Sports
Technicals, Turnovers and Trash Talking
The Nicolet boys basketball team beat Milwaukee Vincent, but it's a game they'd rather forget.
Coaches will tell you they’ll take a win any way they can get it, and that’s exactly what the Nicolet boys basketball team did Saturday in the NY2LA Sports Extravaganza in Glendale.
Nicolet beat Vincent 61-47, but the game was much closer and uglier than that.
“We were mentally lazy,” said Nicolet coach Paul Hepp, who was visibly disappointed after the game, despite the victory.
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Vincent scored 20 points off Nicolet turnovers, and 20 points off missed shots.
“We could never find a rhythm,” Hepp said.
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The win gave Nicolet a 9-4 record, while Milwaukee Vincent fell to 2-7.
“I told the guys in the locker room this wasn’t an impressive victory,” Hepp said. “We’ve got to close gaps on our defense. We knew the outside shot wasn’t their forte, so we forced them to shoot from the perimeter.”
Nicolet sophomore guard Eugene Bonner was fouled in the first minute of the game and hit both free throws, then followed with a layup, 4-0 Nicolet.
Senior center Christian Griggs-Williams hit a jump shot pushing the score to 6-2 in the first period. Pressure defense and steals were a large part of the day for each team.
Nicolet junior Corey Smith hit a 10-footer for a 10-6 lead. The first quarter lasted about 20 minutes with referees conferring on calls, cooling down tempers and the trash-talking.
Treland Jenkins, a Nicolet sophomore guard, was fouled and hit both free throws creating a 12-all tie at the end of the first.
Griggs-Williams was fouled and hit two free throws to open the second quarter, 14-14.
The Vincent Vikings grabbed a four-point lead but the Knights bounced back to lead 26-24 at halftime.
The game remained tight into the fourth quarter. Perhaps the most pivotal play of the game came when Vincent’s senior guard Darius Hall missed an uncontested dunk, then forgot to let go of the rim, earning him a technical foul. At that point Vincent was only down four points and could have cut the lead to two.
“I thought that was a momentum changer,” Hepp said.
After that, Nicolet wisely took its time when in possession of the ball, then stretched its lead to 55-47 with 1:49 left in the game.
“I think that missed dunk was huge,” Hepp said. “While I’ll never say ‘no’ to a win, I’d like our guys to play better when they earn them.”
Next up for Nicolet is Cedarburg at home on Friday.
