The Roncalli Boys Basketball team will play the late game on the opening day of the WIAA State Tournament in Madison.
For the 9th time since Roncalli joined the WIAA in 2000, a Jets boys basketball team has qualified for the State Tournament.
Roncalli, the #2-seed at 24 and 3, will battle #3 Marshall (22-6) tonight at approximately 8:15 p.m. in the Division-4 State semifinals in Madison.
The Jets won their only state championship in 2018 and will attempt to take that first step toward accomplishing the feat again.
We spoke with Jets Coach Joe Garceau about bringing another Jets ballclub to state in this, his 7th season.
“Obviously the Gold Ball is the goal,” he said. “One thing about this group is how tight we are, and how much we enjoy being around each other…Hopefully we can get to Saturday…and if we can get a little hardware to put in the trophy case, that would be icing on the cake.”
Coach Garceau had a scouting report on the Marshall Cardinals.
“Their best player, Craig Ward, shoots 46% from deep on 158 attempts,” he explained. “If you take away his three-point shot, he is going to penetrate hard. We are hoping to pick up a couple of charging calls on him.”
There is another player Coach Garceau has his eye on.
“They have a 6’ 5” guy that’s their second-leading scorer,” he said. “He can play inside and outside shooting threes.”
Senior Forward Reece Stangel told us their success comes from, “Playing together as a team and always having each other’s back on defense.”
He noted that they have played big teams before, noting their previous opponent, Iola-Scandinavia, was also rather tall, so he believes their defensive style can counteract their big guys.
Stangel also spoke about their special opportunity this weekend.
He said that when he was younger, he saw the previous teams achieve success, including winning it all in 2018, “and that’s always what you dream about as a kid. I can’t wait.”
The first D-4 semifinal tonight at 6:35 p.m. pits the top-seeded Novas of Milwaukee Academy of Science against the 4 seed Cameron.
The Jets’ play-by-play broadcast will be on 107.9 FM WOMT and at WOMTRadio.com starting at 7:45 from the Kohl Center.
