Even after his team took a 14-point lead early in the second half against Maranatha in the Class 1A semifinals at Target Center on Friday, Rushford-Peterson coach Thomas Vix knew his players wouldn't be able to relax.

"They [Maranatha] have great players and a great coach," Vix said.

Maranatha stormed back to tie the score twice in the final five minutes, but Rushford-Peterson held on for a 53-51 victory.

The Trojans (31-1), who avenged a 61-46 loss to Maranatha in last year's semifinals, earned a spot in the 1A championship game for the first time since 2006.

"We hung on somehow," Vix said.

After the Mustangs (26-4) tied the score 51-51 on a three-point basket by Josh Goldschmidt with 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining, the Trojans regained the lead with 1:24 remaining on a rebound basket by Austin O'Hare.

Fond du Lac Ojibwe’s Davonte Williamson, left, dunked the ball over Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa’s James Keufler, but the top-seeded Jaguars won and advanced to the final.

The Trojans missed the front end of two one-and-one situations in the final 18 seconds. The Mustangs got the ball back with 5.5 seconds remaining but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

The Trojans took control with an 11-0 run in the game's first five minutes and led by as many as 14 points en route to a 10-point halftime lead. They extended their lead to 33-19 early in the second half, but the Mustangs, who had scored 95 points in their quarterfinal victory on Thursday, put together a 25-11 run to tie the score 44-44 with 5:15 remaining.

O'Hare scored 14 points and Cole Kingsley had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Trojans.

Goldschmidt led the Mustangs with 13 points, all in the second half.

JOEL RIPPEL

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 76, Fond du Lac Ojibwe 58: Back at the Class 1A state tournament after a one-year hiatus, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa is showing that it belongs among the class' elite teams.

The top-seeded Jaguars overcame a poor shooting afternoon to defeat Fond du Lac Ojibwe in the 1A semifinals at the Target Center.

Mr. Basketball finalist Brian Goodwin scored 25 points for Belgrade-Brooten Elrosa (30-1), which missed the state tournament last season after winning it in 2012.

"We struggled a little bit early," Goodwin said, "but we always rely on our defense, and our defense is always there for us."

The Jaguars never trailed Friday, and they held a double-digit lead for about half of the game. It wasn't a blowout like their 85-50 victory over Park Christian in Thursday's quarterfinal, but the outcome never seemed in doubt.

The No. 5-seeded Ogichidaag (24-4) were playing less than 24 hours after a three-overtime victory over Canby in the quarterfinals. Still, they pushed an up-tempo pace that resulted in 132 field-goal attempts and 35 turnovers.

"Normally, with a pace like that and the shots we had, we should have had 100 points," Jaguars coach Dave Montbriand said.

Goodwin, who had 35 points on 17-for-27 shooting in the victory over Park Christian, missed open shots throughout the game, and his teammates also couldn't find a rhythm.

That won't get the job done in Saturday's final, Montbriand said.

"We're going to have to play better than we did tonight — no doubt about that," Montbriand said. "We shoot the way we did tonight, we don't have a chance."

CHARLIE ARMITZ