The Southern Door Eagles were given a scare by the visiting New Holstein Huskies, but were able to pull away late in the second half to win 61-52 in the first round of the WIAA Division 3 Playoffs Tuesday night.
The Eagles were hitting shots early, but the Huskies traded twos for threes to take an early lead in the first half. Jaden Braun and Henry Schnell each hit a trio of three-pointers as the Huskies would pour in nine shots from distance. Drew Daoust would keep things as close as he could, scoring 14 of the Eagles' 26 first-half points as they would find themselves down by seven at the break.
The Huskies would extend their lead by as much as 11, but the Eagles would begin to turn the tide with less than nine minutes to go in the game. With the Eagles down by three, a mishandled ball by Daoust made its way to Nic Pierre, who buried one of his three second-half threes to make it 46-46. With the Huskies in the bonus, Daoust, Pierre, Taylor Schaefer had their opportunities to end the game from there on a 14-6 run to secure the victory. Daoust scored 26 points to lead the Eagles while Pierre added 16 and Schaefer chipped in 10 in the victory. Braun led the way for the Huskies with 25 points with Schnell scoring 14 points and Keaton Wagner adding 10 points.
The Eagles will now face off against Denmark on Friday in the regional semifinal at the Eagle Gymnasium. The Vikings earned the trip by beating Two Rivers at home. Denmark beat Southern Door in one of their first few games of the season. The Eagles will seek vengeance on 104.1 WRLU with Tim Kowols and Jacob Nate on the call beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the opening tip at 7 p.m.
Other scores include Luxemburg-Casco handling Marinette on 96.7 WBDK 58-48, Gibraltar soaring past Suring 72-25 on 105.1 The GOAT, Algoma falling to Shiocton 68-55, Kewaunee storming past Sturgeon Bay 67-44, and Sevastopol losing to Randolph 78-44.
