I had a chance to see West Allis Hale's 54-53 victory over previously unbeaten (in the GMC) Brookfield Central Tuesday night and I think Huskie center Rick Wagner did Wauwatosa East a favor, sort of.
Wagner scored 20 points to spark the Huskies' upset of the Lancers (3-1) and moved Hale into a second-place tie in the Greater Metro Conference behind unbeaten Tosa East (5-0, 10-0). Wthout a doubt, he is the best big man I have seen so far this season.
At 6-foot, 8 inches tall - and I'm guessing at least 250 pounds, Wagner looked imposing, but moved well for a player his size and showed an excellent touch from 8-10 feet. It's not often you see a player of that size have a slam dunk and a 3-point shot in the same game.
He literally took over the game in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of his team's 13 points in the comeback win. He had two more points than Central did and half of his 20 points for the game in the fourth period. Hale coach Scott Pritzl called the win his most important one since he took over as head coach a few years back.
Wagner not only handed Central it's first conference loss to help out the Red Raiders, but with the win, Tosa East coach Tim Arndorfer doesn't have to worry about his team overlooking the Huskies when they come to Tosa Friday night.
Thanks to Mr. Wagner.
How did this happen? In Tuesday's 50-42 win at Waukesha South, the Red Raiders scored zero (0) points in the second period. I wonder what the odds of that were? East should be able to score a basket by accident if the Blackshirts played 10 guys against them. Tony Walls played his first gameof the year for the Red Raiders, scoring one point. Welcome back T.
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Remember to always be a hit and have a ball!
