Photo by Samantha Davis. Dawson-Boyd's Drew Hjelmeland rolls past his defender and begins to step toward the basket in the first half against Wabasso in the Section 3A quarterfinals Thursday night at Montevideo High School. Hjelmeland finished with a game-high 23 points in the Blackjacks' 100-53 win, and advance to the section semifinals.

MONTEVIDEO — The top-seeded Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team is one step closer to returning to the Section 3A championship game after it defeated No. 4 Wabasso 100-53 in the section quarterfinals Thursday night, punching a ticket to the semifinals.

“This [win] feels good,” Drew Hjelmeland said. “This is where we fell short last year, so it’s exciting to be able to get there this year.”

The Blackjacks were locked in offensively from the start and grew a 38-point lead by halftime behind eight 3-pointers. Wabasso was limited to getting any comeback started, as Dawson-Boyd also picked up its defensive efforts to control all areas of the court and put the game away early.

“Our kids came out with the right intensity. I thought we executed well on both ends of the floor,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said. “It’s the hope that you can come out and start the game with a run … It was a solid first few minutes, forcing their [Wabasso’s] coach to call a couple time outs early. Then, we followed that run up with another run.”

Hjelmeland led the way with 23 points on 62% field goal shooting, while Gunner Liebl followed with 20 points going 8 for 9 from the field, and Brayson Boike tallied 18 on 72% shooting. Carson Stratmoen, Boike and Hjelmeland each shared a team-high six rebounds, while Liebl led with five steals and six assists.

For Wabasso, Caden Frericks had a team-high 13 points and six rebounds, while Drew Kemp followed with 11 points. Calvin Hanna finished with 9 behind a trio of 3-pointers.

With Thursday’s win, the Blackjacks have avenged last year’s tournament appearance where they were eliminated by Minneota in an upset during the quarterfinals. They last made it to the section title game in 2023, but fell to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton who went on to become Class A state champions.

Dawson-Boyd is looking to return to the state tournament court for the first time since 1991.

“That’s the goal,” Larson said. “There is no left side of the bracket. It’s win or think about when to schedule your season ending meeting.”

The Blackjacks opened the playoffs with a bold statement after defeating No. 8 MACCRAY 80-36 in the North’s subsection quarterfinals. Wabasso took down No. 5 Minneota 76-64 in the same round to move on to face Dawson-Boyd.

Dawson-Boyd set the offensive momentum tone from tip-off and never let up with its perimeter shooting or patient ball movement to find an open look. The Blackjacks also collected a handful of steals to help pull away early, and had a 61-23 lead by half.

The Blackjacks outrebounded Wabasso 36-23, and had 12 steals to the Rabbits’ three.

“We feel like we got to defend, and we did,” Larson said. “We had a good mix. We got some points off the turnovers, but at the same time on the other end, I thought we had a good mix of interior touches that maybe led to some open 3’s. I thought we moved the ball well.”

Hjelmeland led with 17 first-half points, while Joseph Rohlik had 7 for Wabasso.

Hjelmeland opened up the scoring with a baseline jumper and Boike followed that up with a fast break dunk.

Dawson-Boyd continued on an 11-0 run to start the game with a Liebl steal and layup, a Stratmoen 3-pointer and a Hjelmeland layup to force Wabasso head coach Scott Leopold to call a timeout.

“They’re [Dawson-Boyd] very good and very well coached. They don’t make any mistakes,” Leopold said. “We took advantage of a few things and got some nice buckets. Just that pride to fight though, is what I was happy about. We knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but we came out and we fought. We didn’t just let them walk over us. We tried everything we could.”

Frericks got Wabasso on the board with a free throw after drawing a foul.

The Blackjacks began to hone in on their defensive effort, as Liebl grabbed another steal and layup to build a 20-1 advantage, forcing Leopld to call another timeout.

“Steals are big, especially when you have guys running out,” Hjelmeland said. “Transition layups, those points are easy, so it’s good to get the easy ones.”

Beau Johnson had a few offensive contributions off the bench in the first half with a pair of 3-pointers, while Liebl and Hjelmeland each hit another beyond the arc to extend to a 34-3 lead.

Johnson finished with 8 points and three steals.

Wabasso spent some time playing in a zone defense, and Frericks had 5 of its first 8 points.

Boike and Hjelmeland combined for four consecutive baskets, while Kade Solem and Gunnar Olson also got their first points of the night to get several players on the scoreboard for the Blackjacks.

“I think it [our shooting] was really good. That was probably the best we’ve shot all year, especially at this time of year,” Hjelmeland said.

Dawson-Boyd overall shot 64% from the field and 39% from the perimeter, and held Wabasso to a 35-26% shooting clips.

Wabasso’s Jack Burns fed a floater pass inside to Jayden Remiger for a jumpshot, yet Boike responded with a 3 as Dawson-Boyd eclipsed a 40-point lead, 61-21 as the half came to a close.

The Montevideo gym was packed with supporters on both ends, each side filling the gym with cheers after a successful play.

“I love our fans,” Hjelmeland said. “No matter what sport it is, our community is awesome. We have a bunch of people there every single day. “

The second half was no different for the first seed, as Boike opened up the final 18 minutes with back-to-back layups.

Although continuing to put up a fight and finding a handful of good looks for a few second half 3s, Wabasso was never able to find a full answer to Dawson-Boyd’s cohesive offense and aggressive defense as the game went to running clock past the nine minute mark.

The Wabasso program had a significant improvement this season under Leopold’s first-year coaching the team. The Rabbits made it two rounds further in the section tournament than last year, and finishes their season 15-12 overall, earning 10 more wins than their 5-22 overall 2023-24 campaign.

“For me, I just wanted to give these kids pride and something to fight for. That’s how we’ve been all season. When things got hard, we just persevered and fought … I couldn’t ask for a better season, and I couldn’t ask for a better group,” Leopold said. “I love these guys. They’re just fun to be around … They represented Wabasso in the right way, and went out on a high note.”

Wabasso graduates seniors Hanna, Noah Pope and Griffyn Hillesheim.

“Calvin, he plays up and down pretty much the whole game for us. He’s our leader on the floor, and he’s going to be very much missed. He’s our go to guy to calm us down,” Leopold said. “Noah, he’s been in the program for four years … He has more heart than anybody on the team. Griffin, he’s a very good player … He plays his heart out. They will all be missed, they’re all great.”

Dawson-Boyd (25-3) will next face No. 2 Central Minnesota Christian (23-5) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the semifinals at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

The Bluejays and Blackjacks met twice over the regular season, and Dawson-Boyd won both meetings 58-49 on Feb. 14, and 65-47 on Dec. 17.

“Right now, you sit back and enjoy this one but at the same time, you start prepping for Saturday’s game,” Larson said. “A big part of going into Saturday is a certain mentality — That ‘Play to Win’ mentality. Bring that to the court at SMSU and see what happens.”