Nicolet boys still in the chase for conference crown

Nicolet — Senior leadership, led by guard Myles Henry, helped lift the Nicolet boys basketball team to two wins last week, and left the Knights with thoughts of a North Shore Conference championship still intact.

The Knights scored on their first six possessions in the fourth quarter of a close game against Homestead on Friday and pulled away for a 64-50 win, and then just 16 hours later, they turned around and pulled out an emotional 48-45 nonconference victory over Kenosha Bradford.

With the twin wins, the Knights entered a pivotal game played Tuesday against Germantown (see GlendaleNOW.com) tied for second in the North Shore at 7-4 (Nicolet is 14-5 overall), and a game behind leader Port Washington (8-3, 15-3). The winner of the contest still has a chance of at least a tie for the league crown while the loser will be out of the running.

"I wish we had pushed this button a little earlier," said Nicolet coach Paul Hepp, "but those earlier games (some of them losses) taught us lessons that made us stronger as a team. We're not going to worry about anyone else. We can't control what anybody else does anyway except who we're playing."

The Knights will be at Milwaukee Lutheran (5-6, 9-7) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Nicolet was flat against host Bradford (11-8) and struggled throughout until Henry came up with a pivotal three-point play late in the fourth that gave them the lead for good.

The Red Devils had a shot at the lead late, but it was off the mark and Clem Robinson (team-high 13 points) then hit two free throws with 11 seconds to go to give the Knights their end margin. Bradford's final 3-point attempt was off the mark.

Tre Kinlow added 11 while Henry had eight for Nicolet.

"Any win this late in the season gives you momentum," said Hepp.

Henry did not score in the first quarter against Homestead (6-5, 10-8), but came up big in the second half en route to a game-high 24 point total. He got an acrobatic tip-in at the buzzer of the third quarter to make it 41-38 Nicolet and then had seven points in a 13-5 run to start the fourth period that broke open the game for good.

Hepp was pleased to pull off the season sweep against the pesky Highlanders. A happy statistic was the fact that the Knights committed only nine turnovers.

Cameron Smith added nine points for Nicolet.