“We approached this as just another game, but one we needed to play with a championship mindset,” Rincker noted. “We had to be ready to compete tonight. But I’m not surprised one bit that the boys played as tough as they did. This is a good group.”

SAHS will now advance to the Altamont Sectional. The Bulldogs will face Tuscola at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Silver Stallions, who entered the game with a 29-2 record and had been ranked No. 1 in the Class 1A poll during the season, led most of the game.

A pair of free throws by Dallas Fair and a three-pointer by Myles Pryor staked COR to an early 6-2 lead. It was still a four-point margin, 13-9, after the first eight minutes.

St. Anthony had difficulty getting good shots against the Silver Stallions half-court trapping zone defense. Their combination of length – two starters at 6’5”, one at 6”3” and two guards at 6’ – and quickness were a challenge. But the Bulldogs hit enough to stay close.

A basket by Parker Boehne made it 20-13 at the 2:41 mark of the second quarter. But Brock Fearday hit a jumper and Collin Westendorf added a basket and a pair of free throws to get SAHS within 22-19 at halftime.

“Their length was the main reason we weren’t aggressive,” Rincker explained. “It took those first 16 minutes to figure out just how long and quick they are. They’ve had a lot of success this year by creating mayhem and chaos with that defense.”

A three-pointer by Ryan Wuebbels and another bucket by Boehne put COR on top 27-19. Fearday and Ryan Schmidt hit back-to-back shots for St. Anthony and Boehne then converted a turnover into a three-point play to make it a seven-point spread again, 30-23.

And then, the game changed.

Largely due to the play of Westendorf at the offensive end.

He connected on a three and then added two foul shots. That not only got the Bulldogs within 30-28 at the end of the third period, it sparked a 10-0 run that put St. Anthony on top for the first time since the 3:44 mark of the first period.

Westendorf hit another shot to open the fourth quarter, followed by a free throw. Fearday then scored after a COR turnover to make it 33-30 with 4:21 left in the game.

“At halftime, coach said we had to attack with the basketball,” Westendorf said. “He wanted us to get into the paint and either get a good shot or draw a foul. I wanted to show we could do that. I thought I needed to lead by example. Once we started doing that, you could see why coach wanted us to.”

After Wuebbels knocked down a game-tying three for the Silver Stallions, the Bulldogs ran more than a minute off the clock, looking for that good shot.

“Their zone makes you play keep-away,” Rincker noted. “We wanted to hold it long enough and work to get a layup. And that’s what we did.”

Michael Martelli drove the paint, and when the COR defenders came toward him, he made a nice pass to a wide open Westendorf for the layup that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay, 35-33, with 2:02 to play.

Pryor made a free throw to get the Silver Stallions within one, but that was the last point they scored. After SAHS held it for another minute, Schmidt was fouled. The sophomore calmly made both ends of the 1-and-1. Wuebbels then missed on a long three-point attempt, Griffin Sehy grabbed the rebound and was fouled.

Sehy also made both of his foul shots to make it a five-point cushion. COR then turned the ball over and Westendorf secured the win with another foul shot with just 17 ticks still showing. A few seconds later, the celebration was on.

“This feels pretty great,” Westendorf admitted. “We were considered the underdog tonight, but believed we could do this. It was kind of weird to be this excited and we weren’t playing another NTC team. One of the big motivations for me tonight was our crowd. They were really into it.”

“Collin willed us to this celebration,” Rincker added. “If it wasn’t for his offensive punch, his aggressiveness, we don’t win this game. I’m really proud of him. He did a great job.”

Defense and rebounding also were keys to the victory.

“That’s a team that lives in transition,” the St. Anthony coach said. “Watching film, I saw them make a lot of easy baskets, but I never saw them make a lot of shots from the outside. We wanted to force them to do that.”

The final statistics prove Rincker’s point. COR made only 30 percent of its shots, connecting on 11-of-37 attempts. They were 4-for-22 from long range. That St. Anthony defense held them to 12 second-half points.

 “And we needed to rebound,” Rincker quickly added.

Despite being the much smaller team, the Bulldogs held a 26-15 rebounding advantage.

“That’s been an Achilles heel for us this year,” Rincker admitted. “But it was a point of emphasis tonight and the boys did a great job.”

Boehne finished with 13 points and Wuebbels added 10 for the Silver Stallions, who finished their season at 29-3.

Westendorf finished with a game-high 20 points for the Bulldogs. Schmidt scored nine and Fearday added eight.

“One of the things that makes our team tough is that we don’t just rely on one person to score,” Westendorf said. “We have multiple weapons. If one guy is off, there’s always someone else their to pick them up. That’s one of the reasons we’re a good team.”

The Bulldogs made 12-of-27 attempts overall, a 44 percent clip. They were 2-for-7 from behind the arc and 14-for-18 from the line, including 6-of-8 in that pivotal fourth quarter when the Bulldogs outscored COR 12-4. Westendorf also had a game-high seven rebounds, but Sehy had six and Fearday and Max Koenig both pulled down five boards.

“I really tip my hat to our boys,” Rincker said. “This group has really grown up. A couple months ago, if we had been down seven or eight points in the second half like we were tonight, they would have just started chucking shots up. But we didn’t do that tonight. We stayed patient and methodical and that really worked in our favor.”

And Rincker was especially happy for the seniors.

“They can now put their year on the banner,” the coach noted. “This is a special moment for this team. This is the first time in a while we haven’t won the conference or the NTC Tournament, which was kind of deflating for us. But this regional championship certainly helps counter some of that.”

Now it’s on to the Altamont Sectional, where the Bulldogs will face a 28-6 Tuscola team that beat Arcola 63-46 to capture the Tuscola Regional.

The other two teams to advance to the Altamont Sectional are the host Indians and Casey-Westfield. Altamont (28-4) beat Nokomis 59-37 to win the Nokomis Regional and Casey-Westfield (17-10) topped Macon (Meridian) 52-46 in the finals of the Toledo Regional.

St. Anthony is now 22-12.