Byline: Jesse Osborne Wisconsin State Journal
As Greg Stiemsma headed to the bench with 3 minutes left in the third quarter Friday, the victim of his fifth foul, the UW Field House crowd rose to pay respects to the Randolph center.
The 6-foot-11 Stiemsma and Appleton West's 6-11 center Brian Butch had just engaged in perhaps the most anticipated 21 minutes of prep basketball in recent memory. The UW recruits -- Butch arrives next season and Stiemsma in 2004 -- displayed the talent that has led to national notoriety.
Butch finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Stiemsma had 22 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Almost an afterthought, Butch's Terrors (6-1) claimed a 64-45 win over the Rockets (4-2) as part of the Badger Classic.
Displaying an improved shooting range -- he knocked down three baseline jumpers of intermediate length and a 3-pointer as part of a 10-for-11 shooting performance that included three dunks -- Stiemsma caught Butch off guard on his way to a 20-point first half.
'I should have known it,' Butch said. 'Coming into a big game, everyone wants to see (a) him vs. me type thing. I should have known the younger guy wanted it and (would) try to take it over.'
For Stiemsma, who has not had to be a go-to scorer over the past two seasons, it was more a matter of pride against Butch.
'It was a great opportunity and it just happened to be a breakout game,' Stiemsma said.
With Stiemsma out, Randolph managed to cut the lead to 47-39 at the end of the third quarter, but Butch had six points in the fourth quarter -- the same total as the Rockets -- and he got the most important statistic of all -- a win.
'I don't know if (Stiemsma's) going to say anything about how he dunked it all the time,' Butch said. 'But, experience wins over youth in this matchup.'
* Madison Edgewood 54, Mayville 52: Mayville's Mike Toellner was the star of the game but the Crusaders made sure his performance wasn't enough.
'I thought we played pretty solid in the second half,' Edgewood coach Chris Zwettler said. 'We got a lot of guys involved and its pretty common for us to have nine, 10, 11 guys scoring and that's what our strength's going to be (this year).'
Toellner finished with 28 points, including 17 points in the second half.
Edgewood junior Craig Meier had 11 of his team-high 13 in the second half and senior Robert Grady added all 12 of his points in the last two quarters.
'It was nice to see Grady hit a couple 3-pointers back to back, and then it becomes contagious,' said Zwettler, whose team outscored Mayville 22-11 in the third quarter. 'We need more of that and more of those type of quarters.'
It was the Crusaders' fourth game in the past eight days.
-- Nick Wolfmeyer
