ONALASKA — The West Salem High School boys basketball team claimed the outright Coulee Conference championship with a 71-48 victory over second-place Onalaska Luther on Thursday.
The Panthers (16-6, 10-1) took a two-game lead on the Knights (18-6, 9-3) and G-E-T (16-8, 9-3) with one to play for their sixth straight championship, and they earned it thanks to a huge night from senior Kyle Hehli.
Hehli made five of West Salem’s 12 3-pointers and scored a game-high 30 points as the Panthers outscored the Knights by 10 in the first half and by 13 in the second.
Hehli also had a team-high six assists as West Salem won for the fourth time in five games. The Panthers close out the regular season at Arcadia on Saturday.
Nathan Dillaber added 11 points and Brennon Anderson and Drew McConkey nine each for West Salem.
Luther was led by senior Will Huelskamp’s 16 points, 12 rebounds and six steals. Synclair Byus added 14 points, five steals and five assists and Jackson Kendall 13 points and three steals.
Caledonia 91, Albert Lea 47
CALEDONIA — The top-seeded Warriors took the first step in their postseason journey with a one-sided win on their home court.
Ten players scored for Caledonia, which made 10 3-pointers and had a 61-16 lead by the end of the first half.
Senior Reid Klug scored 25 points to lead the way, and Mason King added 17 points on five 3-pointers. Garrett Konz scored 13 points and Ben Stemper 11 to help the Warriors (25-2) win their 14th game in a row and top the 90-point mark for a sixth time.
Caledonia plays ninth-seeded La Crescent-Hokah (13-14) at the May Civic Arena in an MSHSL Section 1AA quarterfinal game Monday.
Arcadia 61, Viroqua 53
ARCADIA — Freshman Deklyn Grzadzielewski made two 3-pointers and scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half for the fourth-place Raiders (13-10, 5-6), who close out the regular season by hosting West Salem on Saturday.
Arcadia did find itself in a 37-30 hole in the second half but used an 8-0 run to get out of it and never trailed again.
Seniors Kaiden Rotering and Ted Teske scored 14 points each for the Raiders, who also received eight points from Carter Wegman.
Central 56, Sparta 42
SPARTA — The RiverHawks (14-9, 8-4) secured a share of third place in the MVC by avenging an earlier loss to the Spartans.
Sophomore Gabe Servais had 14 points and three assists for Central, which tied Onalaska for third behind co-champs Aquinas and Holmen. Junior Joey Pretasky added 13 points and five rebounds.
Sophomore Anthony Jones finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three steals, and senior Derrick Pangier contributed nine points, six rebounds and two steals for the RiverHawks.
BOYS BASKETBALL
La Crescent-Hokah 81, Triton 70
Holmen 71, Aquinas 69
G-E-T 70, Westby 59
Pepin/Alma 85, Augusta 56
Whitehall 63, Independence/Gilmanton 51
Osseo-Fairchild 77, Blair-Taylor 61
C-FC 64, Alma Center Lincoln 53
De Soto 63, Cashton 26
North Crawford 66, Hillsboro 32
New Lisbon 58, Wauzeka-Steuben 45
