St. Peter senior guard Joey Bartlett buried a three-pointer with 14 minutes, 56 minutes remaining. He quickly ran back to his own free-throw line, and slapped both of his hands on the Williams Arena floor.

The intensity level wasn’t going to subside until there was a survivor.

That was fine with Plainview-Elgin-Millville (25-6). The Bulldogs weren’t going to back down from the second-ranked Saints (28-2).

Plainview-Elgin-Millville used a balanced attack to win 69-65 and end second-seeded St. Peter’s championship dreams. Junior guard Beau Nelson scored 18 points, pacing four Bulldog players in double figures.

“It was tough to stay focused it was so intense,” Nelson said. “You have to play all 36 minutes to win it, and that’s what we did tonight.”

As far as the intensity level, “I would give it an 11 out of 10,” Nelson said.

Bartlett finished with a game-high 22 points.

-- Ron Haggstrom, Star Tribune

Chase Montgomery, P.E.M.

The Bulldogs' big man got off to a great start, scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds by halftime. Though he ended up fouling out in the game's final minute, his aggressive play was good enough for 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Beau Nelson, P.E.M

Nelson led the charge for the Bulldogs, who played the majority of the game on the comeback trail. His 18 points and 7 rebounds keyed the Bulldogs upest, as well as terrific defense set up by a stifling press

Joey Bartlett, St. Peter

The Saints' guard got off to a shaky start in the first half but recovered nicely, tallying 23 points and 6 rebounds. He hit two key three-pointers in the games final minutes that forced the game to go down to the final buzzer.

-- Alec Kinsky, MN Basketball Hub Staff