The Cardinals, who sagged on Springfield senior center 6-7 Tyler Marz, seemed to forget who the Tigers’ two leading scorers were — Cody Milbrath and Jesse Kieper. Milbrath (20 points) and Kieper (17 points) combined for their season average of 37 points, leading No. 8  Springfield  (24-3) into the semifinals against Chisholm Friday.

“It’s great having Tyler in the post,” Milbrath said. “It opens up everything for me, and he’s good at finding the cutter.” Springfield, which ended any idea of an Upsala comeback by going 16-for-20 from the free-throw line, is making its second consecutive state appearance. It lost to Rushford-Peterson 71-63 in last year’s quarterfinals.

“Last year left a bitter taste in our mouth,” Milbrath said. “We wanted to prove that we’re a better team than last year.”

Player stats not available for Springfield.