Brillion, Reedsville hosting regional finals

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

Both the Brillion and Reedsville boys basketball teams will host regional championship games tonight (Saturday) at 7 p.m. after decisive victories in the semifinal round on Friday.

The Lions host No. 4 Little Chute.

The Panthers host No. 12 Gibraltar.

Division 3

No. 1 Brillion blew out No. 8 Ripon 92-68 to advance to the final. The game was close early then quickly turned in Brillion’s favor. Colton Larsen scored the first seven points of the game for the Lions to take an early lead.

By early in the second half, a Joe Shimek 3-pointer made it a 23-point Brillion advantage. The game featured fastbreak points from Connor Holly, Heath Cousin and Hayden Cousin.

“I thought we did a lot of good things. I thought we all played well. I thought we scored,” Coach Chad Shimek said.

The win improved Brillion’s record to 22-3 overall this season.

Little Chute had a nailbiter game with No. 5 Winneconne on Friday, prevailing 65-63, to advance to Brillion.

The Mustangs are 16-9 overall.

“Little Chute, obviously, is a good team,” Shimek said. “They play a 2-3 zone … We’re going to play a really good team that was probably worthy of the same seed that we got.”

In the 24-hour turnaround in between games, Shimek said it’s fun to be up late studying for the opponent and awake early the next morning for a light practice.

“That’s why you do it,” Shimek said.

He added a team shouldn’t overprepare either.

“You can’t do too much,” Shimek said. “You have to make baskets; you can’t turn the ball over.”

Division 5

No. 1 Reedsville had two home blowout wins this week to advance to the championship game.

On Tuesday, the Panthers beat No. 16 Gillett 90-35. Jack Schwahn continued his hot shooting with six made 3-pointers in the game. On Friday, they beat No. 8 Lourdes Academy 66-39.

Gibraltar upset No. 5 Suring 56-54 on Tuesday then won 52-47 at No. 4 Green Bay Providence Academy on Friday.

The Panthers are 23-3 overall this season and undefeated at home.

No. 7 Hilbert had a strong close to their season, beating No. 10 Sevastopol 53-48 on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinal game, where they lost to No. 2 Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah 67-45.