capes said. "We fell into just taking jump shots and we didn't make any of them, unfortunately, and they did. When you're on the road, sometimes the shots just don't drop. Their kids played hard, too. I don't want to take anything away from them. They hit everything and we didn't."

A true team effort

Six different Sabers scored in the second quarter as Franklin built its lead to 37-22 by halftime by making its first six shots of the period and 7 of 10 overall.

In the third quarter, the Sabers' Matt Krueger scored seven of his 17 points as Franklin continued to pull away.

The third also featured a pair of nice efforts for Muskego. Senior Tom Brezinski knocked down three 3-pointers for all nine of his points, and Spencer Lindhorst, another senior, made three straight baskets for six of his eight points.

Muskego cut the lead to 12 at 57-45 on a pair of free throws by Dan Frawley with 7 minutes remaining but never trimmed the lead down to single digits.

"I'm not surprised. It's been a group that fights all year," Capes said. "They might not be the most talented team, but they've got a big heart and soul. They're a fun group to coach."

Senior Jake Pope led Muskego with 10 points. Macon Plewa had 13 for Franklin and Lincoln finished with nine.

The teams split their regular season games, including a 73-58 Muskego win Jan. 29, the last time they met.

The loss ended Capes' first year as head coach of the Warriors. Muskego finished 9-14 overall with six more victories than last season.

"You always want to do better than you did, but the kids showed improvement and won some games down the stretch," Capes said. "We tied for third in the conference. We exceeded expectations but definitely not where we wanted."

New Berlin West - The Vikings (17-6) advanced to a D2 regional semifinal with a 59-44 home win over Milwaukee Marshall on Tuesday.

Chad Mathwig rebounded from a rough end to the regular season with a game-high 27 points. The junior post player had just 10 points combined in wins over St. Francis and St. Thomas More Feb. 16 and 19 despite averaging more than 18 per game.

Jesse Riehle added 13 and Kyle Rampone had 10 for West, which led, 29-10, at halftime.

Fourth-seeded New Berlin West will visit defending champion Wisconsin Lutheran (19-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Top-seeded Lutheran is riding a 10-game winning streak and has just one loss to in-state teams this winter. Guard Flavien Davis averages 20 points per game.