SCREEN-AND-ROLL — Martin County West’s Hunter Schmidt hands off the basketball to teammate Zach Anderson (24) after setting a screen on United South Central’s Taybor Conley (15) during Section 2A, South Sub-Section semifinal action Thursday night at St. Peter High School. The Mavericks’ Wyatt Williamson (25) looks on. (Photo by Greg Abel)

ST. PETER — Wyatt Williamson produced a near-perfect double-double performance, while teammate Zach Anderson proved almost perfect at the free throw line to stampede the Martin County West Maverick basketball team into next week’s Section 2A, South Sub-Section championship game.

Williamson grabbed a game-best 15 rebounds to complement 11 points, while Anderson collected game-highs of 22 points, seven assists and five blocked shots to go with 11 boards to engineer No. 4-seeded Martin County West’s 56-50 upset victory over the No. 1-seeded United South Central Rebels in the sub-section semifinals Thursday night.

Martin County West (17-11) advances to face No. 2-seeded Mankato Loyola (20-8) in a 6 p.m. South Sub-Section championship game Monday night at Lund Arena on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter. The Crusaders edged No. 3-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey (18-9) by a 49-45 decision to gain the next round.

USC ended its season with a 20-8 overall record.

“Without a doubt, Wyatt Williamson was the difference in tonight’s game,” said Maverick head coach Cliff Anderson. “He’s a great rebounder, but he doesn’t usually look to score much. Wyatt’s point production tonight was a bonus and we needed every one of those.”

Williamson went 4-for-4 shooting from the field for eight points and hauled in 10 of the Mavericks’ 17 first-half rebounds to play an integral role in the No. 4-seeded Mavericks building a 25-17 lead by intermission.

Zach Anderson then put on a free throw-shooting clinic during the second half, snapping the St. Peter High School gymnasium nets on 14 of 15 attempts to pace MCW’s 19-for-23 performance from the charity stripe during the final 18 minutes.

Anderson connected for 16 of 18 free throws — 89 percent — to top the Mavericks’ 21-for-26 mark for nearly 81 percent as a team on the sub-section semifinal.

“Our guys now know how to handle the pressure of making free throws at the end of the game, and how important they are,” said Cliff Anderson.

Trailing 11-4 on the heels of back-to-back 3-pointers from MCW’s Hunter Schmidt, Jorge Martinez drilled a triple to inch USC within four with 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the opening segment.

Mitchell Weber, however, countered for the Mavericks by generating five of his seven first-half points to serve as the catalyst behind an 8-0 offensive surge. Zach Anderson spotted Weber for a high-arching baseline leaner and a left-corner 3-ball before Anderson sank a solo free throw. Weber then threaded the needle to Williamson in the low blocks for a basket and a 19-7 lead with 4 1/2 minutes to go before halftime.

After Nick Bushlack’s rim-rattling trey and Taybor Conley’s putback basket reduced the Rebels’ deficit to 23-17 with less than a minute to go, Williamson cashed in Anderson’s no-look assist to beat the halftime buzzer for an eight-point margin.

Zale Bushlack delivered 15 of his team-best 18 points during the second half and nearly half of USC’s 33 in the final 18 minutes to whittle MCW’s lead to 46-38 with 4 minutes remaining. Bushlack converted an ‘and-1′ play in the low post before banking in a putback basket.

Zach Anderson answered by sinking two more free throws for MCW, but Jonathan Martinez and Nick Bushlack were not throwing in the proverbial towel as the USC guards knocked down back-to-back 3s to inch the Rebels within 48-44 with 1:30 remaining in regulation.

Weber and Jamesson Forsberg hit solo charity tosses for the Mavericks before Zale Bushlack hit another trey to move the Rebels within one possession of tying the game at 50-47.

Schmidt, who finished with eight points, drained a pair of pivotal charity tosses with 39.5 seconds remaining to restore a five-point edge before Williamson beat the Rebel defense to a low-post spot and hit the lay-in basket for a 54-47 lead.

Zale Bushlack canned another 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining, but Zach Anderson sealed the victory by making two more charity tosses with 8.9 seconds showing on the scoreboard.

Weber and Schmidt each contributed eight points to the Mavericks’ winning ways, while Forsberg tossed in seven.

Nick Bushlack finished with 10 points for the Rebels, while Jonathan Martinez collected nine points to go with team-highs of seven boards and three assists.

MCW    25-31–56

USC       17-33–50

MCW (56)

Williamson 5-6 1-2 11, Z. Anderson 3-10 16-18 22, Weber 3-8 1-2 8, Forsberg 2-5 1-2 7, Schmidt 2-7 2-2 8. Totals 15-36 21-26 56.

USC (50)

Z. Bushlack 6-18 3-5 18, Conley 3-7 1-1 7, Jorge Martinez 2-4 0-0 6, N. Bushlack 4-10 0-0 10, Jonathan Martinez 3-10 2-5 9, Crabtree 0-1 0-0 0, Bonsack 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 6-11 50.

3-pointers: USC 8-28 (Z. Bushlack 3-9, Jorge Martinez 2-4, N. Bushlack 2-6, Jonathan Martinez 1-7, Crabtree 0-1, Bonsack 0-1); MCW 5-17 (Forsberg 2-4, Schmidt 2-5, Weber 1-4, Z. Anderson 0-4). Fouled out: Jorge Martinez. Rebounds: MCW 32 (Williamson 15, Z. Anderson 11); USC 22 (Jonathan Martinez 7). Assists: MCW 9 (Z. Anderson 7); USC 6 (Jonathan Martinez 3). Steals: USC 7 (Jonathan Martinez 3); MCW 5. Blocks: MCW 8 (Z. Anderson 5); USC 4 (Z. Bushlack and Conley 2 each).