MANKATO &045; It was obvious the Mankato West Scarlets were not going to let Ben Woodside beat them, and he didn’t.

The Albert Lea Tigers did.

With a box-and-one defense holding Woodside well below his season average with 18 points, his teammates stepped up and the Tigers won 55-52 in an exciting Section 2AAA boys’ basketball quarterfinal game at Mankato Tuesday night.

&uot;A lot of guys rose to the occasion,&uot; said Albert Lea coach Matt Addington, whose fifth-seeded Tigers improved to 13-11. &uot;It was just a great team effort all the way around, from top to bottom. Our kids were very prepared for the game. We had a good game plan and they executed it.&uot;

Sophomore Mike Behrends led the Tigers with 19 points. Woodside had four assists to go along with his 18 points. Sophomore Ryan Moore scored six, all from the free-throw line. Ross Habben had four points and five rebounds, Tyler Young four points, Thomas Munden two points, Marcus Thorstad two points.

The Scarlets had 20 field goals to the Tigers’ 18, but they made up for it by going 5-for-14 on three-point shots and 14-for-20 at the line. The Scarlets, 8-for-12 at the line, made only four of 20 threes. Albert Lea outrebounded West 32-26 and had 12 turnovers to the Scarlets’ seven.

Behrends set the tone early for the Tigers, hitting a three to open the scoring and adding a free throw and a two-point field goal as Albert Lea jumped out 7-0. A basket by Woodside made it 9-2 and prompted a Scarlet time out with 4:32 left in the first. West scored the next six points to pull within 9-8, but baskets by Young and Habben put the Tigers up 15-11 at the buzzer.

The second quarter belonged to the Scarlets who, led by 6-foot-6 sophomore Andy Wills, went on a 15-9 run to take a 26-24 halftime edge.

Behrends started the third the way he started the game, with a three, and his second hoop put the Tigers up 30-28. Woodside and Behrends went on to hit threes, and Behrends’ jump shot in the final seconds made it 43-38.

The fourth quarter was vintage tournament basketball. It was 45-45 with 3:40 left and, after a pair of free throws by Moore, Albert Lea led 51-47 with 54 seconds remaining. Moore and Woodside went on to add free throws down the stretch.

The Tigers advanced to the semifinal round against Mankato East Saturday at 3 p.m. at Minnesota-State Mankato. The winner will play for the section championship and state tournament berth.