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Wilfahrt hits buzzer-beater for Cathedral

Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke New Ulm Cathedral’s Jevan Wilfahrt (center) is surrounded by teammates after hitting the game-winning shot against Springfield on Thursday night at Cathedral High School.

NEW ULM — With 2.3 seconds left in the game and his team trailing by one point, New Ulm Cathedral’s Jevan Wilfahrt didn’t seem to have an ounce of fear in him.

The freshman had a play drawn up in which he was supposed to take the last-second shot. Trailing 48-47 against Springfield, Wilfahrt hit the shot as the buzzer sounded, giving Cathedral a 49-48 Tomahawk Conference boys’ basketball victory on their home floor over one of its biggest rivals.

The freshman was mobbed by teammates after the game and he finished the contest with 13 points as the Greyhounds improved to 11-5 overall.

“The play was run up for me, the ball was thrown in to my brother [David Wilfahrt Jr.] actually and I saw him and he was looking at me, he passed it to me,” Wilfahrt said. “Once I had the ball in my hands, I just turned and shot the ball.”

The basket ended a strong finish by the Tigers, who slipped to 7-9 on the season. They trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, but they fought their way back thanks to strong performances from Brendon Buerkle (21 points) and Dylan Batzloff (11 points).

The Tigers grabbed that 48-47 lead after Mason Leonard was fouled with 20.3 seconds left in the game. With the score tied at 47, Leonard hit the first of two free throws but the Greyhounds got the rebound and were able to set up the winning shot.

Sam Knowles had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Greyhounds and David Wilfahrt Jr. finished with 10 points.

Cathedral hosts Mayer Lutheran, the No. 1 seed in the Section 2A playoffs that begin next week, on Saturday. Cathedral is the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will travel to No. 4 seed Cleveland next Thursday.

Springfield finishes the regular season on Saturday when it hosts Wabasso before opening Section 2A, South Subsection playoff action at United South Central on Tuesday.

The game came almost a year after the two teams were supposed to meet in the Section 2A finals in 2020. Last year’s Section 2A championship game was supposed to be held on Friday, March 13, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Wilfahrt wasn’t on the varsity roster last year, it felt good to help add another chapter to the two teams’ recent history of big games against each other.

“It’s awesome, I know last year we had a really good team and I know some people doubted us thinking we weren’t going to be that good this year,” Wilfahrt said. “I wanted our team to prove them wrong.”

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