DIVISION III BOYS LaBrae, Brookfield in final

The Vikings and Warriors breezed to semifinal victories.
HUBBARD -- Top-seeded LaBrae and unseeded Brookfield are the only two teams standing in the Division III district boys basketball tournament.
LaBrae, which struggled in its opening win against Warren JFK, flexed its muscles on Wednesday and routed Badger 67-36 in one of the semifinals.
Brookfield, just 10-10 in the regular season, has won three straight tournament games, including its 51-28 trouncing of Champion in the opener.
The Vikings and Warriors will clash in the championship game Friday at 7 p.m.
LaBrae-Badger
LaBrae (18-4) jumped out to a 5-0 advantage on the Braves and never looked back.
The Vikings were sparked by junior Danny Hartman, who led all scorers with 19 points, while senior Jason Frederick and junior Kyle Rowan added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
LaBrae, which had trouble putting the ball in the basket in its last game against JFK, shot much better from the field against the Braves.
The Vikings, who shot under 25 percent against JFK, hit 24-of-53 shots from the field for 45.2 percent, but coach Gregg Isler felt it was defense that made the difference.
"I thought we played very well defensively tonight," Isler said.
"We played good defense against JFK, we just couldn't make a basket in that game.
"I thought the kids were more relaxed tonight and we got a lot of good looks at the basket," he said.
"The difference was we made them tonight."
After jumping out to the 5-0 lead, the Vikings watched as Badger came back to close to 8-7 before LaBrae took a 14-11 lead after one quarter.
Defense steps up
The Vikings defense held the Braves to just seven points in the second quarter as they extended their lead to 29-18 at intermission.
LaBrae blew the game open in the third period. Leading 37-26, the Vikings went on a 15-3 run for a 23-point lead. The Vikings hit the 30-point mark with 5:49 remaining in the contest, 62-31, and both coaches emptied their benches in the final minutes.
Ryan Myers led the Braves with 15 points, while Norm Yannucci added 13. Badger finished the season 16-6.
Brookfield-Champion
Senior Sam King just missed a triple-double as he led the Warriors (13-10) to an easy win. King finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Things didn't start out well for the Warriors, as Champion jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the opening quarter, but Brookfield, sparked by a flurry from King, outscored the Flashes 18-2 over the remainder of the quarter and took control, 18-11.
The Warriors shot 63 percent from the field in the opening half, hitting 12-of-19 shots. The finished the game 21-of-39 for 53 percent.
"We are a pretty good shooting team and we have a lot of kids who can shoot it," said Brookfield Chris Fahndrich.
"We're not very big, so we have to rely on our shooting," he added. "These kids have been small all their lives, but they have really big hearts and they've been playing with those hearts all season long."
Shut down Flashes
The Warriors put on a defensive exhibition in the second quarter, holding the Flashes to just two points and 1-for-11 shooting as they pulled to a 30-13 lead at the half.
Their biggest lead of the contest came at the end of the third quarter, when they led by 21 points (44-23).
Cory Richards added 12 points and Keith Flynn 11 points for the Warriors, while Champion (8-15) was led by Tyler Kish with 11 points.