GLYNDON, Minn. — The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton boys basketball team is onto the Section 8-2A semifinals for the second year in a row after a big second half pushed the Rebels past East Grand Forks Monday night.
Paced by Owen Leach with 37 points, the No. 3 seed Rebels defeated the No. 6 seed Green Wave 75-62 in Monday's quarterfinal game.
D-G-F (22-6) will now travel to Detroit Lakes on Wednesday to face No. 7 Barnesville (18-8) for the right to advance to the Section 8-2A championship. Barnesville upset No. 2 seed Perham 48-42 on Monday.
The Rebels carried a 37-34 lead into the halftime break before outscoring EGF 38-28 to pull away in the final 18 minutes.
"We just narrowed in on what we had to do," Leach said. "I think we just came in, got to the free throw line, got (EGF) into foul trouble and I think that was the biggest part about it."
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Foul trouble plagued the Green Wave, as D-G-F entered the bonus with 9:13 remaining in the first half and the double bonus kicked in for the Rebels with 3:30 on the clock.
D-G-F went to the stripe 29 times and hit 24 free throws — with Leach sinking 17 of them.
Despite EGF's foul woes, the Green Wave were still in a one possession game at the half.
"We let East Grand Forks come out and dictate the pace of play," Rebels head coach Mike Clark said. "Kudos to them, they played great pressure defense. They're all over you all night long. That's something that you teach and you hope to execute and they do it well."
A Leach triple with 10:43 to play gave D-G-F its largest lead of the game to that point at 50-40. The Rebels built their lead to 21 points with 2:50 remaining before EGF outscored the home team 12-4 in the final minutes.
"We came out in the second half and we were a little bit more composed," Clark said. "We've got to get better at end-of-game situations, but the kids gutted it out. There was adversity at times and we had some plays that were not so good. But they gutted it out and got the 'W' and that's all that matters at this point in the season. Survive and advance."
Following Leach in scoring was Drew Sheeley with 12 points. Brody Friend also hit double figures with 10 points.
Not only did several other players step up in key situations, but Sheeley had been coming off of a minor injury from the Rebels' previous game.
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"We had a lot of guys who fulfilled their roles nicely," Clark said. "Austin Anderson, Karson Steichen and Drew Sheeley really played well. He had a rolled ankle after the last game and he came back really well and played pretty good (tonight). Grant Anderson in the first half took a couple to the basket strong.
"We've got a lot of role players who played their roles fairly good. We've just got to make sure we get a little more composed. It kind of drives me crazy a bit."
Austin Rusling paced EGF with 15 points while Chase Lindgren added 12. Clyde Anderson chipped in nine points.
The Green Wave concluded their season 14-12.
Barnesville's upset of 22-6 Perham, the defending Section 8-2A champion, sets up a third meeting this season between the Rebels and Trojans, this time on a neutral court in Detroit Lakes with tipoff time to be announced. D-G-F claimed both regular season contests.
"Barnesville's got a gritty team," Clark said. "That's what this playoff system is all about. You never know on any given night. Once you get this far, anybody can win."
Halftime: East Grand Forks 37, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 34
EGF: Rusling 15, Lindgren 12, Anderson 9, Smith 6, Carpenter 5, Bushaw 5, Zejdlik 5, McDonald 3, Johnson 2
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DGF: Leach 37, Sheeley 12, Friend 10, Steichen 9, G. Anderson 4, Aas 2, A. Anderson 1
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