Bulldogs boys hoopsters surge into conference lead

West Allis - After chasing all season, the West Allis Central boys basketball team is now in the lead.

The Bulldogs downed Brookfield Central, 63-59, on Friday night to move into first place in the Greater Metro Conference at 9-2, one game ahead of Brookfield Central (8-3).

West Allis, which also downed West Allis Hale, 58-44, on Jan. 31, has won seven straight GMC games (counting a forfeit from Menomonee Falls) to catch and pass the Lancers, who have lost three straight conference games.

The Bulldogs (13-4 overall) finish with Marquette at home at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10, Menomonee Falls at home on Feb. 17 and Brookfield East on the road on Feb. 23. The Lancers will face Brookfield East, Wauwatosa East and Sussex Hamilton.

"This would be the first time since 1979 if we put up a conference banner, so it feels real good to be on the top," said Najeal McMillian, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points. "But we have three more conference games left. We still need to go hard for the next three weeks so we can clinch this title and make it not a fluke."

Twice the comebacks

The Bulldogs, a talented and athletic basketball team with a never-quit attitude, came back twice and finally passed the Lancers for good with six minutes left Friday.

The Lancers' last lead was 50-48 on two 3-point field goals and a basket by Seth Mortag before the Bulldogs took control with a 15-9 run the rest of the way.

During that stretch, Jarvis Garrett hit a 3-pointer, a fast-break basket and two free throws, while Darvell Brown added two free throws, Tonnie Collier a rebound basket and a pair of free throws and McMillian a rebound basket.

Mortag had two free throws, Nick Olson a free throw and two baskets and Jack Sandstrom a bucket at the buzzer for the Lancers.

"We want to go hard each game, going 32 minutes," West Allis coach David Mlachnik said. "Whether we're down or whether we're up - just keep playing our game. Play as a team and share the basketball. We talked about it all year; tonight we did it for 32 minutes."

The Bulldogs had led 22-19 with 4:11 left in the half when the Lancers went on a 12-0 run to take a 31-22 lead with 1:09 to play. Baskets by McMillian and Collier cut the lead to 31-26 at intermission.

BC starts second half strong

The Lancers began the second half with a 12-6 run to increase their lead to 43-32 with 3:36 left in the quarter. Mortag had six points and Riley LaChance four in that stretch.

The Bulldogs came back and cut the lead to 46-44 after three quarters behind McMillian (four points), Jaquan Carson (three), Garrett (three) and Brown (two), while all the Lancers could muster was a 3-pointer by LaChance.

West Allis just dominated on the offensive glass.

"When you have people that tall and that athletic," said Brookfield Central coach Mark Adams, "you've got to do something physically with that position to get your body into them and we just didn't do it consistently enough. All things being equal, they still are going to outjump you."

Collier totaled 16 points, Garrett 14 and Brown 12, while LaChance and Mortag had 18 each for the Lancers.

"I think the team started to buy into what coach wants from us," McMillian said. "We started to trust each other and started to communicate."

Garrett added, "We have some of the best big men in the state of Wisconsin. (Mlachnik told us to) just go crash the boards; people don't box off that well."

Against Hale on Jan. 31, Collier tallied 20 points, Garrett 15 points with a trio of 3-pointers and Brown eight points for the Bulldogs, who built a 29-17 halftime lead.