By Robert Whitmire

The SPASH Boys Basketball team has made quite a home for itself on the Kohl Center floor winning the last two WIAA Division One state basketball titles.

The Panthers will return to those familiar surroundings on Friday when they hit the floor for a state semi-final tilt against Madison Memorial.

Game time is scheduled for 6:35 PM on Friday, March 17.

SPASH punched its ticket to Madison with a resounding 76 – 61 win over No. 1 seeded Oshkosh North Saturday afternoon at Marshfield High school.

Drew Blair led the Panther scoring with a game high 33 points, including six 3-pointers. Joey Hauser lit up the board with 25 points, pulled down 18 rebounds and dished out seven assists for SPASH.

North, coming in as the No. 1 seed in the bracket, was led in scoring by Brett Ellstad wih 18 points.

SPASH now stands at 22 – 4 on the season.

Madison Memorial, the No. 2 seed in its bracket, advanced with a 50 – 35 win over No. 8 seeded Madison East at Sun Prairie.

Memorial finished its conference season with a 15 – 3 record, good for second place in the Big Eight Conference. They stand at 23 – 3 overall and are led in scoring by 6′ 8″ senior Chris Knight averaging 15,3 points per game.

Memorial and SPASH have one opponent in common with the Spartans, a 56 – 53 winner over Middleton back in December. SPASH dropped a 96 – 66 tilt at Middleton in February.

SPASH 39 37 for 76
Oshkosh North 25 36 for 61

SPASH Scoring
Drew Blair 33; Beau Rosenthal 3; Andrew Erdman 8; Joey Hauser 25;Keon’te Williams 7
SPASH 3 pointers- Blair 6, Erdman 2, Hauser 3, Rosenthal 1
Hauser 18 rebounds
Hauser 7 Assists