MADISON — Last year, the Brillion Lions opened up their state tournament with an immediate exit in the semifinal round thanks to West Salem. It's something Lions senior Jeremy Lorenz has thought about since that game.
“Just losing to West Salem in that state game gave us all that motivation,” said Lorenz to NBC 26 earlier this season. “That’s not what we want to happen this year.”
On Saturday, Lorenz and the Lions got their revenge over the Panthers when it mattered most, the Division 3 state title game. The Lions brought the roar to day in Madison for a 61-55 win over West Salem. The game saw 14 different lead changes, but in the end the Lions pulled away down the stretch to win it.
Lions senior and Wofford commit Jeremy Lorenz shined with a double-double. Lorenz had a game-high 26 points and 11 rebounds. Over the course of Brillion's 2 game run in the state tournament Lorenz had a total of 51 points and 22 rebounds.
"This program the last four years has done a lot for me, it's been up and down. We didn't win many games my freshman year. I think going out there tonight, I knew I wasn't going to (leave) anything on the floor," said Lorenz after the game Saturday.
The Lions played fundamentally sound all game, especially on defense. They held the Panthers to just 33% shooting from the floor and 17% from beyond the arc.
"We just tried to keep it one possession at a time, make it as difficult as we could for them, make them make another pass. I thought we did a pretty good job rebounding too," said Brillion head coach Chad Shimek.
