Vikings, Eagles Fall in Regional Finals

Eagles Fade Late

A lost lead late in the game and an insurmountable early deficit ended the seasons of the two remaining Door County boys basketball teams in regional final action Saturday.

Southern Door led 59-53 with four minutes, five seconds remaining, only to go scoreless the rest of the way as Kohler rallied to win 60-59 in Division 4 action. 

“It’s a tough loss,” Southern Door Coach Pete Claflin said. “Our guys feel bad, and I feel bad. We were right there, and we had a chance. We had them, but we couldn’t stop them down the stretch. We had a couple of looks at the end, but we just came up a little short. I’m proud of our guys.

“We competed against a very good team on their home court, and we were one point away,” Claflin said. “That’s how these come to end at tournament time sometimes. I’m proud of our guys. It was a fun ride.”

Early Deficit Dooms Vikings

Gibraltar trailed by as many as 17 points during the first half, rallied to cut its deficit to seven points three times during the second half, but couldn’t complete the comeback in a 79-70 loss to Wausaukee in a Division 5 matchup.

Wausaukee jumped out to a 16-2 lead on Gibraltar with 14:00 left in the first half and stretched it to 27-10. The Vikings cut the deficit to 38-31 on a three-pointer by Spencer Krause, only to see the Rockets take a 46-36 lead at halftime.

Dominic Krauel paced the Vikings with 16 points; Krause and Luke Steebs each scored 14.

“Getting a couple of wins in the postseason feels good as a team, but obviously we wanted to move on further,” said Gibraltar Coach Justin Burress, whose team finished 7-18.