CONCENTRATION — Martin County West center Jacob Wilmes focuses before shooting a free throw during a Section 2A play-in postseason basketball game on Friday night in Trimont. Maverick teammate Hunter Schmidt (3) watches the shot. (Photo by Greg Abel).

TRIMONT — Junior forward Jacob Wilmes dropped a game-leading 32 points to lead the No. 8-seeded Martin County West Mavericks boys basketball team to a 67-62 overtime victory over the No. 9-seeded Nicollet Raiders on Friday night in a Section 2A play-in game in Trimont.

Martin County West will advance to the true first round of the Section 2A tournament to face off with No. 1 seed Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey at 8 p.m. Tuesday night at Mountain Lake High School.

Mavericks’ head coach Phillip Rotunda was impressed by his team’s mental fortitude.

“He (Wilmes) just works so hard at finishing around the hoop and that’s what he did such a good job of tonight,” Rotunda said. “Finishing there and then getting opportunities for his teammates because it’s not all his scoring, it is finding ways to get points for your team.”

Wilmes finished the big night with nine boards, four assists and a pair of rejections to lead the Mavericks to the win.

The game got off to a slow start with the score staying tied at 2-2 for the first 4 minutes.

Wilmes got things going for the Mavericks with a 3-pointer and then a hook shot to give them an early 7-2 lead.

The Raiders would battle back however, as a layup from sophomore forward AJ Kramer tied the game at 11 with 9:30 left in the opening half.

Nicollet would extend its lead when sophomore guard Henry Oscarson hit a reverse layup to give the Raiders a 20-14 advantage with 6:30 remaining before intermission.

The Mavericks would storm back as junior guard Kale Larson converted an ‘and-1’ lay in to give the Mavericks the lead again, 26-24, with 2:12 remaining in the first.

The two sides went into the locker room with Nicollet leading Martin County West by a slim 28-27 margin.

In the second half, the game turned in favor of the Mavericks up until the end of the period. Wilmes and the Mavericks got out to a double-digit lead and held the advantage for the majority of the half before foul trouble crept into the game.

Kale Larson fouled out as did Cade Williamson and suddenly the Mavericks were forced to go deeper into their bench.

The Mavericks turned to junior forward Josh Roben, who brought intensity on the glass and defense to help anchor a depleted rotation.

“We had two of our starters foul out there and we didn’t roll over and give up,” Rotunda said. “Roben has been one of those guys, I mean even on that possession in overtime he grabbed three offensive rebounds and was getting to the free throw line.”

Despite the high intensity, the Raiders found a way back into the game with less than a minute remaining, and trailing 59-56.

Following a pair of Hunter Schmidt free throws for the Mavericks with 15 seconds remaining in regulation, the Raiders needed a deep shot to fall.

The Raiders hit sophomore big man Keegan Hulke near the top of the key and he let a 3-pointer fly. It clanked off the rim and freshman Henry Kennedy got the board to keep the Raiders’ hopes alive.

He flipped it back out to Keegan Hulke, who heaved a heavily-contested 3-pointer back toward the rim and sank it as time expired to send the game to overtime tied at 59 a piece.

Wilmes closed the game out with a trip to the line, an assist to Roben for a layup and then Schmidt nailed two more free throws to cement the 67-62 Mavericks’ postseason victory.

NIC           28-31-3–62

MCW        27-32-8–67

MCW (67)

Wilmes 11-17 9-14 32, K. Larson 6-14 2-3 15, Schmidt 3-9 4-4 13, Roben 1-5 2-4 4, Rathman 1-2 0-0 2, Williamson 0-1 1-3 1, L. L. Larson 0-4 0-1 0, Olson 0-2 0-0 0.

NICOLLET (62)

Martens 3-7 7-15 14, Hulke 4-12 2-5 12, Oscarson 5-12 0-5 10, Kettner 3-12 2-2 9, Kramer 4-5 0-1 8, Bode 2-4 0-0 4, Strunk 0-3 2-2 2, Kennedy 1-2 0-0 2, Otto 0-0 1-2 1.