The offensive performance wasn't one of the better ones for Grafton on Thursday.
"We missed a lot of bunnies," Grafton junior guard Jake Hanson said. "But we're happy. We're going to state."
The Spoilers earned their second berth in the North Dakota Class B boys high school basketball tournament with defense. Grafton held Cavalier to a season low in points in beating the Tornadoes 40-34 in the Region 2 championship game at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
"If we wanted to win, it had to go this way, slugging it out in a defensive battle," said Hanson, who paced Grafton with 15 points. "And we hit some critical shots."
The Grafton defense took command in the second half. The Spoilers limited Cavalier to 10 points in the final two quarters. The Tornadoes were 4-of-14 with nine turnovers in the final 16 minutes.
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"We needed to keep them in the 30s," Grafton coach Mike Hanson said. "I thought we had a chance to do it. Our kids work hard. It seems like the uglier a game is, the better it is for us.
"We were in a man-to-man defense. We were getting in good defensive spots off the ball. We kept them from good shots; almost every shot they took, we had somebody in their face. And we kept them off the offensive boards."
The game was close throughout. Grafton led 16-9 after one quarter, the teams were tied at 24 at halftime and the Spoilers held a 30-29 lead after three.
Brady Robbins' layup with 6:54 left gave Cavalier a 31-30 lead. But Cavalier managed just three points the rest of the way.
Grafton, which went to a slow, deliberate spread offense in the final quarter, answered with a 7-0 run. Nic Lundquist capped the spurt when he grabbed a long rebound on the left wing and sank a 3-point shot. "That was huge," Mike Hanson said. "We were trying to work the clock. It was one of those, no, no, no shot -- GREAT shot.
"Then we hit some free throws and showed great poise down the stretch, controlling the ball."
Said Lundquist: "I hadn't hit many shots. But we needed something. I had confidence in myself."
Robbins banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:55 left, but Grafton was 3-of-5 on free throws in the final 48 seconds. Robbins finished with 14 points, but the second-leading scorer was reserve Bryce Karel with seven.
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"Our offense was terrible," said Cavalier coach Keith Hartz, whose 20-4 team was bidding for a second consecutive trip to the state tournament. "I was happy with our defense. But, for the most part, we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Our offense just wasn't there."
Jake Hanson's 15 points led the 19-5 Spoilers, who will be in the state tournament for the second time in four seasons. Cody Dravland added nine points and Lundquist eight.
In the third-place game, Mike Paulson had 32 points and Kyle Pederson 20 to lead Hatton-Northwood past Valley-Edinburg 79-76. Thomas Shephard scored 38 for Valley-Edinburg.
