State Basketball Roundup: Mavs use big run in the middle of the game to defeat Milwaukee

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The Milwaukee Bucks lost a chance to gain some ground in the N-B-A playoff race, after losing at home to Dallas last night 115-108. The Mavericks pulled away with a 39-to-12 run in the second-and-third quarters. And then 36-year-old Vince Carter sealed the victory by scoring 11 of Dallas’ final 17 points – including a trio of three-pointers. Carter scored 23 off the bench. Monta Ellis scored 32 for the Bucks, who could have moved to within a game-and-a-half of Chicago for the Number-five playoff spot in the East. But Dallas had an even greater sense of urgency, as they’re in danger of missing the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in a dozen years. The Mavericks’ victory kept them three games behind the Lakers for the eighth-and-final spot in the West. It also gave Dallas a four-game winning streak. Ekpe Udoh had a season-high 14 points for the Bucks, who lost only their second game in their last eight. They’ll play at Washington tonight.

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There was at least some talk that Buzz Williams of Marquette would be named the Big East men’s basketball coach-of-the-year. But it didn’t happen, as John Thompson-the-Third of Georgetown won the honor yesterday. Thompson said four-or-five coaches could have won the award, and Williams was one of them. Williams led Marquette to a share of the Big East regular season title, after a pre-season poll had the Golden Eagles taking seventh. Georgetown was projected to take fifth, and they also won a share of the crown along with Louisville – which was the runaway pre-season favorite. The Big East Tournament is underway in New York. Marquette opens in tomorrow’s quarter-finals against the winner of a game tonight between Notre Dame and Rutgers.

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Cardinal Stritch of Milwaukee won the national championship last night in the N-A-I-A Division-Two men’s tournament. The Wolves upset top-seeded William Penn of Iowa, 73-to-59 in the title contest in Point Lookout Missouri. Darren Moore had 20 points and seven rebounds for Cardinal Stritch, and he was named the tournament’s M-V-P. The Wolves pulled away in the second half after leading by just three at the break. They ended their season 35-and-3.

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Bronson Koenig of La Crosse Aquinas has been named the A-P state boys’ high school basketball player-of-the-year. Koenig is a senior who will play his college ball at Wisconsin. He led Aquinas to the Division-Three state high school championship last weekend with 16 points and five assists in a win over Lodi. Koenig also made the A-P’s All-State first team, along with Marquette recruit Duane Wilson of Whitefish Bay Dominican, Indiana recruit Luke Fischer of Germantown, Kevin Looney of Milwaukee Hamilton, and Matt Thomas of Onalaska. Aquinas coach Rick Schneider was named the A-P boys’ coach-of-the-year.

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