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Boys Basketball: Blagec, Niagara down Elcho

Niagara's Alex Hagerty, right, shoots over Elcho defender Bobby Eitrem during the WIAA Division 5 regional tournament on Tuesday in Niagara, Wis. (Adam Niemi/The Daily News)

NIAGARA, Wis. — Ethan Blagec helped Niagara roll to a double-digit lead early on en route to a 56-30 win against Elcho on Tuesday.

The win means Niagara (9-14, 5-13 M&O Conference) moves on to play Friday in the next round of the WIAA Division 5 regional tournament. The Badgers play against Gresham (20-3, 17-1 Central Wisconsin Conference) at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Badgers rolled to a 30-12 halftime lead.

“I thought the first half was one of the best first halves we played on both ends of the court all year,” Niagara coach Jim Hoogland said. “We showed a lot of patience on offense and hit the open shot, rebounding certainly well and played great defense. In the second half we lost our intensity a little bit. They increased their intensity and we just couldn’t quite match that. Even in the second half we played quite well.”

Elcho (9-12, 6-8 Northern Lakes Conference) didn’t overcome the loss of core players, coach Eric Strzok said.

“We were trying to cut to the basket a lot,” he said. “Tried to feed the big guys inside and control our offense from the inside out. I like that kind of offense. Good shots come from the inside out. Just couldn’t hit it. The adversity killed us tonight. Our core of our team was not here and it showed up. Our guys were just out of place on the bus, out of place in the locker room. That’s part of basketball.”

Blagec converted seven 3-pointers throughout the night. He shot 7 for 16 on field goals and finished with a game-high 20 points.

“That’s big for us. We worked the ball and got him some open looks,” Hoogland said. “He’s been our leader obviously all year.”

Hoogland’s rotation of eight players came without any disruption in the Badgers’ control of momentum. He added that getting off to the early lead is critical in the tournament.

“It’s really important because anything can happen and it’s win or go home situation,” Hoogland said. “We’re an eight and nine seed so both teams were evenly matched. Whoever jumped out early would take control of the game and we were able to do that.”

Mac Morrison led Elcho with 11 points.

Elcho 12 18 — 30

Niagara 30 26 — 56

ELCHO: Morrison 11, Parise 9, Novak 5, Schauer 3, Eitrem 2. FT: 3-10. F: 13 (Eitrem fouled out).

NIAGARA: Blagec 20, Jeffords 9, Austin Hagerty 7, Maki 6, Alex Hagerty 5, Bousley 4, Graham 3, Oratch 2. FT: 7-11. F: 17 (Maki fouled out). FG: 21-55. 3PT: 7-17 (Blagec 3, Alex Hagerty 1, Austin Hagerty 1, Graham 1, Jeffords 1). Rebounds: 42 (Blagec 8).

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