An electric atmosphere was the call of the day for Championship Saturday at the WIAA State tournament yesterday and it seems fitting that Wisconsin bound senior Sam Dekker put on a show at the Kohl Center that will go down as legendary with the passing of time as he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a scintillating 48 second performance.  We look at that and more as we recap the day in Madison…

D1 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP – GERMANTOWN 72 MILWAUKEE KING 69
An exciting back and forth affair saw the free throw line and the size of Germantown’s front line serve as the deciding factor in the game as the Warhawks knocked down free throw after free throw in the final quarter and still had to withstand to missed three point attempts by the Generals in the final seconds to capture their first state championship 72-69.  

Zak Showalter led Germantown with 22 points including a 15 of 18 performance from the line and Indiana commit Luke Fischer served as an unstoppable force during a pivotal second quarter as he scored 12 of his 19 points for the Warhawks.  2012 G/F Arroyo Edwards wrapped his career at Milwaukee King with one of his best overall performances as the talented wing scored 18 points and collected 3 steals while 2013 PG Austin Mitchell-Malone finished with 16 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals in the losing effort.

D2 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP – ONALASKA 55 KAUKAUNA 38
One of the premiere 2013 prospects in the state and one of the top marksmen in the country came up big when it mattered the most as sharpshooting guard Matthew Thomas put on a first half clinic to the tune of 21 points to push Onalaska ahead and the Hilltoppers never looked back.  Thomas outscored Kaukauna 21-16 in the first half on his way to a game high 30 points and 11 rebounds in a scintillating performances for one of the most coveted juniors in the state.

D3 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP – BRILLION 40 GALE-ETTRICK-TREMPEALEAU 35
A hard fought Division 3 title game went the way of Brillion 40-35 thanks to senior guard Trevor Krizenesky who scored 8 of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to help Brillion escape with the state championship over a gritty squad from G.E.T.  His 8 points pushed Brillion’s lead to 33-23 with a little over 5 minutes to play and they were able to withstand a few mini-runs down the stretch for the victory.

2012 G Riley Bambenek scored 15 points and collected 9 rebounds for G.E.T. in the losing effort.

D4 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP – DOMINICAN 61 CUBA CITY 43
The Dominican Knights jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game and they never looked back as the 1-2 punch of junior lead guard Duane Wilson Jr. and senior guard Jamall Taylor powered the Knights to the D4 state championship.

Wilson finished with a game high 24 points, 4 steals, and 4 assists while Taylor added 18 points, 5 assists, and collected 7 rebounds for a Dominican team that tied the state record for the most three-point field goals made in a state championship game with 10.

D5 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP – SHEBOYGAN AREA LUTHERAN 67 RACINE LUTHERAN 66
Legendary performances can form either by truth or stories passed down through the ages that are filled with additions and subtractions that may or may not be true.  As time passes on the performance of Sam Dekker will go down as one for the ages in the fact that it actually took place and it is deserving of being called legendary.  Mix in the fact that he’s committed and signed with the Badgers and did it on the Kohl Center floor and it makes it all the more sweet for the talented sharpshooting wing from Sheboygan.

Dekker scored 18 of his team’s 25 fourth quarter points and 12 in the final 48.5 seconds including a game winning trey ball from the baseline to help Sheboygan Area Lutheran overcome a 63-55 deficit in the final 70 seconds to capture the D5 State Championship with a 67-66 victory over Racine Lutheran.  Down 2 in the final seconds the Wisconsin bound Dekker took the ball the length of the score and drained the trey ball from the right baseline for 3 of his game high 40 points to give SAL the one point victory for the state championship.  

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