The Roncalli boys’ basketball team is part of the Final-4 in the State Boys Basketball Tournament.
The Jets toppled previously unbeaten Iola-Scandinavia 52-45 at Appleton East High School.
Jets guard Ryan Fischer had a clutch 3-ball to put his team ahead by 4 with about 3-minutes left.
“I knew it was going in when I shot it,” he said with a smile on his face. “As soon as I caught it with a little bit of space, I knew I had to take it.”
Joe Witczak, who finished with 12 points, says getting to state is a dream come true.
“At the beginning of my basketball career I dreamt about this,” he said.
Witczak also said that watching the previous success the program has seen gave him the motivation to continue that success, and get to state as well.
Luke Pautz again led his team with 23-points & 10-rebounds and said they had this goal in mind all season.
“First we had to take business with conference, then regionals, sectionals, and now it’s nice that we get to check another box off,” the Jet’s leading scorer said. “We worked for this moment every day in practice…it’s nice that our hard work is paying off.”
Head coach Joe Garceau told us after Saturday’s win, returning to the state with this team is a thrill, and that they are the epitome of a team effort.
In fact, Coach Garceau says he “hasn’t heard one complaint from one kid that sat on the bench all season long.”
“Their job is the hardest,” he said. “You gotta show up to practice every day, you gotta grind, you gotta hustle, and knowing you might not get the amount of minutes that you want. But they keep showing up every day. They keep pushing our starters…It’s amazing how much you can achieve when nobody cares who gets the credit.”
The Roncalli/Marshall state semifinal basketball game Thursday night will be broadcast on WOMT, with tipoff happening at approximately 8:15 p.m.
