That year, they were to meet New Ulm Cathedral for a chance to get back to the state tournament for the second consecutive season after making it in 2019.

But 2020 saw the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down ahead of the section finals game, giving the Tigers an anti-climactic share of the section championship with Cathedral and no state tournament to prep for. After clawing their way back to the section finals this year, the third-seeded Tigers aren’t looking to let this opportunity go to waste.

Standing in their way, however, are the top-seeded Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs, who can fairly claim they’re even hungrier yet, having last competed in the state tournament in 2008.

The Section 2A Boys Basketball Tournament championship game between Springfield and JWP is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Bresnan Arena.

File photo by Travis Rosenau Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s Gavin Weedman defends Nicollet’s Henry Kennedy during a Section 2A Boys Basketball Tournament semifinals game on Monday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

The Tigers earned their way to the section finals after coming to life late in the first half of the semifinals against second-seeded Madelia. After the Tigers trailed 31-21, they scored 18 unanswered points and led 45-35 at halftime before running away with a 93-63 win. Tigers head coach Lance Larson said the turnaround came from a switch to a zone defense, keeping Blackhawks standout Kaydon Firchau out of the paint and forcing others to shoot the ball.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs took down the fifth-seeded Nicollet Raiders in their section semifinals game, utilizing their fast break and scoring several points off turnovers to win 75-58.

That kind of attack is something Tigers head coach Lance Larson wants his players to watch out for.

“We have to be really aware of how quick they get the ball up the floor,” Larson said. “We don’t want to give up any easy points in the defensive transition portion of the game. They score a lot of points when they get the ball out quick and attack the basket, and then if they do get stopped in the paint, they’re kicking it out for easy 3s, so we’ve got to stop the drive initially and then be able to find shooters.”

Nick Taylor, in his 10th season as head coach for JWP, said while his team is quick, they do lack some traditional size and will have to work hard to win the battle on the boards against a deep Springfield squad.

“A big thing that really stands out to be is obviously their depth,” Taylor said. “Pretty much everybody they got out there can score, can get to the rim. A big [key] for us is going to be rebounding, that’s usually kind of number one with us. They’ve got some size, they’ve got some beef I guess I would say in the middle there, and they’ve got a couple real athletic kids that we’ve just got to keep off the boards. And hopefully if we can get some misses out of them and we can keep it to one, that will probably be key No. 1 for us.”

HOW SPRINGFIELD CAN WIN

If the Tigers can limit the Bulldogs from controlling the court with their speed and fast break, the Tigers’ long, athletic players could play a big part in grabbing a win.

“They’re real quick, but I think the thing that can maybe help us, being as they are quicker than us, is we’re pretty long, we’ve got some pretty good length,” Larson said. “Hopefully we can finish some possessions by getting defensive rebounds and maybe get a few second- and third-chance opportunities with getting some offensive boards just using some of our size.

“But we’ve gotta try and slow the ball up a little bit and not let them get six, seven runouts on us for the game, otherwise all of the sudden you’re down 15.”

HOW JWP CAN WIN

In addition to winning the battle on the boards, Taylor said the Bulldogs have a lot of depth also and can get something out of everyone they put on the court.

“We know we lack the size, kind of the big guy in the middle, but we do have a lot of guys that can run and have speed and a lot of guys that can handle the ball,” Taylor said. “Pretty much everybody out there can handle it, they can go. I do think that makes us faster, too. Again, all the guys can handle it … take one or two away and there’s enough guys there that I think can do damage if you try to do that. So you’ve got to be kind of aware. I like to spread teams out and now you’ve got guys that can shoot it also, so it makes a big difference.”

SPRINGFIELD STANDOUTS

Brecken Heiling leads the balanced Tigers with 15 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while Bryan Buerkle averages 14 ppg and 6.6 rpg and Parker Kuehn adds 13.9 ppg and 3.1 rpg. Madden Lendt averages 13.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg and 3.1 apg, while Dylan Simonson adds 7.8 ppg and Aiden Moriarty adds 7.7 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

Heiling leads the Tigers from beyond the arc, shooting 40.9% from the 3-point line.

Heiling also had a team-high 119 deflections and 2.1 steals per game to help lead the Tigers’ defense, while Kuehn has 2.7 steals per game.

JWP STANDOUTS

Daulton Bauer leads the Bulldogs with 23.1 ppg, 5 rpg and 4.1 apg, while his brother Gavin Bauer is right behind him with 20.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 3.8 apg. Caleb Quast adds 11.4 ppg for the Bulldogs, while Gavin Weedman averages 8.8 ppg. Gavin Bauer has also been one of the Bulldogs’ top 3-point shooters, shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc.

Defensively, Gavin Bauer leads the team with 3.6 spg and 1.5 blocks per game, while Daulton Bauer adds 3 spg.

HEILING HELPS OUT

Springfield has been without senior starting point guard Isaac Fredin, who was injured and lost for the season in a game against Jackson County Central on Feb. 5.

Heiling has stepped up in place of Fredin, however, and things are starting to click at the right time.

“Brecken’s had to become one of our primary ball handlers,” Larson said. “Where we really miss Isaac is just from the leadership standpoint. He kind of got us into things and was kind of our calm in the storm a little bit. Some other guys have had to take over that role and it took us a few games to kind of get comfortable with it, I guess, but hopefully it’s coming now and we can make it work.”