Germantown boys basketball team too much for Falls, 87-44

The unbeaten and number one-ranked Germantown boys basketball team was having a difficult time fending off winless, but feisty border rival Menomonee Falls Saturday night through about a quarter-and-a-half.

But then the Warhawks broke open a 23-15 game with a second stanza closing 19-2 outburst that gave them a 42-17 lead and ended any residual drama, as the 7-0 Warhawks rolled past the 0-6 Indians, 87-44.

"We can get these good outcomes," said Germantown coach Steve Showalter, "when we put on runs like that. When we capitalize on forcing turnovers and score six, eight, 10-12 points in a row we can make life easier on ourselves. When we don't, we struggle."

The victory was the defending WIAA state champions' 35th win in a row.

Indian coach Dan Leffel said he was very happy with his team's effort up to the momnent that the Germantown run started.

"Those last three-four minutes of the second quarter really hurt us," he said. "We had a couple of minutes with some bad turnovers because we played a little soft. ...We gave up about 15 more points than we had to because we didn't play sound in that time."

"And that makes it really hard, because in the first place you have to play just about a perfect game to beat these guys."

The lead never dropped below 25 in the second half.

Falls, which was down two starters this game due to various circumstances, was led by Brandon Ramey with 17 points, including four three-pointers, while freshman Juwan McCloud had nine.

Guard Jake Showalter led Germantown with 22 points, while center Luke Fischer had 16 and the brothers Lamonte (13 points) and Brian Bearden (12), also contributed greatly.

Lamonte Bearden made life heck for Falls' guards with numerous steals and deflections.

"There are teams that are going to sit back in a zone against us and we're going to have get better against that kind of defense," said Coach Showalter. "We'll continue to work on that. It's the kind of situation where our depth can really come into play."