Matchups of top teams highlight Milwaukee-area boys hoops takeaways

• Wisconsin Lutheran defeated Greendale, ending the Panthers’ 12-0 start to the season.
• West Allis Central’s Yusef Gray Jr. scored 42 points in a win over Brookfield East after committing to Iowa State.
• Brookfield East is without freshman standout Max McMullen due to a lower arm injury.
• Milwaukee Lutheran guard Xavier Allen surpassed 1,000 career points in a win over Shorewood.

School closures for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and subsequently Jan. 23 as temperatures dropped put a tighter bookend on the week in boys high school basketball, but there were still some premier matchups in the Milwaukee area.

Among those games that went on as scheduled were two meetings of top-four area teams entering the week, as well as a smattering of other conference and nonconference affairs as well.

Here are takeaways from the week in Milwaukee-area boys high school basketball.

Wisconsin Lutheran knocks down Greendale despite strong start

The No. 4 Greendale Panthers saw a strong 12-0 start to their season come to a screeching halt over the past week-and-a-half with losses to Franklin (72-64 on Jan. 17) and area No. 1 team Wisconsin Lutheran (73-45 on Jan. 20). Greendale coach Ryan Johnsen said the team is still optimistic and eager to improve over the latter half of the season while sitting now at 12-2.

“I think a lot of the teams in the state would take that,” Johnsen said of his team’s record after the loss to Wisco. “Our roster is really well connected. We’ve got great chemistry, kids understand their roles.”

Taking on a new role as top scoring option this year is 6-foot-6 senior guard Zavier Castillo, who has seen his scoring average climb by 15 points from his 11.9 points per game average as a junior. Rather than one area of improvement leading to that increase, Johnsen said he sees steady improvement across the board in ball-handling, shooting, strength and buy-in on defense.

“When your best player sort of sets the tone at [defense], everybody else kind of falls in line,” Johnsen said.

Rounding out a Panthers lineup also featuring 6-2 senior guard Brandon Harper (14.0 ppg) and 6-3 senior guard Tyler Roche (12.5 ppg) are a pair of juniors making the leap to varsity this year in 6-4 guard Korben Pfeifer (5.9 ppg) and 6-foot guard Grady Smith (9.5 ppg). Castillo said the difference for the team this year has been in its selflessness, which he has tried to help set the tone in as well.

“We’ve got to make sure everyone eats for sure, and in practice we’re just doing all the little things to make sure everyone gets better,” Castillo said.

Johnsen also had high praise for the Vikings, who moved into Max Preps’ national top 10 ranked teams this past week.

“They’re so talented, they’re so well-coached, they’re so long and play so well as a team,” Johnsen said. “No matter what five guys they have on the court, they’re all five difficult to guard. Obviously they have the high, high-level guys, but some of the guys that you don’t think about, they’re still really, really good basketball players. [Riley] Walz knocked down some big shots. I think [Tristan] Hahn hit some big shots. They’re a really strong team. I know Zens and the Knueppels get a lot of notoriety, but they got a special group there. They’re well-coached, it’s just really hard to defend.”

Highlights from West Allis Central’s 91-56 win over Brookfield East

Highlights from West Allis Central’s 91-56 win over Brookfield East on Jan. 22, 2026, led by Iowa State recruit Yusef Gray Jr.

Yusef Gray Jr. talks Iowa State commitment after 42 points in win

Two days after Wisconsin Lutheran and Greendale held their battle of top area teams, No. 2 West Allis Central (12-1) and No. 3 Brookfield East (13-1) met in a similarly high-stakes matchup.

An ultimately short-handed Spartans squad was routed at home, 91-56, as Iowa State recruit Yusef Gray Jr. scored 42 points to lead a runaway victory. Coach David Mlachnik lauded Gray’s improvement through his high school career leading up to what has been a stellar senior campaign.

“Ball-handling, playmaking, shooting, he always had that stuff, but he just continues his work every day. He puts a ton of time in, plus if you take a look at body strength, he put a lot of time in the weight room and that’s paying off,” Mlachnik said. “Just a great kid that just works his tail off.”

An attendee of the Jan. 22 game was already sporting a “Gray Jr.” Iowa State No. 3 jersey that Yusef signed after the game. Gray admitted it was not his first as a few relatives and teammates have been taken care of, but it was nevertheless an exciting sign of the things to come.

“It’s a blessing. Just not looking too far ahead. I’ve got a long season ahead, but it’s most definitely a blessing,” Gray said. “Seeing all these people showing me love and stuff I prayed for, and I just want to give all glory to God.”

The 6-5 West Allis Central guard is far from the first local product to choose Iowa State in recent years, as coach T.J. Otzelberger and his staff have made a point of seeking out recruits in the same metro area Otzelberger once roamed as a student at St. Thomas More. Gray said it is an intentional and genuine approach that has attracted himself among other recent Wisconsin signees like Pewaukee’s Milan Momcilovic, Milwaukee Academy of Science’s Jamarion Batemon, Brookfield Central’s Anthony Rise as well as Oshkosh North’s Xzavion Mitchell.

“They’re doing a really good job at that, and it’s ultimately working,” Gray said.

The Bulldogs are collectively focused on the task ahead, however, and have a senior-heavy lineup acting with urgency as they have largely rolled through their competition all year long.

“We’re going into every game like it’s a state championship game, not looking at teams no different, just giving our all every game,” Gray said.

Brookfield East without top freshman entering critical conference stretch

One development that put the Spartans at a disadvantage headed into the loss to West Allis Central was an apparent right lower arm injury to breakout freshman Max McMullen. The 6-foot guard was seen with a cast on his right wrist on Jan. 22 for an undisclosed injury that coach Joe Rux said will keep him out for “a little bit,” though he anticipates McMullen will return this season.

In addition to missing McMullen’s scoring (18.3 ppg), Rux said the freshman’s ability as a facilitator was badly missed against West Allis Central.

“I don’t want to put him in Yusef’s category because Yusef is a senior and he’s really good. Max is going to be really good obviously, but very similar in terms of where Yusef is at right now. They’re very similar in finding solutions. They’re not, ‘I’m only going to score’ you know. ‘I’ll score if that’s the right solution,’ ” Rux said. “We’re trying to figure it out right now and trying to figure out who can take the reins.”

Seeing increased minutes in McMullen’s stead were sophomore 6-1 guard Davian White and senior 6-foot guard Owen Counsell, while starting senior 5-9 guard Ronje Horton Jr. saw increased duties facilitating from the perimeter. While admitting it had been a short turnaround for his team to find solutions without that second guard adept at putting pressure on opposing defenses, Rux was candid in his assessment of his team’s response Jan. 22.

“We didn’t respond. That’s how we responded,” Rux said. “Obviously WAC is really good, so not taking anything away from them by any stretch. Yusef Gray is – if not the best player in the state – I don’t know who is.”

With or without McMullen for the foreseeable future, Rux’s immediate takeaways from the loss were his team needed to compete, box out and defend at higher levels.

“There’s a lot to learn from this game about who we not only are when Max is here and where we had to get better then, but when Max is gone. Maybe some of those errors [were] masked a little bit, now they’re glaring,” Rux said. “Max will come back at some point, obviously our offense will look a little bit more like it has, but that’s not an excuse. Giving up 90 points is not acceptable whether it’s WAC or Brook Central or whoever it might be.”

The Spartans entered Jan. 24 with a half-game lead in a competitive Greater Metro Conference race (6-1), but know there is work to be done quickly to fend off the likes of Germantown (6-2), Brookfield Central (6-2), Wauwatosa West (4-3) and Menomonee Falls (4-4).

Xavier Allen hits career scoring milestone

Milwaukee Lutheran 6-foot guard Xavier Allen reached 1,000 career points while scoring 25 in an 80-75 win over Shorewood on Jan. 21. The senior is averaging 25.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game this year for the Red Knights (9-4), who ended the week sitting a game back of West Allis Central in second in the Woodland East Conference.