By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

APPLETON — For the second time in three seasons, the Auburndale boys basketball team is heading to state.

Josh VanSchoick made a basket inside with eight seconds to go to lift the Apaches to a 34-32 victory over Brillion in a WIAA Division sectional final Saturday afternoon at Appleton East High School.

Auburndale (19-7) will take on Mineral Point (25-1) in a Division 4 state semifinal on Thursday night at the 2015 WIAA State Boys Basketball Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison. The game will begin at approximately 8:15 p.m. and will be broadcast on WAOW-TV 9, on WOSQ-FM 92.3 radio, and online at wdlbwosq.com.

Brillion (21-5) twice came back from big deficits to make it tight in the end.

Auburndale led 17-10 at halftime and scored the first basket of the second half to go up by nine.

The Lions chipped away with Tyler Lemke scoring six points in a 13-6 run. Following two free throws by Auburndale’s Cooper Krings, Jacob Mathiebe drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 23-23.

Krings countered with a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Apaches a 26-23 lead.

Auburndale held Brillion scoreless over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. A three-point play by Matt Nikolay and another hoop by the senior guard put Auburndale on top 31-23 before the Lions mounted another comeback.

Michael Reider, Mathiebe, and Lemke hit baskets, and Mathiebe made pair of free throws to cap a 9-1 run that tied the game at 32-32 with one minute to go.

Auburndale called a timeout with 49 seconds left and managed to whittle the clock down for a final shot.

Nikolay hit VanSchoick inside, and the senior center put in a basket from close range with eight seconds left to put Auburndale on top. VanSchoick, who missed all eight of his shot attempts during the first three quarters, made both attempts in the fourth.

Lemke missed a shot at the buzzer that would have tied it.

Nikolay finished with 15 points to lead the Apaches, who are going to back to state for the second time in three seasons. Auburndale lost to Whitefish Bay Dominican 57-44 in the Division 4 championship game in 2013.

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

Apaches 34, Lions 32

Auburndale 9 8 9 8 – 34

Brillion 6 4 13 9 – 32

AUBURNDALE (34): Matt Nikolay 5-11 4-5 15, Alex Marth 2-5 2-2 6, Josh VanSchoick 2-10 0-0 4, Cooper Krings 1-3 2-2 5, Jake Lewis 0-0 2-3 2, Matt Lang 1-1 0-0 2, Bryan Gehrke 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Weber 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 11-31. FT: 10-12. 3-pointers: 2-10 (Nikolay 1-5, Krings 1-3, VanSchoick 0-1, Gehrke 0-1). Record: 19-7.

BRILLION (32): Tyler Lemke 5-14 2-3 12, Jacob Mathiebe 3-4 2-2 9, Michael Reider 2-4 2-2 6, Dontae Krizenesky 0-2 1-2 1, Justin Lorenz 1-1 0-0 2, Seth Reinke 1-1 0-0 2, Nick Dietrich 0-3 0-0 0, Alex Cooney 0-1 0-0 0 0, Graham Hasse 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 12-30. FT: 7-9. 3-pointers: 1-9 (Mathiebe 1-2, Lemke 0-4, Reider 0-1, Dietrich 0-2). Record: 21-4.