By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

ANTIGO — The Auburndale boys basketball team is in the sectional finals for the third-straight season after beating Crivitz 55-44 in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal Thursday night at Antigo High School.

Auburndale (18-7) will get a rematch with Brillion (21-4) in the sectional final at 1 p.m. Saturday at Appleton East High School. Brillion handed the Apaches just their second loss of last season in a sectional final 47-42 a year ago, which was also played at Appleton East.

Auburndale led 23-21 at halftime before Crivitz pulled ahead by four with a pair of 3-pointers to open the second half.

The Apaches recovered, going on a 12-2 run to close the quarter and outscored Crivitz 20-15 in the fourth quarter by making 10 of 14 free throws down the stretch.

Matt Nikolay scored 14 points and had seven steals, Josh VanSchoick added 14 points, and Alex Marth had 11 points for Auburndale.

Crivitz ends its season with an 18-7 record.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Apaches 55, Wolverines 44

Auburndale 15 8 12 20 – 55

Crivitz 10 11 8 15 – 44

AUBURNDALE (55): Jake Lewis 2 1-2 5, Matt Nikolay 4 5-6 14, Cooper Krings 1 2-2 4, Tyler Weber 2 0-0 4, Alex Marth 5 1-2 11, Matt Lang 1 1-2 3, Josh VanSchoick 6 2-2 14. FG: 21. FT: 12-16. 3-pointers: 1 (Nikolay 1). Record: 18-7.

CRIVITZ (44): Statistics not provided. FG: 17. FT: 2-3. 3-pointers: 8. Record: 18-7.