Jimmie Kaska

Jimmie Kaska

Jimmie Kaska covers high school and college sports for iHeartMedia in Wisconsin and the Midwest. His work is featured on The Big 1070-Madison, The...Full Bio

 

High School Boy's Basketball: Regional Semifinals Recap

Tonight, regional semifinals winners advanced. 32 teams remain in each division. Below are Saturday's match-ups (all games 7pm at the lowest-numbered seed unless otherwise noted):

Division 1

#1 Sun Prairie vs #8 Madison East: Big Eight foes will meet for the third time this season.

#4 Muskego vs #5 Beloit Memorial: Muskego won by 14 points in overtime to advance.

#3 Middleton vs #6 Janesville Craig: Another Big Eight rematch as each team blew out its first round opponent.

#2 Madison Memorial vs #7 Mukwonago: Each team won by 20 in their first playoff game.

Division 2

#1 Waunakee vs #4 DeForest: A Badger North rematch.

#2 Stoughton vs #3 Monona Grove: A Badger South rematch. Each team blew out their opponent Friday night.

#10 Wilmot upset #2 McFarland, 67-57.

Division 3

#1 Lake Mills vs #4 Edgewood: Lake Mills gets a playoff test in Edgewood of the Badger South.

#2 Evansville vs #3 Turner: Rematch of a game in December won by 5 by Evansville. See recap below.

#3 Wisconsin Dells defeated #6 Lodi 49-44 in overtime.

Division 4

#2 New Glarus defeated #7 Belleville 69-46

#4 Mineral Point defeated #5 Wisconsin Heights 65-60

Division 5

#1 Barneveld defeated #8 Randolph 56-31

GAME RECAP: Turner 49, East Troy 48 (Overtime)

On the final home game of the season for Turner, Turner managed to complete an undefeated home campaign with an overtime victory over East Troy.

During the final timeout for Turner in overtime, coach Ken Watkins called his players over with Turner leading 49-48, before an Alec Fruin free throw attempt. During the timeout, he says he told them to not foul and defend one-on-one after the ensuing free throw. Message received?

"Coach told me during the last timeout, just don't give them a look," said senior Alec Fruin.

"Coach got us all together and told us, go get a win," said junior Nacio Villarreal, pointing towards the scoreboard.

Coach Watkins shrugged. "I didn't really expect them to remember anything from that timeout. But we didn't foul and we blocked the last shot."

That Turner did.

Fruin, who was nine-for-nine from the free throw line during regulation, had missed two prior attempts in overtime from the free throw line. He had gathered his own miss after the second missed free throw and put it in for an and-one attempt, leading to the final free throw attempt with 7.3 seconds remaining. However, Fruin also missed that free throw, and East Troy had one final chance to win the game.

A turnaround try by Jared Brehm was blocked by Alec Fruin, and the student section rushed the floor.

The game itself was back-and-forth after the midway point of the first half, when East Troy took its first lead. Neither team could stretch a lead beyond six points during the game, however. Turner used an early 6-0 run to go up 8-2 on East Troy, but East Troy battled back with a 9-2 run of their own, taking their first lead 11-10 with 9:18 to play in the first half. They added a little to their lead, taking a 25-21 lead into the locker room behind 12 first-half points from their senior, Jonathan Ciriacks, also their leading scorer.

Turner's Nacio Villarreal, held to just two points on Tuesday, battled an ankle injury but managed to score eight first-half points. His three with 11:06 to play in the second half gave Turner their first lead since midway through the first half. Villarreal added two more triples in the second half.

The game stayed in balance with East Troy clinging to a three point lead with under a minute to play, 45-42. Alec Fruin drew a foul and made a layup, then sank the free throw to tie the game at 45. Turner got one last look as regulation expired, but Fruin's elbow jumper banged off the glass and out to send the game to overtime.

Fruin led all scorers with 23 points, with Villarreal adding 17. Ciriacks, who fouled out with 49 seconds to play in overtime, finished with 18 points in the end of a solid career for East Troy. Sophomore Michael Polakoski added 15 off the bench for East Troy.

Up next: Evansville. The Blue Devils defeated Turner 59-54 in December. The winner moves on to a sectional semi-final against either Lake Mills or Edgewood.


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