It took longer than most games, but Seymour eventually flexed its muscle and punched its ticket to the WIAA Division 3 State Championship game.

Saint Croix Central hung around early in the first, holding a lead two point lead at the five minute mark in the half. Tanner Grinnell (6-9) made shots from outside and at the rim to lead that early surge for the Panthers.

Seymour leading scorer Kyler Marks (20.6 ppg) picked up his second foul with 8:47 left in the first frame and sat the remainder of the half. From there though, junior Isaac Feske took over and finished the half with a team-high nines.

Seymour took a 67-49 lead into the intermission.

Coming out of the break, it was a lot of Feske and Marks for the Thunder. Seymour was relentless on the glass throughout this one, winning the rebounding battle 23-12, including eight offensive rebounds.

Seymour pulled away, dominating the paint and stifling the Saint Croix Central offense. The Thunder outscored the Panthers 36-20 in the paint. What’s most impressive, Seymour finished 13 of 17 from the field in the second half.

The Thunder finished the game shooting 25-39 from the field, setting a new Division 3 State Tournament record with a 64.1% shooting percentage.

For the Panthers, Tanner Grinnell finished with 13 points and 4 rebounds while fellow senior Matyas Larson had 11 points.

Feske and Marks each had 20 points to lead the Thunder while sophomore Jordan Krause added 10 points and senior Xavier Salzman had 11, including three triples.

Racine St. Cats was nothing short of relentless in this semifinal matchup, edging out Lake Mills to advance to the program’s eighth state championship game in eight appearances.

The L-Cats went into halftime with a 34-28 lead over the Angels, as Brady Benish was lights out from deep. He had 17 points at the break, going 5-9 from deep. The L-Cats offense had good possessions, where ball control was the name of the game.

Coming out of halftime, one of two things was likely to happen. One; Racine St. Cats would wear down from the constant pressure, working through screens, and limited rotation. Or two; Lake Mills would wear down from the constant pressure from the Angels’ defense and lack of rotation.

The latter turned out to be the one.

St. Cats played full court man-to-man for basically the entirety of the game, with some run-and-jump mixed in. That pressure eventually reared its head as Lake Mills turned the ball over eleven times in the second half, leading to 17 points off turnovers for St. Cats.

The supporting cast around Angels start LaMont Hamilton also started to make plays as Antoine Ozier and Jayden Phillips knocked down threes and AC Ward got it going on the interior.

St. Cats pushed the lead to 13 with a little over three minutes left in the game, but Lake Mills was not going away. On top of the Angels’ lack of execution at the free throw line, Lake Mills kept punching back, including a 20-foot step back triple from Benish, drawing a funny interaction between him and St. Cats senior Jayden Presley who gave a look as if wanting to know how he did that.

Neither team was efficient from the free throw line as St. Cats was 12 for 23 and Lake Mills 12 for 24.

In the end, it was too much ball pressure for the Lake Mills team. Racine St. Cats turned 16 L-Cat turnovers into 23 points off.

Hamilton led the Angels in scoring with 17 points, also tallying six rebounds, four assists, and four steals. AC Ward, EJ Vinson, and Antoine Ozier all scored in double figures as well for St. Cats.

Lake Mills was led by 26 points from Benish who finished eight of sixteen from deep. Collin Christian (2027) was impressive for the L-Cats as he had the tough task of guarding Hamilton. Christian also finished with 16 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.

St. Cats will play in its eighth state championship game in the program’s history, with sights on a seventh gold ball.