Posted: March 15, 2010 |(0) Comments

Laurence Trimble sat on what was the Menomonee Falls boys basketball team's bench at the Al McGuire Center in downtown Milwaukee waiting.

She was chatting to friends and well-wishers and watching her youngest children giggle and throw a ball around on the nearby court.

It was still many minutes after the Indians' discouraging, almost devastating, 50-48 WIAA sectional final loss to Arrowhead. A defeat that broke a 15-game winning streak for Falls and denied the Indians yet again that highly-sought after Holy Grail of a state tournament berth.

The team had still not come out of the locker room and with six strong seniors who had spoken with some certainty that this was the year the Indians were going to break through and get to state, one could hardly blame them.

And Ms. Trimble was willing to wait as long as she needed to, because she knew the level of dismay in that room had to be broader and deeper than that of nearby Lake Michigan.

Not even the encouraging Marquette University Women's Basketball Wall of Fame display that graced the hallway toward their dressing rooms, with Menomonee Falls Hall of Famer Kerri Christianson featured quite prominently, could be of any help to the team at that particular moment.

Team suffers worst output

Ms. Trimble was no doubt pleased with the efforts of her oldest, Falls sophomore superstar J.P. Tokoto, who had 23 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, and who courteously looked in upon and helped up fallen Arrowhead foes in the physical and occasionally messy game.

But he himself, no doubt, wishes he could have been in a little better position to possibly stop the Warhawks' Michael Skarie on his game-winning driving layup with just 3.7 seconds remaining.

And it wasn't for any lack of want-to on the part of the rest of the team either. Indians coach Ben Siebert tried many combinations offensively, but all the shots that people seemed to notice falling in warm-ups, would not drop during the game. A 29 percent shooting effort precipitated the Indians poorest offensive night of the season.

John Cording couldn't believe it when his last-second good look from the top of the key wouldn't drop at the buzzer.

Lack of support was not a problem either.

Another Falls Hall of Famer, John Budde, sent best wishes out by e-mail from North Carolina where he lives. This team had tied his 1958-59 Braveland Conference champion Falls squad for most wins in a season with its 76-61 sectional semifinal victory over Germantown the night before.

It was a record everyone was hoping would be broken.

The live blog feed of the final done by area sports editor J.R. Radcliffe also had two avid followers in retired Menomonee Falls coaches Ed "Swami" Schlumpf and Bob Hessler.

"Go Falls" was their repeated mantra.

Team creates excitement

It was all part of a larger, far more intense following for the team than anyone can possibly remember in a long time. The only times I can think of that were similar were the mid-to-late 1970s at old Falls North when bitter rival Sussex Hamilton came to town for high-level and memorable match-ups.

Still, the efforts of those fans (I was among the loudest back then) would have been hard-pressed to match the constant game-in and game-out following this group earned. Yes, a large part of it was Tokoto and all the college coaches who are vying for his attention.

But a larger, better part of it was the excitement, the energy and the entertainment factor that the program, which has now had three winning seasons in a row, after many years with none, had created in a relatively short time with their drive for excellence.

So, it was no wonder that expectations were so high, and now the disappointment so great.

And so, Ms. Trimble continued to wait.

She was an athlete herself. A college-level high hurdler in track with times that made people look twice. She knows the euphoric highs that sport can take you on, soaring high above the clouds like Icarus toward the sun, and she knows the lows, the ones that carry you so far into the abyss that you think that that precious sun will never shine again.

It was because of this knowledge, she was willing to wait as long as it took.

For she knew what her son and his teammates were going through.

"I just hate it when the boys cry," she said quietly.

As we all do.