Wyatt Temperly and Belmont held off a stiff challenge from River Ridge on Friday night and will travel to top-seeded North Crawford for a regional final on Saturday
Below are some quick takeaways from the regional semifinal round of the boys basketball playoffs.
For the full first round results on the Bound Wisconsin scoreboard, please click here.
#1’s GO DOWN
We saw the first number one seed go down in the regional semifinal round.
Top-seeded Colfax in Sectional 1 of Division 4 suffered a one-point loss to Prairie Farm/Clayton, bringing the Vikings’ season to an end.
In Division 5, top-seeded Loyal beat eighth-seeded Owen-Withee twice during the regular season, but the last matchup was close, just a six-point Greyhounds win. That was a sign of things of things to come, as Owen-Withee went on the road and knocked off Loyal 59-51 on Friday night, ending a 21-win season for the Greyholds.
CINDERELLA’S STILL DANCING
Higher seeded home teams went 128-32 in the first round of regionals, good for a winning percentage of 80%, compared to an 84.5% winning percentage for home teams in the opening round.
Lowest-seeded teams still remaining:
#12 Gibraltar (D5)
#11 Wausau West (D1)
#11 Madison West (D1)
#10 Oshkosh North (D1)
#10 Madison La Follette (D1)
#10 Muskego (D1)
#10 Waukesha South (D2)
#10 Prairie Farm/Clayton (D4)
#8 Owen-Withee (D5)
#7 Burlington (D2)
#7 Lodi (D3)
DOMINATING SCORES RULE THE NIGHT, AGAIN
The overall average margin of victory was 18.9 points, compared to 24.1 points in the opening round. That includes some sizable blowouts on Friday night. Undefeated Wisconsin Lutheran scored the most dominating victory on the evening, 94-24 over Kenosha Tremper. A total of 11 games were decided by at least 40 points, with three coming by at least 50 points.
The biggest road victory was courtesy of Cedarburg, who defeated Milwaukee Vincent 74-35.
On the other end of the spectrum, there were 40 of the 160 games played that were decided by single digits, including six, one-point victories. 16 games were decided by three or less points.
TRACKING THE CHAMPIONS
The first defending state champion went down on Friday night, as Aquinas fell to a very good Lodi team in a seven versus two upset.
D1: Wisconsin Lutheran beat Kenosha Tremper 94-24
D2: Wauwatosa West beat Milwaukee Lutheran 72-68
D3: Milwaukee Academy of Science beat Milwaukee Bradley Tech 74-58 (Elevated to D2)
D4: Aquinas lost to Lodi 54-52
D5: Cochrane-Fountain City beat Alma Center Lincoln 55-37
BEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL GAMES
Below are the top five regional final games in each division based on the Bound Power Index. Numbers for each team indicate WIAA seed.
Division 1
Kimberly at Appleton North
Stevens Point at Kaukauna
Middleton at Waunakee
Oshkosh North at Arrowhead
Menomonee Falls at De Pere
Division 2
Nicolet at Slinger
Brookfield Central at New Berlin West
Wauwatosa West at Beaver Dam
Whitnall at Waterford
Plymouth at West De Pere
Division 3
Shoreland Lutheran at Racine Lutheran
East Troy at Lake Mills
Watertown Luther Prep at Lakeside Lutheran
Kettle Moraine Lutheran at Lake Country Lutheran
Wittenberg-Birnamwood at Seymour
Division 4
Saint Mary Catholic at Kewaunee
Iola-Scandinavia at Bonduel
Dominican at Cedar Grove-Belgium
Roncalli at Manitowoc Lutheran
Living Word Lutheran at Milwaukee Juneau
Division 5
Southwestern at Kickapoo
Prentice at Columbus Catholic
Belmont at North Crawford
Newman Catholic at Tigerton
Assumption at Royall
Travis Wilson serves as the Bound Wisconsin Manager. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisBound or reach him at [email protected].
