MADISON — The Freedom Irish were making their first state tournament appearance since 1990, but you couldn't tell it had been 35 years.
They looked right at home at the Kohl Center as the No. 1 Irish cruised past No. 4 Elk Mound in the Division 3 state semifinal, 66-32.
The Mounders started out up 3-0, but that would be their only lead of the game, as Irish senior Drew Kortz scored 5 unanswered and Freedom never looked back as they led 42-11 at halftime.
"It went pretty close to script, like if we were going to draw it up like we would want it to go," said Irish head coach Andrew Gibbons of the first half. "Things went well."
The Irish used a relentless full-court press from the start of the game and the Mounders had no answer for it. The Irish had 34 points off of 21 Elk Mound turnovers.
"You can get really lost in the press," said Freedom senior Drew Kortz. "It just turned into a lot of easy points for us, easy dunks for (Donovan Davis) — a lot of easy points.
Kortz and the sophomore Davis had a game-high 27 points. Davis had a double-double, 10 rebounds to go along with those points and he also had 5 steals. As a team, Freedom shot an impressive 50% from the floor.
Now the team will be looking for their second title in program history.
"It means a lot," said Kortz. "It's been a long time. The community is really supportive towards us, yea, we just gotta lock in and get it done for Saturday."
The Irish will now play on Saturday for the D3 title against No.2 Milwaukee Academy of Science.
