Kimberly upsets Kaukauna in overtime, Freedom rolls past Wrightstown in sectional semifinals

BOYS BASKETBALL

Division 1 sectional semifinals

Kimberly 85, Kaukauna 83

SUAMICO - The 13th-seeded Papermakers shocked the top-seeded Ghosts with the overtime win, advancing to Saturday’s sectional championship game.

Kimberly (13-13) will play No. 2 seed Marshfield (21-6) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln in the sectional championship game. Marshfield advanced with a 58-47 victory over Eau Claire Memorial.

Kaukauna, which had beaten Kimberly twice during the regular season, finishes the season with a 23-4 record.

The Papermakers have won four games in a row and are 4-1 overall since a late-season coaching change.

"It helps that these guys are close, they're tight. They're brothers," Kimberly interim head coach Josh Hopfensperger said. "Our main goal through the last two weeks is to play for each other. Let's go out there, let's have some fun. I'm not surprised. I kind of expected us to be in this spot, in this game, before the season. Obviously the season didn't work out that way.

"But getting those guys to believe and believe in us as a coaching staff. I coached a lot of these guys over the past couple years at the JV level. I had Landen (Van Offeren) in class in fifth grade. So I feel like they trust me. They want to play for each other and it's a really good group of seniors, too."

Aaron Cullen made seven 3-pointers and led Kimberly with 32 points. Mikey Wildes added 23 points and Ben Grabner scored 12.

Kaukauna was led by Keegan VanKauwenberg with 32 points. Andrew Jensen added 25 points.

Kimberly led 73-69 with 2:20 remaining in regulation after a layup by Cullen.

VanKauwenberg answered with a jumper, then Alex Krause made one free throw for Kimberly to make it 74-71 with 1:33 remaining.

Jonah Roehrig missed a 3-pointer for the Ghosts, but Grabner missed a free throw on the other end.

Kimberly still led late in regulation when Jensen drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 7.8 seconds remaining to make it 74-74.

Kimberly was whistled for traveling with 1.6 seconds remaining, but VanKauwenberg’s shot at the buzzer missed and sent the game to overtime.

Roehrig opened overtime with a 3-pointer to put Kaukauna up by three, but Cullen answered with a layup.

The overtime was back-and-forth until VanKauwenberg made two free throws with 22.7 seconds remaining to give Kaukauna an 83-80 lead.

Wildes made two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to pull Kimberly within one, then Kaukauna missed a free throw with 14.4 seconds to go.

Cullen’s driving layup with 7.2 seconds remaining put Kimberly on top 84-83, then Kegan Pleau stole the inbounds pass for Kimberly and was fouled. He made one free throw to give the Papermakers an 85-83 lead with 4.2 seconds remaining.

VanKauwenberg’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed as Kimberly held on for the win.

Hopfensperger told the team before the game that it would take a group effort, especially on defense, to beat the Ghosts.

"The first thing I said to them is it's hard to beat a team three times," Hopfensperger said. "They have a lot of firepower on their team. Someone was going to have to step up. Obviously our defense had to be huge. I thought the guys did a pretty good job. Keegan hit some tough shots. We were expecting that. But we made him get rid of the basketball a few times. Alex Krause, Mikey Wildes did a phenomenal job defensively. That was the key. I told them our defense would drive our offense and our defense won us the game."

Kaukauna 45 29 9 - 83

Kimberly 40 34 11 - 85

Kaukauna: McMullin 6, Graff 9, Jensen 25, Schwalbach 5, Roehrig 6, VanKauwenberg 32. 3-pt: VanKauwenberg 6, Roehrig 2, McMullin 2, Jensen, Schwalbach. FT: 5-7. Fouls: 15.

Kimberly: Cullen 32, Wildes 23, Van Offeren 6, Krause 4, Grabner 12, Pleau 8. 3-pt: Cullen 7, Wildes, Krause, Grabner, Pleau. FT: 10-15. Fouls: 10.

Division 3 sectional semifinals

Freedom 84, Wrightstown 59

OCONTO FALLS - The Irish outscored the Tigers by 24 points in the second half to pull away for the sectional semifinal win.

Freedom (26-1) will play Little Chute (21-6) in the sectional final Saturday at 1 p.m. at Seymour High School.

Drew Kortz made five 3-pointers and scored 31 points to lead Freedom. He scored 18 points in the second half.

Donovan Davis added 20 points and AJ Wesoloski scored 16 for Freedom.

Wrightstown was led by Ethan Cyra with 14 points, while Aiden Humphreys and Kaden Colwell each scored 12.

Freedom 34 50 - 84

Wrightstown 33 26 - 59

Freedom: Wesoloski 16, Vandenberg 3, Kortz 31, Rueckl 2, Henkel 9, Davis 20, Merbach 3. 3-pt: Kortz 5, Wesoloski 3, Henkel 3, Vandenberg, Davis, Merbach. FT: 10-13. Fouls: 12.

Wrightstown: Kittoe 6, Theunis 2, Humphreys 12, Vanden Heuvel 3, Colwell 12, Cyra 14, Thompson 3, Morshauser 7. 3-pt: Cyra 4, Colwell 2, Humphreys 2, Vanden Heuvel. FT: 8-12. Fouls: 14.