Brookfield Central guard Riley LaChance headed for Vanderbilt

BROOKFIELD (WITI) -- History was made Tuesday night, January 14th when Germantown High School lost a basketball game for the first time in two-and-a-half years -- and it wasn't by chance.

Brookfield Central on Tuesday night ended Germantown's state record 69-game winning streak.

The senior-dominated Lancers are battle tested, and they have Riley LaChance.

"The group is special but one of the reasons it's special is because they all realize that he feels they are just as important as he is. He's our best player, but he's very unselfish," Lancers Head Coach Mark Adams said.

Tom LaChance is the Lancers guard's father and is an AAU coach.

"Just to have somebody always there, always pushing you, always motivating you, to be there as a dad and then to be a coach, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's amazing for me," Riley LaChance said.

"Everything he's gotten, he's worked for. He's a gym rat and beyond proud. He has really put a lot of time into his game," Tom LaChance said.

Riley LaChance isn't the biggest guy on the court, but he has always made some of the biggest plays -- from the days he was practically dribbling as he took his first steps to now, as he rounds out his prep career and prepares to play at Vanderbilt.

"(Basketball) has gotten me so many great places and I've met so many great people through the game of basketball and it's crazy to think about getting so far," Riley LaChance said.

Doors opened for Tom LaChance thanks to basketball too. He was a walk-on guard at Marquette University under Kevin O'Neill in the early 1990s -- learning the game and a little about life too.

It's more than just basketball -- in terms of what Tom LaChance has told Riley to expect at the next level.

"He has no idea how intense it's going to be when he goes to college -- especially to a school like Vanderbilt. It's gonna be school, basketball, school," Tom LaChance said.

"Ever since I visited down there, that's all I could think of. It just seems like home, on and off the court. Obviously, the academics speak for itself," Riley LaChance said.

"One of the things that kind of sold Riley on Vanderbilt is that they have one guy that went through their four years of eligibility at Vanderbilt -- they've had one guy since 1979 that didn't get his degree, and I know he's looking forward to getting his degree from Vanderbilt," Tom LaChance said.