MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 2 seeded Austin boys basketball team ran into a buzz saw as it lost to Delano 80-68 in the Minnesota Class AAA semifinals in Target Center Thursday.

The Tigers (20-11 overall) were able to ride behind the play of Georgia Southern recruit Calvin Wishart as the senior point guard racked up 29 points, 19 rebounds, seven assists and four steals to lead Delano to the upset. Austin’s one-three-one zone defense tried to force Wishart to the baseline, but he was able to get around it and create plenty of plays for himself and his teammates. The Tigers never trailed once in the game.

“We knew what they were coming in. We played them over the summer and quite frankly I thought they were going to have to play at a high level to beat us and that’s what they did,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “This is basketball. All you have to do is watch the NCAA tournament to see this type of stuff happens. But you can’t change who you are in one game. We’ve been who were are for the last ten years in Austin.”

The 80 points scored by Delano are the most scored by a Packer opponent all season long. The Tigers caught fire from the three-point line as they went 8-for-19 behind the stripe and they converted on 58 percent of their field goals. Delano head coach Terry Techam said his team had to stay aggressive against Austin’s pressing defense.

“We’ve played Austin numerous times over the summer and we’ve never played as well against their zone as we did today,” Techam said. “We had to attack that zone.”

The Packers did finally get things going when they came up with a 12-0 spurt in a span of just three-and-a-half minutes to pull within 67-60 with 4:02 left in the game. Moses Issa, who had 15 points, four rebounds and four steals, had a three-pointer to cap that rally, but the Packers weren’t able to find enough energy to pull any closer.

Austin senior Duoth Gach, who had 17 points, battled foul trouble and had to sit for a stretch in the first half. He said it was tough to come up short of that elusive state championship for the second straight year and his final season in a Packer uniform.

“It sucks because we wanted to get there and win it, but it just didn’t happen,” Gach said. “We just had to try and get stops and play our game, but they kept hitting shots.”

After trailing by eight early, Austin was as close as 29-28 after Medi Obang, who had 11 points, hit a three-pointer with 4:40 left in the first half. The Tigers went on to take a 39-30 lead into the break and they led by 54-37 with 12:28 left in the game.

“They shot the ball extremely well and any time we made a mistake, they made us pay for it. I thought they played outstanding basketball,” Fadness aid. “I give them all the props. Calvin [Wishart] is a heck of a player and [Derek] Techam can shoot it. We were hoping to drive [Wishart] into the sideline and we wanted to wear him down. They don’t substitute very often and we were hoping we could wear him down. The TV timeouts benefitted them today, but at the same time he’s good. He’s a Division I guard. He played outstanding and his teammates around him played outstanding.”

Austin (27-3 overall) will play one more game this season when it takes on DeLaSalle in the Class AAA third place game at Concordia University in St. Paul at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Islanders had won six of the last state championships, three of which have come against Austin, but their run came to an end when they lost to Columbia Heights 71-69 Thursday.

Fadness would like to see his seniors close out their careers by finally beating the Islanders.

“We’re fortunate we get the opportunity to come back Saturday and get the opportunity to try and erase some of the ghosts of the past,” Fadness said. “Hopefully we can make it a celebration Saturday and have some fun, give our senior a last go-out and be competitive against DeLaSalle and hopefully knock them out.”

Issa is hoping the Packers can go out playing their basketball.

“We’ll try to get some energy and try and go out with a bang,” he said.

Austin 30  38  —  68

Delano 39  41  —  80

Austin scoring: Duoth Gach, 17; Moses Issa, 15; Ngor Deng, 11; Medi Obang, 11; Nyagoa Obany, 8; Tate Hebrink, 6; field goals: 41 percent (24-for-59); three-pointers: 42 percent (13-for-31); free throws: 44 percent (7-for-16); rebounds: 24 (Obany, 7); turnovers: 11

Delano scoring: Calvin Wishart, 29; Keegan O’Neill, 16; Derek Techam, 13; Trey Longstreet, 10; Max Otto, 8; Mike Shouts, 4; field goals: 58 percent (29-for-50); three-pointers: 42 percent (8-for-19); free throws: 74 percent (14-for-19); rebounds: 40 (Wishart, 19); turnovers: 17