By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON — The Ashwaubenon boys’ basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Luxemburg-Casco (LC) team in a 70-47 WIAA Division 2 regional semi-final loss March 6 at Ashwaubenon High School.
Kyle Krueger led the Jaguars with 16 points, and Matt Imig chipped in 15 points.
No. 4-seeded Ashwaubenon finished 15-8.
The No. 5 Spartans put four in double-figures, with Ryan Robillard leading the way with 19 points.
“Kaukauna shot the ball well tonight,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Mark Tomashek. “We had to play better. I don’t have answers right now. It was an unfortunate night. We were ready to go with a good game plan, and sometimes it doesn’t work.”
After the Spartans (16-8) scored the opening two baskets of the game, the Jaguars built a 16-10 lead behind the hot shooting of Matt Imig from beyond the arc.
Down six, the LC coaching staff switched from a 1-3-1 defense to a man-to-man.
Matt Cravillion and Robillard hit back-to-back triples to even the game.
The Spartans took a 30-24 advantage into halftime and continued to torch the nets with a 22-6 run to start the second half.
During the span, the Spartans hit 8 of their 11 shots, grabbed seven offensive rebounds and added a couple of free throws.
Down 52-30, the Jaguars closed to 56-44 with 5:15 remaining, but LC closed by scoring 14 of the game’s final 17 points.
The Spartans advanced to the regional finals and will face No. 1 Seymour.
“You never want it to end like this,” added Tomashek. “We knew this was a good team coming in tonight. It was a fun year when I have time to look back on things. The kids bought into everything we wanted. It was a family atmosphere. We have to get stronger and do the little things better to advance to the next level of the playoffs moving forward.”
Box score
LC: 30, 40 — 70
Ashwaubenon: 24, 23 — 47
Spartans: Robillard 19, Doell 14, Mrotek 12, Sewell 12, Deprez 4, Cravillion 3, Cannon 3, Dorn 3.
Jaguars: Krueger 16, Imig 15, Tomashek 10, Wittig 4, Zollar 2.