EAU CLAAIRE — The Aquinas High School boys basketball team had to focus on 6-foot-10 senior Gavin Gores if it wanted to become a WIAA Division 4 state qualifier on Saturday.
Cumberland showed that it was more than a University Wyoming commit by pushing the Blugolds in the second half, but Aquinas made free throws late and rode the hot shooting touch of Logan Becker throughout for a 69-56 victory over the Beavers in a sectional final at Eau Claire North.
Gores, who entered the game averaging 34.9 points per game, was held to nine in the first half and four in the second as the Blugolds (24-3) won their second straight sectional title and earned a state semifinal at the Kohl Center in Madison on Thursday night.
The Blugolds were awarded the third seed and will open with a semifinal game against second-seeded Mineral Point (27-1) in the 8:15 p.m. game. Top-seeded Bonduel (27-1) plays fourth-seeded The Prairie School (14-15) in the first semifinal at 6:35 p.m.
“We had, like, two or three defense ready to go, and we started out in normal man to man,” Aquinas coach Brad Reinhart said. “We assigned Calvin Bahr to own that assignment from the front side, be physical, limit touches and use that weak-side help.
“Credit the kids for doing that for a full 36 minutes.”
spending so much energy on Gores was going to yield open looks for his teammates, and the Cumberland (21-6) took advantage of those opportunities in the second half.
Aquinas led by as many as 21 points in the second half after a Calvin Bahr 3-pointer made the score 53-32 with 11 minutes, 45 seconds left, but Chayden Berghammer, Troy Majewski, Jack Richter and Uriah Johnson all made shots from outside the 3-point line to keep the Beavers within 10 to 14 points after that. Reinhart said the tradeoff was worth it to keep Gores from going off.
“We knew there’d be a kid open on the weak side — or two depending on where we were in our rotation,” Reinhart said. “As we saw on film, they were capable and streaky shooters, and a couple of them made some shots.”
There wasn’t anything streaky about Becker, who made seven 3-pointers and scored a game-high 23 points. The junior made four 3s in the first half and three more in the second. He also knocked down a pair of bonus free throws to give the Blugolds a 66-55 advantage with 1:46 remaining.
“He was ready to make the plays that came to him,” Reinhart said of Becker, who has made at least one 3-pointer in 11 straight games and has 73 this season. “He didn’t force anything and had some good rhythm looks.
“He knocked them down with confidence.”
Senior Trey Bahr and sophomore Calvin Bahr — in addition to his defensive responsibilities — scored 14 points apiece for Aquinas, which has won four games in a row and nine of 10 as it prepares for its ninth state tournament since 2003 and second in a row.
Junior Finley Strom also had a very good stretch of success to help the Blugolds pull away from a close game in the first half. He scored all seven of his points in a stretch of a couple of minutes, starting 12-0 run with a three-point play off a putback and turning another offensive rebound into points later in the run.
“He had a couple of strong takes to the basket, and he blocked a shot,” Reinhart said of Strom. “He comes in off the bench and inserts himself in what we are doing like he did tonight.”
All photos attached to this story were submitted by Cameron Reinhart.
