BOYS BASKETBALL
Gresham 70
St. Thomas Aquinas 47
The top-seeded Wildcats jumped in front 10-0 and held off the visitors the rest of the way behind Christian Haffner’s 24 points and four assists.
Gresham (21-3) earned a WIAA Division 4 regional championship-deciding date Saturday night with No. 2-seed Green Bay NEW Lutheran (13-11), an 83-54 winner over Lena in the other semifinal.
Killian Eggert scored 19 points for Gresham, Neal Cerveny had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists, and James Kasik had seven points and six rebounds. St. Thomas Aquinas finished 12-12.
“It was a good game, but I still don’t think we’ve touched how good we can be,” Gresham coach Jeff Zobeck said. “We’d like to be a little more patient on offense. One of our top goals was to win our regional, so we’re happy to be where we are.”
NEW Lutheran has finished second in the Division 5 state tournament the past two seasons.
“They lost some players from last year, but they’ve got a lot of tradition,” Zobeck said. “(Saturday night) will be a big step for us.”
Iola-Scandinavia 46
Bonduel 40
The Bears’ season ended at 17-7 despite 10 points from Colton Dobratz, nine from Hunter VanderLinden and eight from Peyton Czarapata.
Kristian Welch had a game-high 12 points for Iola-Scandinavia (19-4).
The teams were tied at 19 at halftime, but Bonduel fell behind 32-26 and could only battle Iola-Scandinavia even in the final quarter of the WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal.
Wabeno/Laona 36
Menominee Indian 33
The No. 5-seed Eagles came agonizingly close to upsetting top-seeded Wabeno/Laona but were done in by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Michael Gilpin off a long rebound in a WIAA Division 4 regional game.
Menominee Indian (13-10) led by a point with a half-minute left, but a turnover and two missed short shots opened the door for Wabeno/Laona (20-2) to tie it with a free throw and then win it on Gilpin’s last-second heroics.
Michael Pecore led the Eagles with 14 points and Alphonso Smith added eight in what coach Brandon Frechette called his team’s best performance of the season.
“We did a really good job adjusting to their defensive traps and their pressure,” Frechette said. “And Michael (Pecore) did an excellent job of controlling the game. Someone had to win and someone had to lose, and even though it was a tough loss, I’m very proud of these guys.
“(Wabeno/Laona’s coach) told me they’d seen us play and that they were worried about our speed. It was by far our best first half, and we played well in the second half, too. We can leave with our heads held high.”
Clintonville 36
Wittenberg-Birnamwood 21
Clintonville improved to 9-14 and advanced to a Saturday night WIAA Division 3 regional-title showdown with Peshtigo (17-6) behind a staunch defense and 12 points by Tyler Peterman.
Cory Fraaza and Casey Kerstner had six points apiece for Wittenberg-Birnamwood, which finished the season 4-20.
“It wasn’t the kind of game we wanted to end the season with,” Witt-Birn coach Lon Ebel said. “Clintonville did a nice job of pressuring the ball and we played timid. Although we played a nice game on the defensive end of the floor, we had no rhythm offensively and did not execute.
“I would like to thank my seniors for the last four years they have dedicated to our program. Matty Donnelly, Trevor Stewart, and Tyler Weller were ultimate teammates and are the definition of of a class act. They stood for the core values of our program and we will miss them.”