WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Aquinas, Blair-Taylor in sectional semi showdown Friday @Central
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LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW-TV) -- Boys basketball teams have hit that final stretch on the road to state, but they're still two wins away from a trip to the state tournament in Madison.
They'll be busloads of fans pouring through the doors on Friday night when Blair-Taylor and Aquinas collide in a division 3 sectional final at Central.
They're the only two teams from the Coulee Region to make it to state last year. Blair-Taylor would be a heavy favorite to advance in division 4, but jumped up a division this year.
The Cats though are playing some of their best basketball of the season right now and looking forward to the matchup with Aquinas.
"It's a good feeling. A better feeling we get to play Aquinas though. That was one of our goals at the beginning of the year...if we could play them we knew it would be a good game. It's an awesome feeling to be in this position. I'm guessing it will be standing room, that's how big it will be. I know their fans support them really well and our fans support us really well," says junior guard Hank Kujak.
"It's going to be a lot of blue. We know our way to La Crosse, we've played very well down in this area. Aquinas what a ballclub...they play tough competition all the time, they're coming on playing great, we're playing the best ball we are right now. It's going to be a classic matchups of two very good teams and that's what a sectional is all about," says Blair-Taylor head coach Randy Storlie.
Aquinas is the only boys basketball team in the state that's been able to advance to a state championship game the last three years.
It of course won the title in 2008, along with two runner up finishes in 2007 and 2009.
While the Cats have nearly everyone back from their state appearance last season junior Evan Pederson is the only starter with state tournament experience for the Blugolds.
But it was freshman Bronson Koenig coming up with the big plays down the stretch Saturday against Viroqua, scoring 10 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, but he's been doing that all season long.
"At one end he surprises all the time with the plays that he makes. And on the other end he doesn't surprise me a bit because he is such a great player. I think we're so accustomed to seeing him make great plays all the time in practice and in games. It's apparent he's just played a lot of basketball. He knows where guys are going to be. He just makes the right decisions," says Aquinas head coach Rick Schneider.
