GETTING VERTICAL — Martin County West’s Mitch Weber elevates to control a long rebound during Section 2A, South Sub-Section quarterfinal basketball action Thursday night in Sherburn. Maverick teammate Tanner Sinn (left) and Nicollet’s Shane Stevensen watch the action. Martin County West went on to defeat Nicollet, 65-51. (Photo by Greg Abel)

SHERBURN — Last year the Martin County West Mavericks exited the basketball playoffs with a 73-40 loss to the Nicollet Raiders.

This year the No. 4-seeded Mavericks avenged that loss by routing the No. 5-seeded Raiders 65-51 in Class 2A, South Sub-Section quarterfinal basketball action Thursday night in Sherburn.

Zach Anderson scored 25 points, dished out five assists and secured six rebounds to lead the Mavericks to their first playoff win in eight years.

“Those eight years we played really good competition,” Mavericks head coach Cliff Anderson said. “It’s not that we were losing to bad teams in the playoffs, but we got that monkey off our backs and now we gotta go to St. Clair, so it’s going to be tough and we’ll see if our kids are up for the challenge.”

The Mavericks (11-8) will face No. 1-seeded St. Clair on the road at 7 p.m. Saturday in a South Sub-Section semifinal in St. Clair.

The Mavericks made their first six shots of the game to build a 17-5 lead. During that run, Zach Anderson contributed to four of six shots by dishing out three assists and nailing a mid-range jumper.

The Raiders’ offense started slower, turning the ball over and starting 2-of-7 from the field.

The Raiders chipped at the lead by giving the ball to their playmaker Shane Stevensen. Stevensen found teammate Grant Bruns for a 3-pointer and then nailed two 3-pointers of his own to cut their deficit to 21-16.

Anderson responded for the Mavericks. Anderson nailed a 3-pointer, then drove to the basket making the layup with a foul and made the free throw to start a 9-0 run. Inside of that run, the Mavericks’ defense stole the ball five times to give them a 30-16 lead.

Anderson finished the half with 10 points and had help from Tanner Sinn. Sinn efficiently got to the basket for layups, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the first half. Sinn finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

In the second half, Christian Bachenberg led the Mavericks on a 13-5 run. Bachenberg stole the ball twice, scored seven straight points by nailing two free throws, a 3-pointer and a layup, while dishing an assist to give MCW a 47-29 lead.

Late in the second half, the Raiders narrowed the lead to 12 with the help of Stevensen. Stevensen nailed two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 61-49. Stevensen netted a double-double of 20 points and 17 rebounds.

“We wanted to put ball pressure on them, but the Stevensen kid is a tremendous player and we can’t lose him,” Anderson said. “Number one was to find Stevensen and stop the dribble and drive and they made their runs, but our kids played intense the whole game.”

The Mavericks iced out the Raiders at the free throw line by connecting on 19 of 26 attempts to give them a 65-51 win.

Cliff Anderson was happy with his team overall and commended them on making their free throws and hanging tough.

Anderson said the game plan against St. Clair would be to handle the ball well against a strong Cyclone defense, be strong with the ball and limit their turnovers.

MCW 34-31–65

Nicollet 24-27–51

MCW (65)

Bachenberg 2-5 5-6 10, Runkle 2-4 0-0 5, Weber 4-12 2-2 12, Sinn 6-12 1-5 13, Anderson 6-14 11-11 25. Totals 20-47 19-26 65.

NICOLLET (51)

Mans 2-5 0-0 5, Bruns 1-8 0-0 3, Bode 5-12 2-3 15, Willaert 3-8 6, Stevensen 6-16 3-3 20, Grommersch 0-4 0-0 0, Laven 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-43 5-6 51.

3-pointers: MCW 6-17 (Weber and Anderson 2 each, Bachenberg and Runkle 1 each); Nicollet 10-23 (Stevensen 5, Bode 3, Mans and Bruns 1 each). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: MCW 27 (Sinn 9); Nicollet 29 (Stevensen 17). Assists: MCW 15 (Anderson 5); Nicollet 11 (Willaert 7). Steals: MCW 12 (Sinn and Bachenberg 3); Nicollet 3 (Willaert 2).

Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey 47, Truman/ Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain 41 — The No. 6-seeded Wolverines upset the Jaguars by six points during Section 2A South Sub-Section quarterfinal action Thursday night in Truman.

The Wolverines (11-8) advance to play host to the No. 7-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Bucs at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Mountain Lake. WEM upset No. 2-seeded Mankato Loyola, 50-47, in a sub-section quarterfinal game Thursday night.

The Jaguars end their season with a record of 12-6.

Adam Heckman led the Jaguars with 17 points, while Cael Jaskulke scored 11 and Owen Wolter added seven.

Jordan Toll led the Wolverines with 16 points, while Carter Olson scored nine and Kolby Kremmin had eight.