Brandon Newman scored 29 points and Barnum outscored Virginia by 24 points in the second half to overcome a halftime deficit and beat the Blue Devils 63-41 in a Section 7AA high school boys basketball semifinal Tuesday night at Romano Gym.
The top-seeded Bombers (28-1) trailed 29-27 at the half before turning the game around in the final 18 minutes.
Hunter Fetters added 15 points for Barnum, which meets Polar League rival Esko in the section title game at 7 p.m. Thursday at Romano.
Esko 59, Deer River 30
Aaron Olson nailed four 3-pointers and scored 20 points as the Eskomos rolled past the Warriors in the other 7AA semifinal.
Jaxson Turner added a dozen points for Esko (22-7), which led 33-13 at halftime and extended the lead in the second half.
Esko lost 62-48 to Barnum in the teams’ regular-season meeting.
St. Francis 75, Duluth East 52
The Saints raced to a 37-11 halftime lead and cruised to the Section 7AA semifinal win at North Branch.
Sam Thompson scored 14 points to lead the Greyhounds, whose season ended at 15-13.
Prep summaries
Boys basketball
Section 7AAA Semifinals
Duluth East 11-41-52
St. Francis 37-38-75
Duluth East - Sam Thompson 14, Ty Seymour 3, Aaron Maslowski 9, Kahlil Green 11, Matt Sandbulte 2, Isaiah Bolen 5, Quentin Miller 3, Joey Zwak 5.
St. Francis - Sam Scardigli 11, Hunter Trautman 4, Robbie Whitney 20, Ethan Scheuring 17, Ryan Svihel 13, Travis Swenson 2, Blake Moreno 8.
Section 7AA Semifinals
Deer River 13-17-30
Esko 33-26-59
Deer River - Ben Eby 3, Kole Schultz 15, Aaron Drotts 6, Dakota Goggleye 2, Cody Shevich 2, Sebastian Anttila 2. Totals 10 7-10 30.
3-point goals - Drotts 2, Schultz.
Esko - Jaxson Turner 12, Derek Pantsar 5, Isaac Blue 2, Elijah Mattinen 3, Aaron Olson 20, Trenton Menor 5, Nate Johnson 1, Matt Bolgrean 2, Adam Trapp 9. Totals 20 12-18 59.
3-point goals - Turner, Pantsar, Olson 4.
Virginia 29-12-41
Barnum 27-36-63
Virginia - Tyler Emery 3, Darby Maloney 7, Ryan Cunningham 12, Max Carlson 7, Rickey Sipila 5, Tom Prittinen 1, Ethan Youso 4, Bryce Kennedy 2. Totals 11 4-6 41.
3-point goals - Maloney, Emery, Cunningham 4, Carlson.
Barnum - Tanner Fuglestad 1, Andrew Naslund 2, Brandon Newman 29, Chris Carlson 5, Nathan Jelinek 6, Mitchell Weller 5, Hunter Fetters 15. Totals 20 17-21 63.
3-point goals - Newman 4, Carlson, Weller.
