Here is a look at Whitnall's victory over Brown Deer Friday. Mark Stewart
GREENFIELD – With one of the best players in the nation on the floor, an interesting tidbit about Whitnall’s basketball team can get overlooked.
The guys are locking in defensively and it’s paying off in the form of a seven-game winning streak and a steady rise in the rankings.
On Friday the Falcons, who are ranked fourth in the area by the Journal Sentinel, knocked off top-ranked Brown Deer, 89-78, in front of a packed house at home to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Woodland East.
Senior guard Tyler Herro finished with 31 points. Joe Tilley, another senior guard, added 20 points, 10 in each half.
The key stretch was a 17-6 run that began with 15 minutes left in the second half and ended with a three-point play by senior forward Arthur Thut that gave Whitnall a 66-55 lead.
Notable during that stretch, and really throughout the game, was the number of easy buckets Whitnall was able to get out of its offense, while those type of baskets were few and far between for Brown Deer.
BOX SCORE: Whitnall 89, Brown Deer 78
BOYS: Friday's box scores
GIRLS: Friday's box scores
“That’s kind of been our strong suit all year,” Whitnall coach Travis Riesop said of his team defense. “That’s been our scouting report all year. ... When we defend in the half court, we’re hard to beat, and we’re doing a really good job so far.”
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Herro update: Herro, the Kentucky recruit, struggled to get shots to fall at times but still posted his fourth 30-point game of the season. The performance pushed his career point total to 1,503, according to numbers kept by the Journal Sentinel and wissports.net. The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 27.1 points per game.
His key stretch was a run of six points in the final 2½ minutes of the first half. Until that point he had just eight points, which is a modest number for him. That stretch set the tone for the second half, when on this night he seemed to have more success getting buckets by moving without the ball than creating his own shot off the dribble.
Spreading them out: Full-court pressure is one of Brown Deer’s strengths, but Whitnall did a good job of handing it and then getting easy baskets against an overextended defense. Riesop also was pleased with how his team spaced the floor and then broke down the defense.
“One of the best things we did in the second half and why we took a little bit of a run is because we spaced the floor really well,” Riesop said. “It’s really hard to put two defenders on Tyler when we have guys playing so deep. And when they do, our guys are doing a good job of cutting. I think that’s why they get so wide open.”
Big night: Tilley’s points were a season high and two off his career high. It also marked his third straight game with at least 15 points. He is averaging 17.3 points per game during that stretch.
"He’s such a smart basketball player and so strong and when he plays in straight lines and when he is able to cut off the ball, that’s the best Joe we have because he’s such a strong kid and can finish at the basket," Riesop said.
A view from the other side: Brown Deer (6-1, 3-1) got 28 points from senior guard Jay Gentry and 25 from his brother, Jaylon, who is a junior guard. During the game’s deciding run the team had just two buckets during a 6-minute stretch
“We’re a team that's usually playing pressure and the ball is flying everywhere and we get a lot of those 50-50 balls," Brown Deer coach Kelly Appleby said. "But it seemed like during that stretch they were getting a lot of loose balls and I think we took a lot tough shots during that stretch.
"We didn’t get a lot of easy buckets. They were getting too many easy buckets.”
The rematch: Brown Deer came from behind last year to grab a share of the Woodland East title with Whitnall. If that happens again, it will have to get some payback when Whitnall goes to Brown Deer on Jan. 30. Brown Deer traditionally has been a team that picks up steam late in the year. We’ll see if that’s the case again.