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Derek Berger, now in his fourth year as boys' basketball coach at Dominican High School, knows about the great program at Randolph.

And the great teams from  Milwaukee Vincent. 

And Milwaukee Lincoln. 

And Madison Memorial.

And now, Berger and his Dominican players are one game away from winning five consecutive WIAA state championships in boys' basketball.

That is something Randolph, Vincent, Lincoln and Madison Memorial never accomplished. Neither has every other program in the state. 

Berger, a former Dominican player who went on to compete for NCAA Division III Concordia University in Mequon, watched Thursday night as the Knights defeated Aquinas 54-46 in a semifinal game of the WIAA Division 4 State Tournament.

"We have a very rich tradition of basketball in this state," Berger said following the Knights' 26th victory in 27 games. "To have the chance to accomplish something no other team has ever done is special. But we have a very difficult game on Saturday. Our focus is on our next game, not setting any state records."

Dominican and Randolph are the lone programs in state history to win four titles in a row, with Dominican winning in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 while Randolph won in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Senior forward Kostas Antetokounmpo (6-11) scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots to help Dominican past Aquinas. 

The younger brother of Milwaukee Bucks' forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo moved to Wisconsin from Greece two years ago. 

But he knows about the historical significance of Saturday's Division 4 state final game against unbeaten Cameron.

"It would be great to do and that is our goal," Antetokounmpo said of winning the school's fifth straight title. "Being the first high school to win five in a row would be great for Dominican and for the Dominican basketball program."

Poor start to the game does in Aquinas

Aquinas coach Sam Servais has tremendous respect for the program at Dominican.

However, the ninth-year coach of the Blugolds did not want his players to be in awe of the much taller Knights.

Nontheless, Aquinas, which finished 11-11 during the regular season before rattling off five straight playoff victories, seemed to be more than a bit hesitant in the first eight minutes of the game.

As a result, Dominican raced to an 11-0 lead, Aquinas missed its first 12 shots and the Blugolds did not score until reserve Jacob Horstman made a difficult putback with 8:33 left in the first half.

Unfortunately for Aquinas, which played and shot much better in the second half, it was unable to cut into its early deficit and lost the state semifinal contest to conclude a 15-12 season.

"We just dug ourselves a hole tonight," Servais said. "We totally respect Dominican, but we didn't fear them.

"Unfortunately, we did not run our offense well early on and settled for far too many jump shots."

Aquinas managed to get its 13-point halftime deficit to 53-46 with 1:03 left, but it was too little too late.

Aquinas was out-rebounded 39-19, gave up 36 points in the paint and 16 second-chance points to the Knights.

Asked afterwards if Aquinas had seen the length or size of Dominican during the season, Servais responded, "absolutely not."

"We have made progress on rebounding, but that's been a problem for us all year. Certainly, we haven't faced any teams as big as Dominican."

Senior Chris Ancius (6-5) closed out his strong high school career with a very solid showing for the Blugolds, scoring 21 points and grabbing six rebounds.

Cameron hangs on to beat Amherst

Cameron built a 22-11 halftime lead over Amherst, but the Comets had to hang on for dear life in the second half to record a hard-earned 44-41 victory over the Falcons.

Amherst kept pounding the ball inside to seniors Tyler Biadasz (6-4) and Cam Gaulke (6-7) in the second half and the two frontline performers for the Falcons responded well, scoring a combined 20 second-half points to keep their team within striking distance until the final horn sounded.

A layup by Gaulke with 25 seconds left pulled Amherst within 40-39, but Cameron senior Peyton Dibble (6-6) responded with two clutch free throws.

After senior Garrett Groshek (6-1) made a reserve layup with 11 seconds remaining to again pull Amherst within one at 42-41, Cameron executed a home-run in-bounds pass that led to a break-away dunk for Dibble.

A three-point shot at the buzzer by Biadasz was off the mark and Cameron moved on to compete in the first state basketball championship in school history.

"Amherst kept getting the ball inside," Cameron coach Troy LaVallie said. "They were relentless. But our guys held their composure. I don't think they ever got the lead or tied it, so we held on."

Dibble, a NCAA Division II recruit for Bemidji State, finished with 22 points, six rebounds and two assists, but he also committed eight turnovers. 

Still, he was pleased his team moved on in the school's first-ever appearance at the state tournament.

"It's great the amount of support we've gotten from our community," Dibble said. "We've been kind of able to put Cameron on the map a little bit."

Cameron (26-0) now faces a Dominican squad that can match the Comets' incredible overall size. 

In addition to Dibble at 6-6, senior  Max Verdegan (6-5), junior Josh Koenecke (6-6) and junior Jakob Bailey (6-6) saw action in the victory over Amherst.

"We have nice size with a couple of 6-6 kids," LaVallie said. "I like our chances. We have nothing to lose with Dominican being a four-time state champion."

Biadasz closed out a brilliant four-year career with 20 points and five rebounds. The University of Wisconsin football recruit also had two steals and a blocked shot in his final high school game.

"We had opportunities and couldn't capitalize," Amherst coach Scott Groholski said. "Our guys are competitors until the end, but it just wasn't our night."

Amherst concludes the season with a 25-2 record.