Cretin-Derham Hall trailed St. Francis by two points when Raiders junior Sam Neumann made arguably the biggest shot of Wednesday afternoon’s game at the Target Center.

Neumann’s three-pointer gave Cretin-Derham Hall, upset winners over top-ranked Apple Valley last week, its first lead since the beginning of the first half. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw, helping the Raiders to a 14-0 run and an eventual 69-53 victory over the Fighting Saints in the Class 4A quarterfinals.

“The team gets fired up, I get fired up when something like that happens,” Neumann said. “It picked the team up, kind of changed the momentum of the game.”

Neumann finished with 20 points, including 15 in the second half, as the third-seeded Raiders (24-6) withstood a slow start and a late charge from unseeded St. Francis (24-6). Juniors Donnell Gresham added 20 points and Joe Rosga had 15.

“The guys have just believed in that this is where they want to be, and they don’t want it to stop,” coach Jerry Kline Jr. said.

St. Francis cut the lead to four with 6:32 remaining, but Neumann and Gresham scored seven unanswered points to thwart the comeback attempt. The Raiders made nine of 10 free throws in the last two minutes to hold on.

St. Francis senior Jake Johnson led the Fighting Saints with 15 points. Johnson is among a 10-player senior class that led St. Francis to its first state tournament berth since 2000.

NATE GOTLIEB

Cretin-Derham Hall continued its playoff run Wednesday at the Target Center, six days after upsetting top-ranked Apple Valley, defeating St. Francis 69-53 in the Class 4A quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Raiders (24-6) closed the first half on an 14-0 run and pulled away late in the second half against unseeded St. Francis (24-6).

Juniors Sam Neumann and Donnell Gresham led led Certin-Derham Hall with 20 points each, and junior Joe Rosga added 15.

The Raiders will play second-seeded Lakeville North (25-5) in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Target Center.

Check back later for more on the game.