Posted: Dec. 19, 2009

If visiting Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan saw the ferocious Jordan-esque one-hand tomahawk jam that Menomonee Falls' forward J.P. Tokoto used late in the fourth quarter as a punctuation mark on the Indians impressive 88-67 win over visiting border rival Germantown Saturday, he didn't let on.

He remained his inscrutable self sitting in the corner of the Falls gym, keeping a "been there, done that" sort of expression firmly planted on his face.

But let's just say Tokoto's play made an impression on all concerned parties, including Ryan, as the Indians earned vengeance on the two-time state tournament qualifying Warhawks for the two losses they handed them last season, including an emotional decision in the WIAA sectional final.

"It was a personal game for us," said Tokoto, who finished with a career-high 29 points and an estimated 20 rebounds. "We were looking forward to it all week."

And Indian coach Ben Siebert was not downplaying the significance of the victory in this latest installment of the "Battle of County Line Road".

"This was definitely important," he said. "Regardless of what they lost (to graduation) last year, they are the two-time defending sectional champions and we've got to go through them (if we want to make state). It was our only game of the week and we were ready to go. It was a long, hard week of practice and the guys were happy to be finally playing someone else."

That much was evident right from the start, as the Indians (6-1 overall) hit the Warhawks (4-3), who were playing their third game of the week, with a withering press that resulted in four straight Germantown turnovers to start the game.

By the time Indian guard Adam Rubatt drained his three-pointer from the wing, it was 9-0 and only 1:27 had elapsed. The ferocious assault had Germantown coach Steve Showalter thinking that he was looking at a mirror image of the things his Ben Averkamp (now at Loyola)-led Warhawks did to people these past three years.

"They put a lot of pressure on upfront and they were looking not to give anything up on the backend," he said, "and they had really good stuff tonight. Their depth is a huge help and they may have been quicker than we were (in our primes), but they don't have the big guy at the back-end like we did (Averkamp)."

"But that press set the tone. It was relentless and made it difficult for us to get into our offense."

However, the Warhawks did find a way to get back into the game as the guard line of Zak Showalter (21 points), Malcolm Bowers (18) and Josh Mongan (13), stablized Germantown, combining for three, three-pointers at the end of the first stanza and closing the gap to 23-17 at the quarter.

And when Zak Showalter hit a three-pointer from the wing with 5:34 left in the half, the score was tied at 25-all.

But that would prove to be the high point for the Warhawks, as the Indians depth came to the fore at this point. Guards C.J. Malone and Jalen Ramey entered the game for Falls and combined for 11 points in the second quarter as the Indians went on a 15-2 run that reasserted their authority at 40-27 with 1:26 remaining in the half.

"We brought them in to spread them out a little and they really did the job," said Siebert of his two underclassmen. "Jalen is so good at driving and slashing."

The margin was 44-31 at the half, and the Warhawks were able to get no closer than 10 in the second session. Falls had a total of 10 players score, including Johnathan Phillips, Conor Cassidy and Rubatt with 10 apiece.

"I think we just hit a wall," said Coach Showalter, whose team earned a tough win over Milwaukee Lutheran the night before. "They were just relentless. I'm not sure that they're that much better than we are, but they do what they want to do very well. They took us out of what we wanted to do."

Which was the plan, said Tokoto, who scored 17 of his 29 in the second half, and who is now getting used to the fact that big-time coaches like Ryan will come visit on a regular basis.

"We practiced all week just for this," said Tokoto. "We were ready. This is the kind of start (6-1) that we planned all along. The loss to King (a few weeks ago) was tough but we're not worried about that anymore. We're flying right now."