Xavier advances past Ripon

Hawks will face Prescott in final

MADISON - This was one day when two was better than one.

In a matchup of the top two ranked teams in the Associated Press Division 3 state boys basketball poll, secondranked Appleton Xavier defeated top-ranked Ripon, 81-74, Thursday at the Kohl Center to advance to the state championship game for the third straight season.

The Hawks (27-0) will face Prescott (24-3) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. They lost in both of their previous title game appearances.

Junior guard Sam Ferris finished with 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds for Xavier. Hunter Plamann, also a junior guard, added 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting.

Xavier shot 59.5% (25 for 42), including 11 for 21 (52.4%) from threepoint range. The Hawks shot 64% (16 for 25), including 7 for 11 (63.6%) from three-point range in the first half when they built a 45-33 lead.

Ripon, which made its first state appearance since 2003, finished 26-1.

Prescott 74, Lake Mills 67:A record-setting performance and a late-game run lifted Prescott to a comeback victory.

Senior center Owen Hamilton finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds. The 7-foot-1 Northern Illinois recruit hit 14 of 15 shots for 93.3% shooting. That beat the single-game field-goal percentage record for any state tournament game. The previous mark for Division 3 was 87.5% shared by four players, and the overall tournament record for a single game of 91.7% belonged to Beloit’s Bruce Brown (1969) and Janesville Craig’s Austin Latka (1997).

Lake Mills, finished its first state appearance with a 24-3 record.