TRAFFIC JAM — Martin County West’s Zach Anderson (24), Raef Omvig (third from left), Jamesson Forsberg (second from right) and Mitchell Weber (far right) surround Mankato Loyola’s Josh Kann (with basketball) during Monday night’s Section 2A, South Sub-Section championship game at Lund Arena on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter. Mankato Loyola’s Jake Sizer (far left) calls for the basketball. (Photo by Greg Abel)

ST. PETER — Skyler Hill-Koenen’s entry in the Mankato Loyola boxscore does not reflect his last-second heroic play in Monday night’s Section 2A, South Sub-Section basketball championship game at Lund Arena.

The 6-foot-3 junior forward tipped away Martin County West’s entry pass along the sideline to force an errant ‘Hail Mary’ 3-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the No. 2-seeded Crusaders’ nail-biting 33-32 win over the No. 4-seeded Mavericks on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter.

Mankato Loyola (21-8) advances to face North Sub-Section champion Cedar Mountain (14-15) for the Section 2 crown at 6 p.m. Thursday night at the Taylor Center on the Minnesota State University campus in Mankato. Cedar Mountain upended Lester Prairie (18-11), 51-49, to earn a spot in the sectional finals.

“I just subbed Skyler into the game for defensive purposes and it paid off,” Loyola head coach Sam Carlson humbly said of his perfectly-timed late insertion who caused a ricochet of the inbound pass with 4.2 seconds showing on the scoreboard. “We knew somehow our defense had to get a hand on the ball or (Martin County West’s) Zach (Anderson) catches it, sinks the 3 and it’s over.”

Carlson’s postgame analysis hit the bull’s-eye as the 6-6 Anderson delivered 10 of the Mavericks’ 18 first-half points en route to a four-point lead by intermission. Anderson finished with 13 of MCW’s 32 total points, shared team-best rebounding honors with Wyatt Williamson by grabbing eight caroms apiece and blocked three shots.

“Our guys gave a great effort tonight, but we just came up one point short of reaching the sectional final,” said Maverick head coach Cliff Anderson, whose lineup closed out the season with a 17-12 record.

Cliff Anderson was seeking MCW’s third state boys basketball appearance and first since he guided the Mavericks to runner-up Class AA state honors in 2004. Carlson and Loyola are seeking the school’s seventh overall state bid and ironically, first since 2004.

Cedar Mountain will look for its second state appearance on Thursday night. Cedar Mountain, along with Morgan and Franklin, qualified for state back in 1985.

Lawson Godfrey, the Crusader program’s all-time leading scorer, netted 14 of his game-best 17 points to trigger Loyola’s second-half comeback on Monday.

Godfrey single-handedly triggered a pivotal 8-0 surge with 7 minutes remaining in regulation to transform a 27-25 Maverick lead into a six-point Crusader advantage.

Mitchell Weber’s lateral-slide runner in the lane gave MCW the two-point edge before Godfrey penetrated and spotted Carter Zimmerman for a go-ahead 3-pointer from the left side of the key.

Godfrey then drilled a left-wing trifecta off one of Simon Morgan’s four assists and later floated home a jab step-and-fade left-elbow 15-footer for a 33-27 lead with 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

Weber then snapped the nets on a long-distance 3-pointer off a Zach Anderson pass to narrow the Mavericks’ gap to 33-30 with 3:20 to go.

Weber’s drive and bank play inched MCW within one at the 2:20 mark before the Mavericks fouled the Crusaders at the 55.9- and 41.6-second junctures, respectively, producing a pair of missed front-end situations.

The Mavericks called timeout with 33.8 seconds remaining to discuss strategy, but Carlson countered by fouling as the Crusaders had been whistled for only two with 13.2 seconds to go.

Loyola recorded its third foul at 11.2 seconds, No. 4 at 9.5 and nearly allowed Zach Anderson to get a look at the basket before delivering foul No. 5 with 4.2 showing.

From an individual perspective, Zach Anderson finished with 1,993 career points behind his team-leading 13 on Monday night, while Williamson delivered five points to complement his eight boards. Weber, a 1,000-point plus career scorer, netted nine points for MCW, while Hunter Schmidt added five points.

While Zach Anderson, Williamson and the Maverick defense held Loyola career 1,000-point plus scorer Simon Morgan scoreless in Monday night’s sub-section final, the 6-3 senior post player generated clutch numbers of game-bests in rebounds (11), steals (4) and assists (4) to go with three blocks.

Zimmerman contributed 10 points to the Crusaders’ win, while Jake Sizer added six points.

MC West      18-14–32

Loyola          14-19–33

MCW (32)

Williamson 2-2 1-2 5, Z. Anderson 5-12 0-0 13, Forsberg 0-1 0-0 0, Weber 4-11 0-0 9, Schmidt 2-6 0-0 5, Clarke 0-0 0-0 0, Omvig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-32 1-2 32.

LOYOLA (33)

Sizer 2-8 0-0 6, Godfrey 7-15 0-1 17, Morgan 0-2 0-2 0, Zimmerman 4-10 0-1 10, Kann 0-5 0-0 0, Kelly 0-2 0-0 0, Hill-Koenen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 0-4 33.

3-pointers: Mankato Loyola 7-23 (Godfrey 3-8, Sizer 2-6, Zimmerman 2-7, Kann 0-1, Kelly 0-1); Martin Co. West 5-13 (Z. Anderson 3-5, Weber 1-3, Schmidt 1-4, Forsberg 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Loyola 27 (Morgan 11); MCW 17 (Williamson and Z. Anderson 8 each). Assists: Loyola 7 (Morgan 4); MCW 5. Steals: Loyola 4 (Morgan 4); MCW 3. Blocked shots: Z. Anderson 3, Morgan 3.