LA CROSSE — The Aquinas HIgh School boys basketball team will finish its season as an MVC champion for the first time in 14 years after handing Tomah a 60-46 defeat at the Reinhart Athletic Complex on Friday.
The Blugolds (20-2, 9-2) clinched at least a share of their first conference title since 2011 — they won outright and finished one game ahead of Onalaska that season — and lead second-place Holmen (16-5, 7-3) by a game-and-a-half. The Vikings host the Timberwolves on Saturday and the Blugolds on Thursday and have to win both to force that tie.
Sophomore Calvin Bahr scored a game-high 20 points for Aquinas, which pulled away from a six-point halftime lead during the second half. Bahr scored 11 of his points in the second half.
Junior guard Logan Becker added 16 points and scored the 1,000th of his career one night after his sister Courtney scored the 1,000th point of her career at Drake University. Becker made three of his four 3-pointers in the second half.
Senior Brayden Young added eight points for Aquinas.
G-E-T 72, West Salem 66
GALESVILLE — The Red Hawks snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Panthers and ended first-place West Salem’s 47-game conference winning streak.
Junior Mason Brone had 28 points and six rebounds for third-place G-E-T (14-8, 8-3), which had a 19-4 lead before the Panthers (15-6, 9-1) fought their way back in and go to within 35-32 by halftime.
Senior Brecken Ebersold also scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Red Hawks.
Senior Kyle Hehli made four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 26 for West Salem, which also received nine apiece and three 3s apiece from Nathan Dillaber and Brennon Anderson.
Arcadia 71 Whitehall 42
ARCADIA — The Raiders (11-10) returned to the court for the first time in 10 days due to postponements and walloped the Norse.
Arcadia took some time to get going and only led 29-21 at the half, but outscored Whitehall by 21 in the second half.
Freshman Deklyn Grzadzielewski made four 3-pointers and all eight of his free throws for a team-high 20 points. He scored 17 of those in the second half.
Sophomore Carter Wegman added 12 points with a pair os 3s, and senior Ted Teske scored 11 for Arcadia, which hosts its final three regular-season games against Altoona, Viroqua and West Salem.
Luther 76, Viroqua 46
VIROQUA — The second-place Knights (18-5, 9-2) are a half-game behind first-place West Salem after beating the Blackhawks for a second time this season.
Byus made 3 of 6 attempts from the 3-point line and two assists and two steals.
Senior Will Huelskamp had 17 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists and two steals after making 7 of 14 shots, and Logan Pierce had his second straight double-figure scoring performance with 14 points. Pierce made four 3-pointers.
Sparta 76, Logan 63
LA CROSSE — The Rangers (6-16, 1-10) had eight players score, and senior Jacob Hackbarth’s 16 points led the way.
Bradley Check and Harper Kendle each had nine, and Bubba Leaver added eight.
AREA BOYS BASKETBALL SCORES
Black River Falls 83, Westby 75
Kickapoo 49, De Soto 40
North Crawford 76, Wauzeka-Steuben 43
Ithaca 82, Seneca 68
Royall 77, La Farge 33
Cashton 39, Brookwood 38
