CMH boys seize control of Classic 8

There were three glaring differences last Friday night in Waukesha Catholic Memorial's impressive Classic 8 Conference 67-61 victory over Arrowhead's varsity boys basketball team.

First, the No. 8-ranked Crusaders (Division 2 state AP poll) shot the ball a lot better than the No. 2- ranked Warhawks (Division 1 state AP poll).

Second, CMH stepped to the free-throw line time after time and never seemed to miss.

Third, Memorial had T.J. Bray on its side.

Playing before an overflow crowd at Arrowhead, the host Warhawks led in the pressure-packed game just twice (both in the first half) and couldn't match Memorial's offense down the stretch. The end result of that was Arrowhead's first conference loss of the season.

"They made more big plays down the stretch tonight that we did, so give them credit," said Arrowhead coach Craig Haase after the emotional loss.

"T.J. Bray was the difference tonight. Twenty-nine points, seven rebounds, four assists. He's awfully good. We didn't have an answer for him." By winning, CMH took over sole possession of first place in the league standings at 6-0. The Warhawks are second at 5-1. Both teams left the gym with 10-2 records overall.

Arrowhead shot its worst percentage of the year at 37 percent (20 of 54), while the Crusaders made 43 percent for the night (19 of 44).

In the second half, when Memorial never trailed, the Crusaders shot 50 percent (9 of 18). AHS converted just 11 of 30 shots in the final two periods.

CMH helped seal the win at the foul line in the second half, sinking 16 of 19. They made 5 of their last 6 in the final minute to keep the Warhawks at bay.

For the night, Memorial outscored AHS by a 23-16 margin from the charity stripe.

Then, of course, there was Bray. The talented 6-foot-4 senior guard actually grabbed nine rebounds in addition to his game-high 29 points and set up his teammates for success all night long.

Arguably as good of a player as the conference as ever seen, Bray made 8 of 14 shots from the field and converted 11 of 13 foul shots.

He also made perhaps the biggest basket of the night with 1:15 left to play and the score deadlocked at 56.

Arrowhead had just rallied from an 8-point deficit (53-45) to tie the game, but Bray buried a 3-pointer from the right wing with 75 seconds to play to put his team on top for good, 59-56.

He later added two free throws followed by a monstrous 3-pointer by senior guard Derek Schell with 41.6 seconds to play to give CMH a 64-58 lead.

Charles Rushman kept the AHS hopes alive by hitting a 3-pointer five seconds later, but Memorial scored the final three points of the game to ice the win.

Schell and Neary scored 16 and 14 points, respectively. Only two other players scored for CMH.

Arrowhead, which allowed its highest point total of the season, got 12 points each from Mills and Finco. Fischer added 11 tallies for the Warhawks.

AHS came into the game allowing just 46.4 points per game.

By the numbers

2 Times Arrowhead led in the game

4 Ties in the contest

8 Largest lead of the night by either team

23-4 Margin of points by which the AHS reserves outscored the CMH reserves

20 The number of points CMH has outscored Arrowhead by in their last 15 games. AHS leads the series in that span, 8-7.

Box score

Catholic Memorial 67, Arrowhead 61

Classic 8 boys

Top scorers

*Conference games only

Relive the live game blog at the Preps Alcove, and visit the Lake Country Reporter sports tab for a full photo gallery.