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GRAND FORKS — Halfway through a North Dakota Region 2 boys basketball quarterfinal, the Grafton boys basketball team didn't look much like the team that handed No. 1 seed Thompson its only region loss late in the regular season.
Grafton sophomore Braylon Baldwin changed that in the third quarter.
The 5-foot-10 guard scored 12 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter to lead the No. 4 Spoilers to a 50-40 win over No. 5 Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Monday.
"He was huge for us," Spoilers coach Riley Lillemoen said. "He's the reason we bumped that lead up enough to have a little breathing room and play a little more loose.
He works his butt off and he's important for us. His scoring spurt was definitely what we needed at that time to gain a little traction."
The Spoilers (16-6) will play Thompson in the region semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Grafton beat the Tommies 60-52 in late February.
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"We need to shoot better, but I have to give Mayville credit," Lillemoen said. "They force you to play faster, and they're physical. It makes it tough to score some times. Tomorrow, we need to find better looks and knock down the ones we get. We got some good looks today and just didn't hit them, so hopefully we're saving them up for tomorrow."
The Patriots made the Spoilers sweat it out early in the third quarter. Ethan Bergstrom put back an offensive rebound to cut Grafton's lead to 26-24 with 4:51 left in the third quarter.
The Spoilers closed the third quarter on a 13-2 run, keyed by a pair of Baldwin 3-pointers.
Baldwin and Will Jiskra (20 points) scored 43 of the Spoilers' 50 points.
May-Port-C-G was led by Landon Koenig's 15 points.
"We knew (the Patriots) were going to keep battling," Lillemoen said. "They always do. They can cause havoc and force quick shots, which hurt our offense. We needed to hit some free throws and have some good possessions toward the end."
Grafton 50,
May-Port-C-G 40
Halftime: Grafton 20, MPCG 17
Grafton — Braylon Baldwin 23, Juan Villarreal 5, William Jiskra 20, Maxwell Dumas 2
May-Port-C-G — Landon Koenig 15, Marshal Judisch 5, Xyler Carlson 9, Ethan Bergstrom 7, Gavin Mewes 1, Braeden Knudsvig 3
