The Red Lake County Rebels were held to just 29 points in each half as the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs pulled away with great defensive play to win 67-58 in the Class A State Semifinals at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
FIRST HALF –
The Rebels started the game hot, with Connor Duden and Ben Gullingsrud each hitting three-pointers to form an early 6-0 lead. Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) got two layups as an answer, and then the two teams exchanged buckets before Will Gieseke successfully put the Rebels up 13-6, making his first shot of the game and his first 12 shots of the State Tournament. Caleb Quast responded with a three-pointer to make it 13-9, and then used a three-pointer from Jaxon Wolff and a layup from Gavin Bauer to cut the lead to one at 15-14. Then, the Rebels took off on one of their patented runs, with Ethan Johnson scoring five points on top of a tough floater from Duden, putting them up 22-14. The Rebels would then extend their lead to 10, with the help of a Gieseke free throw and a bucket from Thor Thompson, making it 27-17 with just under six minutes remaining. RLC was in a good place, but then JWP increased their level of play, quickly cutting the lead to five, at 27-2. Duden would hit a difficult fadeaway shot to make it 29-22, but the final few minutes would be dominated by the Bulldogs. Gavin Weedman and Gavin Bauer hit threes on consecutive possessions, then Daulton Bauer hit four three throws in the final minute, capping off a 15-2 run to end the half for the Bulldogs, giving them a 32-29 lead at the break.
SECOND HALF –
As the second half got started, the Bulldogs and Rebels were both playing aggressive defense, and each team exchanged two-point baskets until JWP took a 38-33 lead on a crafty layup from Daulton Bauer. Ethan Johnson made a free throw to cut the lead to four, and that seemed to spark something in the Rebel offense. At 40-36 Bulldogs, Nick Suchy drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to one, and then after Daulton Bauer scored again, Will Gieseke scored a three-point play, tying the game at 42. The next few minutes were incredibly close; JWP got six points combined from Daulton and Gavin Bauer, and RLC got five points on another Johnson bucket and a three-pointer from Ben Gullingsrud, making the score 48-47 Bulldogs. At this point, the Bulldogs increased their level again, and the lead ballooned. The Bauer Brothers, with the help of two free throws from Caleb Quash and a three-pointer from Gavin Weedman, pulled ahead with a 13-0 run, taking a 14-point lead at 61-47 with just 3:28 to play. The Rebels would not give up, though, and responded with a 7-0 run that was capped off by a three-pointer from Dylan Lundeen in his first shot of the tournament, making it 61-54 Bulldogs. The Rebels were able to cut the lead down to six at 62-56, but could only muster two more points in the final minute. Clutch defense and free throws were enough for the Bulldogs to hold on to a 67-58 victory, advancing to the State Championship.
Red Lake County falls to 29-4 on the season and will take on Henning in the third-place game at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul at 10:00 AM on Saturday. You can listen to that game on KROX Radio with a RiverView Health pre-game show at 9:30 a.m..
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton improves to 30-3 on the season and will take on Hills-Beaver Creek in the State Championship game on Saturday at Williams Arena.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Janesville-W-P | 32 | 35 | 67 |
| Red Lake County | 29 | 29 | 58 |
| For Red Lake County | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Connor Duden | 15 | 5 | 3 assists/1 steal |
| Ethan Johnson | 14 | 5 | 2 assists/1 steal |
| Will Gieseke | 13 | 6 | 3 assists/2 steals |
| Ben Gullingsrud | 6 | 7 | 2 assists/3 steals |
| Nick Suchy | 5 | 1 | 1 assist |
| Dylan Lundeen | 3 | – | – |
| Thor Thompson | 2 | 2 | – |
| For Janesville-W-P | Points |
| Daulton Bauer | 29 |
| Gavin Bauer | 16 |
| Caleb Quast | 12 |
| Gavin Weedman | 7 |
| Jaxon Wolff | 3 |
