Stewartville Rides Hot Hand To Win Over Pine Island

Nolan Stier had a career night for the Stewartville Tigers to get the program to their first Section Championship game since 2009.

The Tigers road the hot-hand throughout the game and earned the win over Pine Island 71-59 in the Section 1AA Semifinal to advance to the Section Title game Thursday night at 8 p.m.

Stier scored 17 first-half points to lead the Tigers to a 26-24 lead at the half. Pine Island did a great job on Stewartville's Will Tschetter, holding him to two first-half points.

The Panthers were able to control the pace throughout the game and really take the air out of the ball before the Tigers were able to really turn up the pressure late in the second half.

Stewartville blossomed their first-half lead into a double-digit lead quickly in the second half as Tschetter started to come alive, scoring 14 points in the second half. The Panthers were balanced throughout but just couldn't get their offense going in the second half to keep up with Stewartville.

Stier continued his great play as he finished with 29 points to lead Stewartville to the win.

Pine Island was led by Carter Bailey and his 20 points, while Carter O'Reilly added 16 points.

The Panthers played hard and physical throughout the game, but the Tigers were able to get the win. They will take on Caledonia in the section championship at the Mayo Civic Arena, and the game will be broadcasted on 103.1 KFIL.