RIVER FALLS — As co-Big Rivers Conference Champions with Hudson and the No. 1 seed in its Division 2 Sectional with 19-7 overall and 12-2 conference records, River Falls had a target on their backs in the postseason. The Wildcats won their first playoff game against Rice Lake 68-53 to advance to the Regional Final, dropping an 83-79 heartbreaker in overtime to conclude what was a season to remember.

Against Rice Lake on Friday night, the Warriors threw some defensive wrenches into River Falls’ plans. Rice Lake slowed the pace and made the Wildcats a bit uncomfortable after River Falls won by 31 in both meetings in the regular season. River Falls clung to a 34-29 lead at the halftime break.

“The first half, they really slowed it down, which is out of character for us. We want to speed the game up, defensively at least, offensively we want to slow it down,” senior post Austin Stellrecht said. “We just had to work through that in the second half.”

River Falls had the formula in the second half, though, cruising to a 15-point victory once they got their feet wet in playoff basketball.

“We gave up a couple boards, so at halftime we had a little talk,” senior guard Tanner Bottolfson, who had eight points, said. “They were a more aggressive team in the first half, so in the second half we came out more aggressive and it paid off.”

Advancing to the Regional Final in front of a packed crowd meant a lot to the Wildcat team that has made a lot of progress this season.

“A lot of good players and really good coaching. On any given night, any of our players can have a huge night, anyone can break through. That’s what makes us really special,” Stellrecht said.

Strellrecht led the way with 20 points and fellow senior Brody Graetz finished right behind him with 19 of his own.

The win booked River Falls a date with No. 4 New Richmond on Saturday night. The two Big Rivers Conference squads had split the regular season matchups. This time around, it was sure to live up to the hype.

The first half went to New Richmond by a hair, leading 38-33 after 18 minutes of action. The Tigers began to set the tone in the second half, pulling away with a 58-46 lead with 12 minutes remaining off the back of senior Nick Stellrecht, who had 20 points at the time. With just under eight minutes to go, Graetz dribbled up the floor and cashed a top of the key three to cut the Tiger lead to 62-58. A minute later, Bottolfson faked a pass to the corner that got a defender to bite, making a three from the wing to take the deficit down to one. An Austin Stellrecht free throw and fastbreak layup later, and the Wildcats led 64-62 with five minutes left.

As would be expected in a matchup between two of the area’s best, momentum swayed back and forth to lead into a 72-all tie with 50 seconds left. River Falls got a huge stop to give itself a chance to win the Region. Graetz drove into the middle of the lane in the waning seconds, and a jump stop into the defender was called an offensive foul with 1.5 seconds to go. New Richmond did not get a great shot up, and the full house was treated to extra basketball.

In that extra frame, New Richmond scored the first nine points and led 81-72 with 1:10 to go.

Just when it looked out of reach, a three from junior Gavin Carufel and a layup for Graetz brought River Falls within four. New Richmond missed a free throw, and a nice feed inside to Stellrecht brought a once insurmountable lead down to two, with the Tigers at the line and eight seconds remaining. The Tigers made one of two, but a steal on the Wildcat push ended their season.

“Never really got comfortable with the pace of play and weren’t as poised as we needed to be at times,” Turpin said. “Our kids battled hard in the second half to come back and give ourselves a chance.”

Nick Stellrecht finished with 30 for New Richmond. For the Wildcats, Austin Stellrecht had 20, Graetz had 17, Colton Nesbitt had 15 and Bottolfson had 14.

What made this season a special one for River Falls was the drive to improve. After a 2-3 overall start and 1-1 conference start, the Wildcats did not let it get to their heads.

“What was special about it was that it wasn’t easy. The kids had to really earn those things throughout the year. They played an incredibly difficult schedule and faced adversity multiple times. To their credit, they always bounced back and always had the right attitude going into the next practice,” Turpin said. “They found ways to just continue to get better as the season went on.”

River Falls says goodbye to seven seniors. They are Graetz, Stellrecht, Bottolfson, Owen Hammond, Jackson Magee, Cal DuMond and Matthew Tiffany.

“Having seven of them, it provided strong leadership for our group. Just a really good group of kids that bonded together as the season went along,” Turpin said. “That senior group made sure they incorporated our underclassmen and did their best to show them the way to do things.”