The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans could not overcome a determined Freedom Irish team Thursday night in the final regular-season finale, falling to the Irish 68-60 in Luxemburg.  Freedom (14-3, 17-4 overall) clinched a share of the North Eastern Conference with the win. 

 

The Spartans came out the gates strong jumping to an 8-3 lead early on, but Freedom responded with two big runs in the first half to take a 42-30 lead into halftime.  Closing within two points, 30-28, the Irish went on a 12-2 run in the final three minutes of the half to take control of the game.

 

Freedom controlled the tempo of the game in the second half as the Spartans could not get any closer than seven points.  Landon Van Caster led the Irish with 21 points as Freedom used a balanced attack and a relentless, ball-hawking defense to come away with the win. 

 

Senior Ryan Robillard led the Spartans with 19 points, while Junior Logan Doell chipped in 15 more.  Evan Dahlke and Peyton Mrotek added 14 points each as well, but it was not enough to knock off the Irish.

 

Luxemburg-Casco (12-9, 12-11 overall), seeded #3, will now get ready for the WIAA tournament where they will travel to Plymouth next Friday to take on the #2 seeded Panthers in a Division 2 Regional Semi-final game.  Matt Piesler and Paul Schmitt will have the call starting at 6:30 p.m. with the pregame show and game time set for 7:00 p.m. on 96.7FM WBDK.  The game audio can also be streamed on NewRadioSportsNetwork.com.