Mankato East senior forwards Puolrah Gong (6-7) and Bajedo Omot (6-8) typically are the big men on a basketball court.

Not against Totino-Grace, whose forwards start in height where Omot stops.

The Eagles’ (really) big three of Demarion Watson (6-8), Patrick Bath (6-9) and Ahjany Lee (6-10) gave Gong and Omot the rare chance to look up at an opponent.

And that height mattered as top-seeded Totino-Grace pummeled the Cougars in a 77-39 victory in Thursday’s first boys’ basketball Class 3A state tournament semifinal at Williams Arena. The Eagles advance to the first title game in program history, taking place at 5 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.

“I’m extremely excited,” said Bath, who led all scorers with 27 points. “I’ve been waiting for this all season.”

Totino-Grace (24-6) outrebounded No. 4 Mankato East (22-9) by a 52-26 margin and outscored the Cougars in the paint by a whopping 50-4. The Cougars’ 39 points were a season low.

“Defensively, it was about as close to perfect as we wanted to be,” Eagles coach Nick Carroll said.

The Cougars shot a paltry 15% (4-for-26) from the floor in the first half. For the game, Gong and Omot scored a combined 14 points.

Mankato East coach Joe Madson said, “When you’re going to the hoop and the ball is getting thrown around the gym, it’s, ‘Now what are we going to do here?’ We rely on getting to the basket a lot, and they took that away.”