It's been a crazy night of basketball around Central Minnesota - Benson's Aaron Lindahl cans a 65-foot buzzer-beater in OT to defeat Minnewaska 69-66

The Benson Braves survived an incredible challenge from 5th-seeded Minnewaska.

With 2.9 seconds on the clock near the final gasps of overtime, the visiting Lakers tied the game at 66-all with a 2-for-2 performance at the free throw line.

A second overtime session was in the works...right?

Then on the inbounds play, senior guard Aaron Lindahl of Benson drilled a shot from 65 feet out, right as the buzzer sounded, tearing the hearts out of the Minnewaska fans.

Benson advances to the semi-finals to face top-seeded Morris Area. They face off at 6:00pm on Saturday at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Morris defeated Benson twice in the regular season, 65-45 and 62-49. The third meeting will by no means be a cakewalk for the Tigers.

Morris Area last went to "state" in 2004...Benson went to state in 2006 and 2007. All 3 of those trips followed section championships in the old Section 3AA.

The Braves are 16-9 overall. The Lakers end their season 11-14; entering playoffs, they had won 4 of their last 5 games.

Benson is one of the hottest teams in Section 6AA right now, as they are on an eight-game winning streak. Coach Roger Lindahl's Braves have won 12 of their last 14 games, after opening the season 4-7 through January 16th.

State-ranked Morris Area survived a HUGE scare from 8th-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle...Overtime was needed to decide the winner in Morris, final score MAHS 51, LP-GE 46. Morris Area, the #9-rated team in Class AA, improves to 21-4, while LP-GE finishes their season at 8-16.

The score at Morris was 42-42 after regulation ended. Morris won the game at the free-throw line, but just barely, going 13-of-27 from the charity stripe for the game. The Thunder was 2-of-5 at the free throw line.

I'm just going through the list of basketball scores I've been getting all night.

New London-Spicer is playing with a chip on their shoulder (not a bad thing)...They pistol-whipped their neighbors to the east, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, to the tune of a 61-24 halftime score tonight. NL-S is the #3-seed, A-C-GC was the #6 seed. I have a feeling the Wildcats think they are better than a #3 seed in Sub-Section 6AA-East, and they plan on taking out their frustration on their opponents as the playoffs develop.

NL-S went 23-of-34 from the floor in the first half, including 7-of-10 from three-point land.

A-C-GC finishes their season 14-13 overall...they had a meltdown after opening up the season 5-1 and 9-4. They were a solid team that got simply manhandled by NL-S tonight.

Again, nothing wrong with using anything at your disposal for motivation...as the big "Mo" is usually 90% of the battle in Prep Sports.

Central Minnesota Conference winners tonight include: Pierz, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, and B-B-E. Rockford was knocked out tonight by Watertown-Mayer 73-63. Eden Valley-Watkins fell 63-56 to Foley. All of these CMC teams that I mentioned here reside in Section 5AA for the playoffs, with the exception of B-B-E.

Rockford finishes their season 13-14. Eden Valley-Watkins finishes 10-15, finishing nothing less than a spectacular collapse to their season. On January 20, they were 7-2 overall and looking to be a challenge in the Central Minnesota Conference... after that day, they went an amazing 3-12. (No broken hearts in Jaguars country for the Eagles!) Their only wins in late January, and February into March were against A-C-GC, Holdingford, and Rockford.

In their loss to Foley tonight, the Eagles blew a 7-point lead with 6:00 left in the game. Foley improved to 16-9 overall. They opened up their season 9-0 before losing 51-49 on their own court to Eden Valley-Watkins on January 17. Almost 2 months later, the Falcons got the upper hand when it counted: in the playoffs.

Some more notes on the Sauk Centre vs. Albany game, continuing what I have on my earlier post tonight... Albany trailed by 7 at halftime, then trailed 39-35 with 11:00 left. They went on a big 13-4 run to pull in front 48-43. With 3:30 left, Albany clung to a slim 54-50 lead. They led 56-52 with 1:14 left, then 58-54 with :26 left. Talk about a defensive battle down the stretch.

In Section 6A...Third-seeded Hancock out of the south sub-section scorched the nets of their own gymnasium to the tune of a 103-64 win over 6th-seeded Underwood. Six players scored in double figures for Hancock. (Whew!)

The Owls (12-11) move on to the semi-finals, where they face 2nd-seeded Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (14-9) at 2:30pm on Saturday at the University of Minnesota-Morris.

This Jaguars sports playoff update brought to you by: