Eagles Halt Truckers in Regional Title Game

Southern Door’s boys basketball team poses for pictures after winning Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 regional championship in the Eagle Gym over Clintonville, 54-49. Photo by Kevin Boneske.

Southern Door’s boys basketball team has added a WIAA Division 3 regional championship to its list of accomplishments this season.

The No. 2-seeded Eagles won at home Saturday night against No. 3-seeded Clintonville, 54-49.

Southern Door, which never trailed in the game, jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held a 26-21 advantage at halftime.

The Eagles’ lead ballooned to 36-23 early in the second half on a three-pointer by Drew Daoust. 

The Truckers then made the contest close by landing baskets behind the arc. They reduced Southern Door’s lead to 52-49 with less than a minute to play.

Matthew Malvitz made one of two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to put the Eagles up by two scores, and Daoust added another free throw before time expired. 

Daoust led Southern Door in scoring with a game-high 29 points, which included three threes. Tyler Neinas and Caden Pierre added eight points apiece.

Sam Wegener led Clintonville with 24 points, including five threes. Jack Yaeger added 15 points with three threes.

The Eagles, who were also the undefeated Packerland Conference champions this season at 16-0 and improved to 22-4 overall, advance to Thursday’s sectional semifinal against No. 1-seeded Freedom at Green Bay Preble. The opening tipoff is set for 7 pm.

The winner will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between top-seeded Kiel and No. 2-seeded Appleton Xavier.