SPASH, Amherst, Almond boys one win from state

The Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH),
Amherst High School and Almond-Bancroft High School boys basketball teams each
won Thursday, March 10, to advance to the Sectional Finals Saturday, March 12.
Top-ranked and defending State Champion SPASH (25-0)
went into halftime with a 25-8 lead on Superior (21-4) and rolled to a 68-28
win in a WIAA Division 1 Sectional Semifinal at Wausau West Thursday night.
The top-seeded Panthers will take on second-seeded
Appleton West (19-6), which beat third-seeded Oshkosh North (19-6) 58-56
Thursday night, in the Sectional Final at Marshfield Saturday, in a game that
has been moved to 4 p.m., after it was originally scheduled for 1 p.m.
Sixth-ranked and top-seeded Amherst (24-1) won 42-27
over second-seeded Algoma (17-8) in a WIAA Division 4 Sectional Semifinal at
Green Bay Southwest Thursday night.
The Falcons will face 10th-ranked Marathon (22-3) Saturday
in a WIAA Sectional Final, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Appleton
East.
Fourth-ranked and third-seeded Almond (24-2) was tied
31-31 with fourth-seeded Pittsville (19-8) with 3:01 left in a Sectional
Semifinal Thursday night at SPASH, when the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to go up
38-31, and won 38-34 to advance to the Sectional Finals for the first time in
school history.
Almond will play Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran (12-14),
which beat Suring (15-11) 67-44 in the Sectional Semifinals Thursday night and has
advanced to the Division 5 State Tournament three years in a row and in five of
the last six seasons, in a WIAA Division 5 Sectional Final at D.C. Everest at 2
p.m. Saturday.
The Sectional Final winners will advance to the WIAA
State Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison Thursday through Saturday, March
17-19.
Complete coverage will appear in the March 18 issue of The Gazette.