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ST. PAUL -- Sacred Heart had some size and toughness Sleepy Eye St. Mary's had to worry about on Thursday afternoon in the Class A State Boys' Basketball Consolation Semifinals at Gangelhoff Center.
Unfortunately for the Knights, that wasn't all Sacred Heart had as it hit seven 3-pointers in the first half to set the tone on the way to a 69-52 win.
The loss ends the Knights' season with a 28-4 overall record.
Senior forward Carson Domeier led the Knights with 19 points, four rebounds and eight assists, while senior guard Trent Steffensmeier added 11 points. Kaleb Wait also had 8 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Knights.
The Eagles were led by Kobe Tomkinson's 33 points, while Ethan Arntson had 17 points and Sam Gapp. The Eagles next play in the fifth-place game at 8 a.m. Saturday.
"We were worried about their size inside and I thought we were probably focusing in on that," Knights head coach Judd Walter said of Sacred Heart. "Hats off to them. They moved the ball really well and they were able to knock 'em down. So that was a big hole we dug ourselves into early."
While the Knights took the first lead of the game and got their inside shot going right away, the Eagles relied on their perimeter shooting to take charge. The Knights got their first three baskets on shots inside from Jacob Stevens, Wait and Domeier, but the Eagles answered each of those buckets with 3s from Tomkinson, Gapp and Arntson. The Eagles got their fourth 3 of the day from Arntson to take a 12-6 lead.
When Sacred Heart got its first basket of the game that wasn't from the 3-point line, it ended in 3 points anyway after Arntson got an and-one with 12:44 to give the Eagles a 15-6 lead.
Sacred Heart stretched its lead 30-15 after another 3 from Arntson.
Domeier captained an 8-0 run for the Knights after that, however, making two 3s and a bucket inside to have his squad down 30-23.
Sacred Heart then pushed its lead back to 9 before Steffensmeier got the final bucket of the half in the paint to have St. Mary's down 36-29 at halftime.
The Knights got a layup from Steffensmeier to kick off the second half before the Eagles got it back on a bucket from Gapp. Wait then hit a 3 to bring the Knights within 4, 38-34.
The Eagles were able to push their lead back to 12 before the Knights created some havoc on defense, getting a steal from Owen Weiss that led to a Domeier layup and a steal and layup from Wait to trail 51-43.
The Eagles bounced back after that, though, getting a 3 by Tomkinson tolead 58-43. They led by as much as 18 before the Knights got the final basket of the game from Cole Schroepfer off the bench.
The Knights graduate four seniors from the team this spring in Domeier, Steffensmeier, Stevens and Trevor Zeig. Domeier and Steffensmeier are two of the Knights' all-time top scorers.
"It's going to be a big loss with that whole senior group," coach Walter said. "Trent and Carson, over 3,700 points between the two of them, so they'll be tough to replace. Not only their production on the floor, but their leadership. They've been here since Day 1 with us and they've helped us establish where we want to be."