This story is sponsored by: High Street Salon, Spa & Travel
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MADISON – Auburndale boys basketball coach Chad Weinfurter said prior to the state tournament that if anybody beat Whitefish Bay Dominican, it would be an upset.
The Apaches mustered all the energy they could to pull off the upset, but Dominican held them off time and time again on its way to a 57-44 win over Auburndale to capture its second-straight Division 4 state championship Saturday at the WIAA State Boys Basketball Tournament at the Kohl Center.
Auburndale senior Austin Hawkins led the charge, pouring in 31 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the loss. The Apaches finish the season 26-2 and capture the school’s third runner-up trophy (1995, 2003) in nine state tournament appearances. Auburndale also won two titles in 1993 and 2000.
Marquette University recruit Duane Wilson scored all 14 of Dominican’s points in the fourth quarter and finished with 26 as he took over to keep Auburndale at bay. Sophomore Diamond Stone, another top-level Division I college prospect, added 22 points and 16 rebounds for the Knights (24-4).
“We don’t face that type of athleticism or high-level players throughout the year in our conference or even in our non-conference games,” Weinfurter said. “When you make a mistake with those players it ends up with a dunk instead of a layup or an open jumper. It gets the crowd going and they like playing like that.
“I thought our kids did a good job of not letting it faze them. We were right there and right there, and of course Austin did such a nice job of keeping us in the game. It gave us a fighting chance.”
Auburndale never led by hung close the entire way.
Trailing 15-10 after the first quarter, Auburndale quickly tied it on a 3-pointer by Isaac Castellano and a long jumper by Ben Bolder.
Stone and Hawkins exchanged hoops before Dominican went on a pivotal run.
Wilson made a 3-pointer and had a thunderous left-handed dunk to spark a 12-0 run, that also included a dunk from Stone and a 3-pointer by Chris Topp.
“I think we missed a few block outs, turned the ball over a couple of times, they got out on the break,” Weinfurter said. “We were able to close it down to six at the half…but in the second half we battled and battled, but just couldn’t quite get over that hump.”
Auburndale responded again, closing out the half on a 6-0 run of its own. Hawkins hit a 3-pointer and the Apaches made three free throws in the final minute to cut the Knights’ lead to 29-23 at halftime.
Auburndale hung around in the third quarter behind Hawkins, who scored eight points on 4 of 6 shooting in the period. His basket at the 3:50 mark had the Apaches within a point of the lead at 33-32, but they couldn’t quite get over the hump.
A dunk and a put-back at the buzzer by Stone pushed Dominican’s lead back to seven at 43-36 at the end of the third quarter.
Hawkins scored on the Apaches’ first possession of the fourth, but they couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way as Wilson proved too tough to stop.
For Hawkins, he just wanted to give his all in his final game of an outstanding career at Auburndale.
“When I walked off the floor, I hoped I made everyone remember my name,” Hawkins said. “I wanted to finish my career…bow out in the best fashion possible. Obviously you would have like to have the ‘W’ on our side, but I played with some of the best guys over the last four years that I could have, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
Knights 57, Apaches 44
Auburndale 10 13 13 8 – 44
Whitefish Bay Dominican 15 14 14 14 – 57
AUBURNDALE (44): Austin Hawkins 13-27 3-4 31, Ben Bolder 2-5 0-0 4, Tom Sabel 0-1 0-0 0, Blake Anderson 1-9 1-4 4, Isaac Castellano 1-2 2-3 5, Jake Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Nikolay 0-5 0-0 0, Bryan Gehrke 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Staats 0-1 0-0 0, Dillon Lang 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Weber 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Marth 0-0 0-0 0, Josh VanShoick 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-51. FT: 6-11. 3-pointers: 4-16 (Hawkins 2-4, Anderson 1-6, Castellano 1-2, Bolder 0-1, Sabel 0-1, Nikolay 0-1, Lang 0-1). Rebounds: 29 (Hawkins 13). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 26-2.
DOMINICAN (57): Jack Jelacic 3-6 0-0 6, Diamond Stone 11-17 0-0 22, Duane Wilson 9-20 6-7 26, Chris Topp 1-3 0-0 3, Jaylin Daniels 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Moutry 0-1 0-0 0, Max Pignotti 0-1 0-0 0, Adam O’Neill 0-0 0-0 0, Tywon Bressler 0-1 0-0 0, Quinton Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Kenny Wolfe 0-0 0-0 0, Danny Uhen 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Quin 0-0 0-0 0, Peter Wycklendt 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 24-49. FT: 6-7. 3-pointers: 3-14 (Wilson 2-6, Topp 1-3, Moutry 0-1, Jelacic 0-1, Stone 0-1, Pignotti 0-1,Bressler 0-1). Rebounds: 33 (Stone 16). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 24-4.