Park of Cottage Grove led almost the entire opening sequence until Rosemount drew even at 14-14 near the midway mark of the half. Senior guard Sean Sullivan and company heated up for Rosemount.

Sullivan had 14 of his 19 points and sank four of five three-point attempts in the first 18 minutes. The Irish went on a 19-4 run en route to a 38-23 halftime advantage.

The Irish committed to keeping the Wolfpack (11-10) offense out of the paint and knocked down jumpers on the other end.

“We shot the ball well in the first half, which really helped,” Sullivan said. “So far in the section, we started off behind in both games and had to work back to it.”

Sullivan has been a cornerstone piece in Rosemount’s rebuild. So has junior guard Caleb Siwek, who picked up the scoring baton from Sullivan to post 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.

“When you have a player like Caleb Siwek, who can make plays, and you're confident if he gets open looks, he's going to knock them down,” Walsten said. “Sean Sullivan, for us, the change [came] this year about midway through the season. We sat down and talked about him needing to score more. 

“He's been a clutch player for us for three years going back to his sophomore year. So I knew I could count on him to step up and knock down outside shots”

The deficit on Thursday for Rosemount was less stressful compared to tougher comebacks along the way in the playoffs. One came in a 59-49 semifinal win over Lakeville North, which ended the Panthers’ chance at their 10th straight section title.

Walsten was an assistant on longtime Lakeville North head coach John Oxton’s staff.

“Going back, I look at my coaching background connected to Lakeville North and John Oxton,” Walsten said. “That was a big one for me. I model what we do here after what they have and kind of made it our own. I don't know if there's any better way — just to beat them was huge for us and end their 27-game section winning streak. That was big.”

The Wolfpack opened the second half with a floater in the lane from Jayden Lane, who co-led the team with nine points along with Evan Bearth. That was as close as the Wolfpack got as a run quickly pushed Rosemount’s lead north of 20.

“It's been an amazing season. An amazing time being with these guys. I just wish we could've done it for our seniors,” said Wolfpack coach Mike Weah. “This is my fourth year being the head coach at Park High School, so these seniors are the first class I came in with.”

Weah orchestrated Park of Cottage Grove’s first winning season since a 15-11 campaign in 2005-06. A section quarterfinal win in 2019 was the program’s first in 10 years.

A year after going 4-23, the Wolfpack reached double-digit wins and knocked off Eastview, the section’s top seed, 55-52 in overtime for a trip to the section final.

Weah admired his team’s belief to achieve what has long been unachievable.

“From where we were at when I first got here, to tonight ending it in the section championship, I couldn't be more proud of them,” Weah said. “I couldn't be more proud of the way we just played throughout the whole season. Not the result we wanted tonight, but we've got a lot to hang our heads high on.”

Rosemount now awaits its matchup for the state quarterfinals next week.

“We've got to keep doing what we're doing. I think we're doing well,” Sullivan said. “We're playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of energy, which is big going into the tournament.

“Our mindset’s 'Why not us?'”