Appleton North boys basketball blasts Hortonville in WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal

AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – Appleton North doubled up Hortonville by halftime and rolled to a 70-41 win over its Fox Valley Association rivals in a WIAA Division 1 boys basketball regional semifinal Friday night at North High School.

The No. 2 seed Appleton North pulled out to a big 39-18 lead by halftime and cruised from there, finishing off a three-game season sweep of the No. 15 seed Polar Bears (7-19).

Appleton North (21-4) will host No. 7 seed Kimberly (16-9) in a D-1 regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday. Kimberly blew past No. 10 Holmen 84-66 on Friday.

Grant Hardy hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points, while Ben Zdzieblowski had all 12 of his points in the first half for the Lightning. Matt Rosplochowski chipped in 10 and Ethan Arft added nine in the win for North.

Elliot Vedder topped Hortonville with 14 points.

Lightning 70, Polar Bears 41
Hortonville   18   23   –   41
Appleton North   39   31   –   70
HORTONVILLE (41): Blake Pryzbylski 1 0-0 2, Noah Rindt 3 0-0 7, Griffin Heckert 0 0-0 0, Spencer Lund 0 0-0 0, Elliot Vedder 5 4-6 14, Blake Eidahl 1 0-0 2, Jaden Van Handel 1 2-2 5, Nathan Tousey 0 0-2 0, Kellen Pavich 1 0-0 2, Max Chan 1 0-0 2, Reid Van Epps 0 0-0 0, Aiden Sweeney 1 2-2 5, Lucas Olive 1 0-0 2, Bennett Leiteritz 0 0-0 0, Roman Glad 0 0-0 0. FG: 15. FT: 8-12. 3-pointers: 3 (Sweeney 1, Van Handel 1, Rindt 1). Fouls: 9. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-19.
APPLETON NORTH (70): Will Sweeney 1 0-0 3, Matt Rosplochowski 4 2-2 10, Dane Smith 0 0-0 0, Nathan Ramus 0 0-0 0, Grant Hardy 9 1-1 22, Ethan Eisenberg 0 0-0 0, Evan Ryan 2 0-0 4, Sam Kuehl 3 0-0 6, Howie Guilbault 1 0-0 2, Ben Zdzieblowski 5 2-2 12, Ethan Arft 3 3-3 9, Alexander Radtke 1 0-0 2, Gryphon Armon 0 0-0 0. FG: 29. FT: 8-8. 3-pointers: 4 (Hardy 3, Sweeney 1). Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 21-4.