The sophomore guard scored a game-high 37 points to lead the Bulldogs to an 80-65 win, earning JWP a state tournament berth for the first time since 2008.

His older brother Daulton Bauer scored 12 points, while Caleb Quast and Tyson Kronbach each added 7 points.

The Tigers were led by Madden Lendt, who had 25 points on 10 of 11 shooting, while Bryan Buerkle had 17 points and nine rebounds and Brecken Heiling had 10 points.

In his 10th season as JWP head coach, Nick James had a smile on his face as his team was able to hold on to the ball and tick the final seconds away to bring JWP back to state after the program last saw the state tournament 18 years ago.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield senior Bryan Buerkle hugs senior Isaac Fredin and shakes hands with Aiden Moriarty after being subbed out of Wednesday’s Section 2A boys basketball title game late at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.

“I started coaching back when most of these guys were 6, 7 years old,” James said of his players. “I watched pretty much every one of them since they started playing in second grade and then camps with them when they were little. It means so much to me. I’m serious, I’m the luckiest guy in the world. My kids are the best kids. They work their tail off, they work hard, they do everything we ask. It means the world to me.”

As to be expected, if the Tigers weren’t able to take care of the ball and limit the Bulldogs’ fast-break offense, it was going to be a tough night.

The Bulldog defense ended up helping force 21 Springfield turnovers in the game, many of them leading to JWP points. JWP had 12 turnovers in the game.

“They’re quick, they focus on doing that [forcing turnovers and getting runouts],” Tigers head coach Lance Larson said. “We did OK in spurts and then they’d lose focus a little bit or it’d be a turnover and they’d get somebody out. They’re quick enough and they handle the ball well enough that they’re gonna get theirs. Obviously the younger Bauer is just a really good ball player. We had no answer for him.”

After Aiden Moriarty got the Tigers on the board with a bucket inside, Daulton Bauer had JWP up 4-2 after back-to-back scores in the paint. The Bulldogs were quick to capitalize on turnovers for points as a turnover led to a layup from Gavin Bauer and 6-2 lead.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s leading scorer Gavin Bauer (4) joins his teammates near halfcourt after winning the Section 2A boys basketball championships Wednesday at Bresnan Arena in Mankato. Bauer finished with a game-high 37 points as the Bulldogs advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 2008.

Buerkle tied it up with a hook shot and fadeaway in the paint before a 3 from Parker Geariety gave the Bulldogs a lead they never lost the rest of the half. The Tigers got within 1 after that, but the Bulldogs continued to take advantage of Springfield turnovers and built their lead to 30-17.

Lendt had a 3 and then a steal and assist to Kuehn to have the Tigers down 30-22 before a fast-break layup by Braxton Brown had them behind 30-24. But once again the Bulldogs got out and running and pushed their lead to 45-31 at the half after getting two late takeaways. Those takeaways amounted to 3 points, a free throw from Gavin Bauer and two free throws from Kronbach. A half-court heave before the halftime horn by Lendt was on line but short.

A 3 from Gavin Weedman opened the second-half scoring and gave the Bulldogs a 48-31 lead. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 19, 52-33. A Lendt 3 was followed with a free throw by Gavin Bauer, but Dylan Simonson converted an and-one on the other end to have Springfield down 53-39.

Springfield started a 7-0 run a little later when Lendt hit a 3 and Buerkle scored inside to force James to burn a timeout with 10:55 to go. Heiling found Lendt for a fast-break layup to complete the run and have Springfield down 57-48.

The Bulldogs never let it get closer than that, however, pushing their lead back to 19 again before holding on for the 15-point win.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Dylan Simonson defends Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s Caleb Quast during the second half of the Section 2A Boys Basketball Tournament championship game Wednesday at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.

“Lance is a great coach and he’s been coaching a long time and they don’t panic,” James said of Springfield. “They’re gonna keep coming at you, they’re gonna keep fighting, they’re gonna keep battling. … We knew they were probably gonna have some little runs, we just had to keep them from getting to the 10-, 15-point runs. You can give up 5 or 7, just fight it off and make a little run of our own and that’s what we did.”

Larson said JWP’s quickness and awareness prevented made it hard for his Tigers to get much set up on offense.

“They doubled us in the post, caused turnovers for us,” Larson said. “They’re just a step or two ahead of us, I think. It kind of gets us out of our rhythm and what we’re trying to do, and we probably haven’t seen that from anybody else other than them.”

The Tigers graduate four seniors in Heiling, Buerkle, Simonson and Isaac Lendt, who has been out with an injury since early February.

“It’s always tough to lose the last game, and we’ve said that the only we you don’t do that is if you win the state championship or win a consolation championship, otherwise everybody else loses,” Larson said. “We had seven losses, four of them are gonna be the teams that are in the state tournament [JWP, Jackson County Central and Central Minnesota Christian]. We had a good season and those [seniors] led us to a lot of victories over the years and we thank them for that.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Bryan Buerkle puts up a jump shot in the first half of the Section 2A Boys Basketball Tournament title game Wednesday at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.

JCC plays Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta on Thursday in the Section 3AA finals, while CMC plays Hills-Beaver Creek on Thursday in the Section 3A finals.

Meanwhile, JWP will await the rest of the Class A section finals results and prep for the state tournament, which begins March 26 at the Target Center.