Greg Blaska epitomized the strategy that helped DeForest literally stand head-and-shoulders above the competition Thursday night.
``He told me to stay within 3 feet of the basket all night and try to get rebounds,'' the 6-foot-7 junior center said of Norskies coach Jeff Wilcox, ``Put the garbage in.''
Blaska and the tall timber he calls teammates made neat work of McFarland. The Norskies were a nuisance from the darkest areas of the paint to the far corners of the perimeter and a 51-39 winner in their WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal game because of it.
Andy Merrill, a 6-4 junior, had 16 points and nine rebounds and Blaska finished with nine points and 11 boards for DeForest (15-7). The Norskies play Monona Grove at 1 p.m. Saturday in the regional final at the Silver Eagles' gym.
``They really play good man-to-man,'' McFarland coach Chuck Kubicek said. ``They all come in there and just get in your face and try to disrupt everything you do.''
DeForest wasn't full of stumps in McFarland's path. The Norskies enjoyed as much as a 7-inch height advantage at the guard position and disrupted the Spartans from the very outset of the game.
Points in the paint were rare for McFarland, which took its last lead, 13-10, on two of them. They came courtesy of an Andy Rice putback with just over 6 minutes left in the second quarter.
``Even when we took the lead, I don't think we got into a flow offensively,'' said Kubicek, whose Capitol Conference champions shot 25 percent from the field (13-for-52).
The Norskies enjoyed a rare offensive burst and scored the next eight points to take an 18-13 lead. The spurt came while the DeForest defense forced McFarland in a 1-for-8 funk to end the half.
``Our defense was great,'' Wilcox said. ``I think that's what won the game for us because our offense was awful.''
As for the Spartans (17-4), they couldn't catch DeForest. And they certainly couldn't pass them.
McFarland had a golden opportunity late to close the third quarter and start of the fourth.
After the Norskies took their largest lead, 31-17, on a Blaska basket, Jon Severson broke the perimeter ice with the first three-pointer of the night for McFarland. The Spartans used a 7-0 spurt to make it a 31-24 game, but failed on seven straight chances over the quarter break to get any closer.
``It was a rat race in there,'' Kubicek said. ``We would get the ball and turned it over. They would get the ball and turned it over.''
Merrill hit with two big baskets, one to end the dueling drought 4 minutes into the fourth quarter and the other to give DeForest a 40-28 lead with 1:51 to play. After that, the littlest Norskie -- 5-8 guard Bret Gerald -- sealed the biggest win of the season for his team by hitting seven of his last eight free throws in an 11-for-14 fourth-quarter showing at the line.
McFarland87915-- 39DeForest8101320-- 51
MCFARLAND -- (points) -- Kuehl 2, Severson 10, Roder 5, Kinder 7, Hockett 6, Parker 2, Rice 2, Mork 2, Pope 3. Totals 13-52 10-15 39.
DEFOREST -- Gerald 13, Olson 8, Merrill 16, C. Anderson 2, Blaska 9, McGill 3. Totals 16-36 19-26 51.
Three-point goals -- Pope, Severson 2. Total fouls -- M 19, D 15. Fouled out -- Parker.
