Area teams go 0-for-3 at state tourney

Central last team remaining, plays at 3:15 p.m.

It wasn’t a good day for area teams in the first round of the WIAA state tournament.

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, Prairie du Chien and Aquinas all took losses Thursday at the Kohl Center.

That leaves one team remaining: Central High School.

At 3:15 p.m. today, the fourth-ranked Red Raiders (22-4) will rematch with No. 2-ranked Kaukauna (24-2) at the Kohl Center in the Division 2 semifinals.

The Ghosts defeated Central 80-65 on Jan. 16 at the La Crosse Center. This matchup will feature YouTube sensation Jordan McCabe and University of Wisconsin commit, Kobe King. McCabe had 20 points and King had 26 in the first meeting.

DIVISION 4
DOMINICAN 54, AQUINAS 46

Of the four area teams at state, Aquinas may have had the biggest challenge, up against the four-time defending champions.

Aquinas (15-12) was down 25-12 at halftime. Dominican (26-1) pushed the lead to as many as 19 with 4:19 remaining in the game, before the Blugolds made a run.

Dominican turned the ball over four of its next five possessions and Aquinas went on a 14-2 run to pull within 53-45. The Blugolds, however, simply ran out of time. 

Aquinas, led by Chirs Ancius’ 21 points – going 6-for-12 from the field and 3-for-8 from deep – was outrebounded 39-19 and shot just 32 percent from the field (22 percent in the first half).

Kostas Antetokounmpo, brother of Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis, scored 14, while Gacoby Jones Jr., led Dominican, which shot 60 percent in the second half, with 18. 

DIVISION 3
XAVIER 82, G-E-T 75

Undefeated, top-ranked Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (25-1) fell in a game won at the free-throw line by No. 7 Xavier.

For the last 8 minutes, G-E-T was looking at a double-digit deficit and sent Xavier (24-3) to the line over and over. If Xavier didn’t turn the ball over, it was at the free-throw line for all but one possession those final 8 minutes. Xavier went 27 of 34 from the stripe in the second half.

G-E-T found itself down 31-26 at halftime, where neither team could hit a shot. The Red Hawks were just 9-for-28 from the field (32.1%), while Xavier wasn’t much better, going 10-for-27 (37%).

G-E-T got the lead down to six points on a few different occasions in the final minute, but Xavier went 7-for-10 from the line to hold on.

Nick Wagner scored 35 for the Red Hawks, going 14-for-33 from the field but just 2-for-11 from beyond the arc. Xavier’s Sam Harris scored 24, going 6-for-10 from the field and 9-for-11 from the line.

Xavier outrebounded G-E-T 37-30.

WAUPUN 55, PRAIRIE dU CHIEN 43

It was a game of catch up for ninth-ranked Prairie du Chien.

After PdC (24-3) had a 10-9 lead early in the game, No. 5 Waupun (26-1) went on an 8-0 run and never looked back.

Waupun was up 30-20 at halftime and by as many as 14 at 36-22 with 13:10 in the second half before PdC made a couple runs.

The lead was cut to 36-31 with 9:59 remaining on a George Connor 3-pointer, but Waupun pushed it back to 11.

Another run cut it to five again at 47-41 on a Chas Sagedahl shot from deep with 2:15 left, but Waupun went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line from there on out to hold on.

Connor led PdC with 10 points on just 4-of-15 shooting. His team was just 15-for-58 from the field (25.9%) and outrebounded 41-32. PdC had just five turnovers, however, and forced 13.

Waupun shot 19-for-43 from the field – 1-for-11 from beyond the arc – led by Marcus Domask’s 21 points. He was 6-for-9 from beyond the arc.