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Youth doesn’t prevail for Hamilton squad

MADISON — How important are seniors when it comes to the boys WIAA state basketball tournament?

Very.

And before this year’s tournament got past the Division 1 quarterfinals, a roster with no seniors probably caught up to favored Milwaukee Hamilton.

The young Wildcats led Milwaukee Marquette by seven or eight points most of the first half Thursday night and 25-17 at halftime. But a 19-9 fourth quarter told the story in Marquette’s 48-43 victory.

“We played a good first half, and I thought we were in control,” Hamilton coach Tom Diener said. “In the second half, we lost our poise … and you’ve got to attribute some of that to a lack of seniors.”

The rest can be attributed to a good Marquette team, he said.

“The records don’t always reflect how a good a team is this time of year,” Diener said,

And that certainly applies to Marquette’s

19-8 team.

-- After years of domination in the old WISAA, Marquette High finally has reached the level many expected from the Hilltoppers when they joined the WIAA in 2000. It took 10 years.

“It obviously has been a bumpy road,” said eighth-year Marquette coach David Cooks, a 1986 UW-Whitewater graduate.

“This is not the 1980s. I’m not Paul Noack (the Hilltoppers’ WBCA Hall of Fame coach). I’m coach Cooks … and it takes a little time for the program to be your own.”

-- Cooks said a home victory over Wauwatosa East two years ago to win the Greater Metro Conference was a turning point in Marquette’s new era. But he also proclaimed Thursday’s night win, the first for the Hilltoppers in a WIAA state tournament game, the biggest in school history.

-- We’ll see tonight how far the Hillltoppers have come when they try to avenge a 67-53 loss to Hartland Arrowhead in the 19th of 22 regular-season games.

-- Unfortunately for the Big Eight, Verona couldn’t follow Madison Memorial’s Thursday afternoon lead in documenting the conference’s prestige. Arrowhead, however, had something to with that.

So now, the Verona boys have left it up to the Wildcat girls to carry on this basketball season. If it comes to that Saturday night in the Janesville Craig Sectional final, Janesville Parker or Milton certainty would hope to take a page out of Arrowhead’s playbook in facing the Wildcats.

-- Arrowhead started the season as No. 1 in the boys Division 1 state ratings. Maybe that’s where the Warhawks will end up Saturday night when the WIAA hands out the last gold ball.

-- Madison Memorial never has been observed as a front-runner in displaying school spirit, but the students certainly had it Thursday in a section full of Hawaiian attire.

-- Neenah’s team didn’t measure up to level most people remember from years ago, but the Rockets’ following was as huge as ever.

-- Tournament fans got see Antigo’s star guard, Jack Mach, score 25 points—just below his 29.5 average. Many people, however, expected him to totally take over in the fourth quarter when the Robins needed it most, but it never happened,

Mach wound up 6-for-22 on field-goal attempts. If he had about 12-for-35, the Robins probably would have won.

-- The Gazette Prediction Machine couldn’t pull off a winning day, either. It went 2-2 in Division 1 and 1-1 in Division 4, putting the overall postseason mark 99-37.

The GPM posts these numbers for tonight’s Division 1 semifinals:

Madison Memorial over Appleton East, 54-47; Hartland Arrowhead over Milwaukee Marquette, 62-59.