Nicolet Boys Escape With Win at Home

The Nicolet Knights boys basketball team survived an upset scare at home Tuesday night by defeating Milwaukee North Division 62-53 in the first round of the WIAA Division 2 boys basketball tournament.

Nicolet senior forward Christian Griggs-Williams led the home team with 22 points.

Nicolet (14-9, 8-6) held a comfortable lead most of the first half and carried a 38-23 advantage into half.

Knights coach Paul Hepp said, “Whatever you do to get the lead, you have to keep on doing it because the other team obviously wants to come back.”

By the end of the third quarter, the Knights saw the lead dwindle down to 46-41. It was with 3:50 remaining in the third when the Blue Devils went on a run to end the third and into the fourth to chip away at the lead.

North Division (4-17, 0-12) junior forward Micheal Leflore hit a big 3-pointer to cut Nicolet’s lead down to one with just over three minutes to go in the game. That’s as close as it would get.

Knights sophomore forward Eugene Bonner answered with an emphatic two-handed slam to increase the lead back to three. Bonner finished the night with 10 points.

Griggs-Williams sealed the deal by throwing down a dunk with authority with just 25 seconds to go.

North senior guard Melvin Wade helped the Blue Devils by adding 16 points. Leflore would finish with 18 points as North’s season ended.

Hepp knows his team is headed into a physically tough game at second-seeded Brown Deer on Friday.

“You do the eyeball test, you look at them, they got three guys that you just say, 'These are physical, football kind of kids who happen to very good athletes who play basketball, too,’” he said.

Brown Deer (14-8, 12-6) finished third in the Woodland-Blue conference. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.