PEWAUKEE — Pewaukee Boys Basketball (24-4) is on the cusp of becoming only the third Wisconsin high school team to four-peat as state champions.
Dominican (5) and Randolph (4) are the only two other programs to have at least won four titles in a row.
"It would mean everything to me," senior shooting guard Nick Janowski said about the possibility of four-peating. "All the work that has gone in throughout the past players, our players this year, the coaches — everybody since back when all these guys were in fourth and fifth grade. It started then."
Janowski has played in all three state championships (2021, 2022, and 2023) for the Pirates.
To advance to this year's state tournament, Pewaukee took down top-seeded Stoughton 62-49 to clinch the Pirates' fourth-straight WIAA sectional championship this past Saturday.
"Just to see the level of success that we've brought to this high school and that we're going to bring this weekend, it would just mean the world to everybody," Janowski added.
The future Nebraska Cornhusker and Mr. Basketball finalist set a WIAA State Tournament record in 2022 for the best 3-point field goal percentage .723 (8-11) in Division 2.
With the two-seed in this year's state tournament, the Pirates will play three-seeded West Salem (25-3) on Friday. Just like Pewaukee, the Panthers are also known for thriving on the perimeter.
"I have never come across a team that shoots more threes and makes more threes than we have, so that stuck out right away," Pirates head coach David Burkemper said.
With West Salem moving up from Division 3 this season, many didn't anticipate the Panthers making the state tournament for a third year in a row.
West Salem clinched their spot with a 66-58 victory over River Falls this past Saturday in the sectional finals.
"When you get to this point in the season, everybody does something really well that can beat you and they can outshoot just about everybody," Burkemper added about West Salem.
On the other side of the Division 2 bracket, top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran (28-0) will look to keep their perfect record alive against fourth-seeded Nicolet (24-4).
For several years, Wisconsin Lutheran and Pewaukee played in the same sectional, which has kept the Warriors out of the state tournament since 2014.
Saturday's Division 2 Championship has the possibility of being against two Woodland Conference foes if Pewaukee and Wisconsin Lutheran both advance out of Friday's semifinal games.
"We know they're there," Burkemper said. "They've got to play a good Nicolet team — a team we played last year in the semifinals. What I can say about it is if we can take care of business, if we can play a really well-played game on Friday, we'll let the chips fall where they may on Saturday."
Top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran plays fourth-seed Nicolet (24-4) this Friday. Tip-off is set for 1:35 p.m. CT.
Approximately 15 minutes after the Wisconsin Lutheran-Nicolet game, two-seeded Pewaukee and three-seeded West Salem will tip off at the Kohl Center.
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