DEFOREST - Travis Breunig let the game come to him March 12, and the way things started for Sauk Prairie, that meant he would have to wait his turn to chip in.

That's kind of how it goes with a balanced scoring attack, though.

"That's how we've been playing all year," Breunig said after six of his teammates scored in an opening surge that gave the Eagles a 13-point lead over Mount Horeb early in the second quarter of their WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal. "We just go to the guy who's open - he's our go to guy, the guy who's open - and it's been working for us."

Did it ever against the Vikings, but not before Breunig got involved.

Breunig scored all of his 13 points within personal scoring runs at the end of the second and third quarters, and Sam Koenig and Matt Rudig also reached double figures as the Eagles ran away with a 62-39 victory and their 13th straight win.

"I was just waiting," Breunig said after first breaking into the scorebook by scoring the Eagles' final six points of the second quarter to make it 25-14 at halftime. "I just wasn't really looking for my shot early, but then I got one to go in and got my confidence up. I got a couple more to go in and I just kept with it."

Indeed, Breunig struck again at the close of the third quarter by scoring Sauk Prairie's last seven points amid a Mount Horeb run that trimmed a 37-20 deficit to 39-28. Breunig sank three jumpers in that stretch, including a spot-up 3-pointer from the wing with 3 seconds left that made it 44-28.

That 3 capped an 18-of-29 shooting effort for the Eagles through the first three quarters, helping to keep the Vikings at least seven points down after they trailed 17-4.

"Our defense usually is what carries us, and we didn't quite get to the shooters today and we certainly didn't rebound well enough to be able to be in the game and have a chance in the fourth quarter," said Mount Horeb (14-12) coach Todd Nesheim, whose team split with Sauk Prairie in the regular season and had won seven straight before this loss.

Sam Koenig's dunk on a lob from Drew Carden with 2:33 remaining in the fourth quarter made it 52-33 and provided the exclamation point.

"We've been playing together since fourth grade, so we kind of have some chemistry," Koenig said of Carden, a fellow senior. "(We) couldn't draw it up any better. It was a perfect (alley-)oop and good timing. I couldn't miss that one."

Meanwhile, Sauk Prairie's defense and work on the glass had every bit as much to do with the convincing win as the balanced scoring.

Sauk Prairie out-rebounded Mount Horeb 30-15 - paced by six rebounds from Breunig and four for both Rudig and Jordan Peters - and held dynamic junior scorers Tyson Fredrick and Luke Webber to a combined 12 points in the game. Those two both averaged more than 10 points per game, and scored at least 10 in both regular-season contests with the Eagles.

"That was one of our real points of emphasis, because they're probably the scrappiest team that we play against," Eagles' coach Tim Marshall said of the rebounding advantage, especially after he felt Webber was able to hurt them on the offensive glass in both previous games. "Webber is such a good athlete and so our goal tonight was ... we told Sam that he could block out Webber and he didn't even have to go get the ball, somebody else (would) go get it.

"... They got very few second shots, and that was a real key."

Added Koenig, who had three rebounds: "We didn't want to give up second-chance points, we wanted to be real physical on the rebounding side so we could get it and go."

The Eagles certainly did early, and that helped them keep it up throughout.

"I figured the team that got rid of the jitters first would have the advantage," said Marshall, whose team shot 59 percent from the field in the game while holding the Vikings to 33.3 percent. "They struggled, early especially. You could tell they were a little bit tight, and (that) got us out on top. Anytime you play in a tournament, that's big."

Mount Horeb 4 10 14 11 - 39

Sauk Prairie 15 10 19 18 - 62

MOUNT HOREB: Webber 7, Clark 7, Fredrick 5, Payne 4, Colonero 4, Fargo 3, Tucker 3, Forget 2, Johnson 2, Wolonec 2. Totals (field goals free throws made-attempted points) 13 9-19 39.

SAUK PRAIRIE: Drew Carden 8, Derek Sullivan 6, Tyler Fuchs 4, Jarrett Walch 2, Jordan Peters 2, Jay Kuenster 2, Sam Koenig 14, Travis Breunig 13, Matt Rudig 11. Totals: 23 10-11 62.

3-point goals: Mount Horeb 4 (Clark, Fredrick, Fargo, Tucker 1). Sauk Prairie 6 (Carden 2, Koenig 2, Breunig 1, Rudig 1). Total fouls: Mount Horeb 13. Sauk Prairie 20.

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