By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
On the strength of 30 points from Aaron Wales, the Elkhorn Area High School boys basketball team scored a season high in points and beat Wilmot 82-80 Feb. 26 in a Southern Lakes Conference game at Wilmot.
The victory gives the Elks a 12-10 overall record, and guarantees coach Josh Skatrud a winning record in his first season at the head of the Elks’ bench.
“Which I am pretty pumped about,” Skatrud said. “I think our guys are hungry, and focused to do more.”
The Elks played Westosha Central (9-13) Tuesday at home in WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal. Elkhorn is seeded fourth in the regional and Westosha is fifth. The winner plays Friday at No. 1 seed Waterford (13-9).
Against Wilmot (13-9, 8-6 SLC), Elkhorn benefited from motivated play on offense and clutch shooting from the foul line, and won on the road in the SLC.
“We made some really big free throws down the stretch,” Skatrud said. “Not a great defensive night for us, but going on the road and beating them was big for our confidence.”
Elkhorn opened strong, and led 28-17 after the first quarter and 45-35 at halftime. The Panthers outscored the Elks 24-10 in the third quarter and led 59-54 before the fourth.
Elkhorn closed out the game with a 28-21 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Alex Easterday scored 25 points for the Elks. Joe Konopski added 14 and Jon Wulff scored 11. Wilmot’s Brennan Frisby scored 33 points, tops among all scorers. Bobby Brenner scored 24 and Bryce Kothe added 11 assists and four steals.
“Carrying a three-game win streak into the playoffs is the type of momentum we were hoping to have,” Skatrud said.
The Elks won 57-49 Feb. 20 at Delavan-Darien and beat Williams Bay 57-35 Feb. 17 at home.
In SLC play in the regular season, the Elks lost twice to both Westosha and Waterford. Westosha beat Elkhorn 62-49 Dec. 9 at Salem and 55-52 Jan. 30 at Elkhorn. Waterford beat the Elks 52-41 Jan. 6 at home and 52-40 Feb. 10 at Waterford.
