St. Peter knocked out early

By Star Tribune staff reports, 03/21/12, 10:38PM CDT

Class 2A: Plainview-Elgin-Millville rose to the challenge against the Saints.

Plainview-Elgin-Millville vs. St. Peter

Class 2A quarterfinals of the 2012 state tournament. Photos by Marlin Levison, Star Tribune

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), which didn't back down from the second-ranked Saints (28-2), winning 69-65 in the Class 2A quarterfinals.

Plainview-Elgin-Millville used a balanced attack. Junior guard Beau Nelson scored 18 points, pacing four Bulldogs 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 22 points.

-- Ron Haggstrom

Perham 51, Worthington 47

Perham vs. Worthington

Class 2A quarterfinals of the 2012 state tournament. Photos by Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune

As Perham's leading scorer this season, Jordan Bruhn has hit plenty of clutch shots for the No. 1 seed Yellow Jackets.

But in the state tournament nothing is a given. Not even for defending state champions.

"That first game always brings jitters," the senior guard said.

Bruhn made the most of his eight shots made from the field against the Trojans (21-7), none bigger than the one he swished on a pull-up three pointer from the top of the key to put Perham up by six with two minutes to go.

Perham (28-2) made just two other three-pointers during the game, both in the first half.

"That definitely gave us a spark," Bruhn said of his shot, which helped him to a team-high 21 points. "I know it got everyone fired up. I really don't know what I was doing. I was just feeling it. I just let it go."

Coach Dave Cresep led a loud locker room celebration -- louder than most for a non-upset quarterfinal victory -- then high-fived several members of the Perham band on their way to the bus.

"We know all this is going to end sometime," he said. "We're just glad we get to stay the whole weekend."

-- Brian Stensaas

Braham 81, St. Croix Lutheran 78

Perham vs. Worthington

Class 2A quarterfinals of the 2012 state tournament. Photos by Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune

Bombers senior guard Tyler Vaughan has a scorer's mentality. He's going to shoot, and shoot some more.

He's also willing to play defense when the game is on the line. Vaughan blocked a reverse layup by St. Croix Lutheran junior guard Jackson Goplen with 10 seconds left, helping the top-ranked Bombers survive a scare. The Bombers led by one at the time.

"That was the biggest play of my career," said Vaughan, who has scored over 3,000 career points. "I can play defense when I have to, but I'm usually conserving my energy for the offensive end."

Sophomore forward Zach Dahlman made two free throws with 7 seconds left. Teammate junior guard Shaun Hollencamp scored on a layup with 18 seconds left, following a steal by senior forward Anthony Bias, to give Braham (30-1) a 79-78 lead.

The Crusaders (24-7) appeared to be on a mission. They led by seven with under 4 minutes remaining, and 78-74 with 30.8 seconds left. Vaughan buried a three-pointer 7 seconds later, and Braham quickly called its last time out, setting up its trapping defense for Bias' steal. St. Croix Lutheran missed the front end of a one-and-one with two seconds left after a Braham foul.

"That was crazy," said Vaughan, who finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. "You can't really script an ending like that."

-- Ron Haggstrom

Litchfield 51, Watertown-Mayer 40

Litchfield vs. Watertown-Mayer

Class 2A quarterfinals of the 2012 state tournament. Photos by Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune

A game seemed destined to ravel out of control early in the second half wound up respectable in the end.

Eighty-eight seconds isn't even enough time to properly microwave a bowl of soup. Yet that's all it took Wednesday night for No. 4 Litchfield to stomp down hard on Watertown-Mayer at Target Center.

Up 20-8 at halftime, the Dragons (25-4) scored the first seven points of the second half before Royals could blink.

But Watertown-Mayer (28-3) dusted itself off. The Royals, who committed 10 first-half turnovers to just 12 field goals attempted, found their touch and whittled the Litchfield lead to single digits until garbage time free throws in the final minute pumped it back up.

Zach Kinny and Jon Terning had 14 points apiece for the Dragons, who are making their first state tournament appearance since winning three championships in four years from 2000-03. Nate Kratch finished with 18 points for the Royals.

-- Brian Stensaas