Phillips boys advance in regionals

The Phillips High School varsity boys basketball team won the first round game of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 4 Regional Tournament on Feb. 27. The No. 7 seed Loggers defeated No. 10 seed Spencer 65-60 in Phillips.

Spencer started the game strong until Phillips pushed back and the Loggers led 37-34 at the half. The score was relatively even until late in the game when Phillips pushed the lead to 7 points with free throws in the final minutes.

The Phillips scoring was led by junior guard Lane Abraham with 23 points, followed by senior guard Drew Hauschild with 20, sophomore guard JJ Heikkinen, 7, junior guard Brayden Revak, 6, junior forward Collin Kleinschmidt, 5, and junior forward Shay Denzine, 4.

The Spencer scoring was led by sophomore center Sam Bezlyk with 28, sophomore guard Weston Nieman, 11, sophomore forward Breckin Miller, 6, junior guard Ferran Arenes, 5, senior guard Davide Chemello and senior forward Logan Ehlert, each with 3, and sophomore forward Mathers McHone and junior center Carter Luepke, each with 2.

Phillips will now advance to the regional semifinals at No. 2 seed Auburndale at 7 p.m. March 1. The winner will play at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 2 against the winner of the No. 6 seed Iola-Scandinavia at No. 3 seed Edgar game on Friday.

The Loggers improved to 13-12 overall for the year with the win.

Spender fell to 7-18 overall for the year and are 4-10 in the Cloverbelt East Conference.