ROCHESTER — After they suffered a slow start in their tournament opener against Southland last week, the No. 2 seeded Awesome Blossoms didn’t make that mistake twice as they opened fast in a 80-62 win in the Section 1A West semifinals over No. 3 Lyle-Pacelli in Mayo Civic Auditorium Tuesday.

BP (16-10 overall) used an 16-2 first half run to go up 25-10 early and it led 38-17 at the half.

BP scored most of its points on cuts to the basket as Jack Decker had a game-high 29 points. Decker, who had nine rebounds, was able to finish a flurry of five to eight-foot bank shots in the paint.

“We talked about having a little more experience than them in this type of situation,” BP head coach John Bruns said. “We wanted to get out to a fast start and we definitely did that. We played great defense and that was huge.”

LP (19-9 overall) pulled within 43-28 after Lee Bauer hit two free throws with 12:39 left in the game, but BP answered right back with an 8-2 spurt that was capped by a John Rumpza 3-pointer. Rumpza had 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, as he ran the offense from inside the paint.

“[Rumpza] draws a lot of attention and we take advantage of that by cutting,” Decker said. “After three years of playing together, we really click. We were much more relaxed [after the fast start] and we could just play our style of basketball.”

BP senior Scott Romeo had 19 points and 11 rebounds and BP’s senior trio of Rumpza, Romeo and Decker combined for 70 points and 32 rebounds in the win. Rumpza said the Blossoms are starting to pick up some steam.

“At the beginning of the season we were still set on football a little bit, but as the season’s gone a long we’ve buckled down and found that sense of urgency,” he said.

LP head coach Dean DeBoer said the season goal was for the Athletics was to get the Mayo Civic Auditorium, but he knew his team couldn’t afford a slow start like it had against BP Tuesday.

“We wanted to win the first eight minutes and we weren’t able to do that,” DeBoer said. “They’re a hard team to comeback against with the pace that they play at and they rebound the ball well. We weren’t able to execute in the first half, but you can’t be disappointed with the effort in the second half.”

LP was led by Jordan Hart, who had 24 points in his last basketball game with the Athletics. Hart, who was a four-year starter, is a 1,000 point scorer.

“For the last two years Jordan’s been Mr. everything for us,” DeBoer said. “He works hard every day in practice and whether he’s scoring or not, you can count on him. If you can paint the picture of the best high school basketball player and teammate it’s him. He’s not the most skilled kid basketball-wise, but he works his tail off every night.”

The Blossoms will now turn their focus to a rematch with Goodhue in the Section 1A West title game 5 p.m. Saturday at Mayo Civic Auditorium. The top-seeded Wildcats edged out BP 62-52 Feb. 9.

“It’s going to be a fun championship game on Saturday,” Bruns said. “It’s no different than any other game. We have to take care of the ball, we have to rebound and we have to defend. They’re a handful to do those three things against, because they’re very talented, but that’s our focus.”

LP 17 45 — 62

BP 38 42 — 80

BP scoring: Jake Decker, 29; John Rumpza, 22; Scott Romeo, 19; Anthony Nelson, 6; Jon Hatch, 3; Mitchell Jones, 2; free throws: 58 percent (18-for-31); rebounds: 45 (Rumpza, 12); turnovers: 11

LP scoring: Jordan Hart, 24; Noah Jiskra, 12; Lee Bauer, 10; Jordan Cotter, 9; Braden Kocer, 4; Trinity Anderson, 3; free throws: 64 percent (9-for-14); rebounds: 45 (Bauer, 10); turnovers: 15