The Goodhue Wildcats won the Section 1A championship Thursday night 58-44 over the Spring Grove Lions.

They head to the state tournament and will play Thursday at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. The coaches in the tournament will seed the teams this weekend.

Goodhue dominated the glass, especially 6-foot-3 junior Jacob McNamara. The muscular Wildcat had 17 rebounds to go with his 13 points.

The Lions were ranked second in the state and had not lost to a Minnesota team all year but Goodhue defended so well.

Spring Grove 6-foot-3 junior Chase Grinde came into the game averaging 22 points and finished with 12. Grinde had a number of off-balance shots due to the great defense played by the Wildcats.

Goodhue led 25-19 at the half thanks to a last-second runner hit by Sam McNamara. The 5-foot-11 senior hit a big three in the second half to end a Spring Grove run.

Five-foot-7 junior Taylor was terrific down the stretch at the free throw line, finishing 9 of 10. He had 12 points. The charity stripe proved to be the difference, with Goodhue going 16 of 18 and Spring Grove was 4 of 7.

Senior Jacob Pasch led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points.

Goodhue head coach Matt Halvorson told KDHL after the game he was proud of his guys for executing the game plan to near perfection.

Halvorson said he didn't care about a seed at this point. He told me before the game during the Tom Heffernan Ford keys his players were tired of hearing the other locker room celebrate after the section title game the previous two seasons.

This year Goodhue was doing the celebrating.

Rochester Mayo Civic Arena
Rochester Mayo Civic Arena
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