BRODHEAD — Before Tuesday's game between Brodhead and Wisconsin Heights tipped off, Cardinals guard Cullen Walker felt something brewing.
Once the ball went up, he translated his good feeling into a stellar scoring performance, scoring 19 points in the game's first nine minutes en route to a 40-point night in his team's 81-57 win over the Vanguards in a WIAA Division 4 regional first-round game.
The 40 points was a season high for the junior who was leading his team in scoring at 19.4 per game.
"Warmups, I was kind of feeling it, then I saw a couple shots go down and I knew it was going to be a high-scoring game," he said.
The teams went through an early feeling-out period before seventh-seeded Brodhead (13-12) started pushing the pace and turned to a full-court pressure defense that worked wonders against the 10th-seeded Vanguards.
Heights (8-17) turned it over 14 times in the first half, which helped fuel a 19-2 run for the Cardinals that put them up 27-9 about halfway through the first.
"It was something we saw on film that they struggle with some ball handling, so we said if we can get in the passing lanes and be active, we can force some turnovers," Brodhead coach Tommy Meier said. In the end, Heights turned it over at least 24 times.
During the 19-2 run, Walker scored from all areas of the floor (except the free-throw line) and also helped trigger some of the Cardinals' transition scoring with defensive activity and passing.
"We could tell in the locker room before the game we really wanted it," Walker said. "We came out hot, came out trying hard — best I've seen us come out to start a game all season."
Walker's outburst was no surprise to Meier.
"If you're here at practice some nights, he'll go off for eight, nine, 10 buckets in a row," he said. "Contested or not contested, it don't matter. Against that zone, they were finding open space for him, and he was knocking down shots."
The visitors showed some fight in the closing minutes of the first half, using a 7-0 run at one point to close the gap to 36-27, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the night.
Brodhead responded with an 8-2 run to close the half and take a 44-29 lead into the locker room.
Another 8-0 Vanguards run in the middle of the second period after they fell behind by 20 cut Brodhead's advantage to 57-45, but the Cardinals scored the next 15 points in that instance, stifling the Heights halfcourt offense, to regain full control.
"We're a pretty veteran team for the most part," Meier said. "I think we knew we probably had this game in control even though sometimes we didn't. They got a little complacent till we decided we had to put our foot back on the gas and put it away."
Brody Riese finished with a double-double for Brodhead, scoring 11 points and pulling down at least 12 rebounds in the game. Gabe Bockhop finished with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers during Brodhead's run before halftime.
The Cardinals' reward for their first-round victory is a regional semifinal game at 7 p.m. Friday at No. 2 seed Darlington, which was also ranked No. 2 in Division 4 in the final WisSports.net poll of the season.
The Redbirds went 22-2 and averaged 77.4 points per game and split the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League championship at 13-1 with Mineral Point, which was third in the WisSports Division 4 rankings.
"We've got our hands full, but we were just talking in there, we've got a chance to go shock the whole state," Meier said. "Everybody'd be talking about it because that's who everybody's got picked to win (state)."
BRODHEAD 81, WISCONSIN HEIGHTS 57
Heights;29;28;—;57
Brodhead;44;37;—;81
Wisconsin Heights (fg ftm-fta pts) — Fancsali 2 2-2 8, Duhr 1 0-0 2, Adler 8 4-6 21, Vosburg 9 2-2 20, Pietrzykowski 1 1-2 3, Sander 1 1-1 3. Totals 22 10-13 57.
Brodhead (fg ftm-fta pts) — Walker 16 4-4 40, Bockhop 4 0-0 10, Brown 1 0-0 2, Dooley 3 0-0 6, Searls 2 0-0 5, Riese 5 1-4 11, Boegli 1 0-0 2, Engen 1 0-0 2, Montiel 1 0-0 3. Totals 34 5-8 81.
3-point goals — WH 3 (Fancsali 2, Adler), B 8 (Walker 4, Bockhop 2, Dooley, Searls, Montiel). Total fouls — WH 12, B 12. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — Dooley (B).
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