Not many expected Hayfield to make it this far, but the Vikings are not satisfied with just playing in the Section 2AA finals on Friday night.

The Hayfield boys' basketball team, two years removed from a Class AA state runner-up finish, finds its best challenge yet in Friday's 8 p.m. section championship game at Minnesota State University in Mankato. The Vikings play underdog against St. James, the fourth-ranked team in the state, for the right to go to state.

"We're happy to be where we're at, but we're going to do everything we can on Friday to get to the next level," said Hayfield coach Chris Pack. "But we've got to get them to do things they don't want to do."

St. James (24-2) wants to score. The Saints average 75 points per game and got the West Sub-Section championship with a 81-73 victory over run-and-gun Minnesota Valley Lutheran. The all-out tempo of the game favored the Saints, who have won 14 straight since suffering their worst of only two losses -- 84-59 at Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin on Jan. 21.

Hayfield (15-12), which plays up-tempo when compared to most teams, hopes to slow down St. James if it wants to have a chance to win.

"Obviously they're the real deal, there's no doubt in that," Pack said. "We're definitely looking to slow it down, which isn't really our thing. We do it well, it's just a matter of how long we can do it for."

The Vikings emerged as champions of the East Sub-Section with wins over Kasson-Mantorville, NRHEG and USC. Hayfield averages 56 points per game going into Friday. St. James averaged 76 points per game its trio of victories en route to the Section 2 finale.

"We've got to get up early and slow it down," Pack said. "We can't afford to get down 10, that's too big of a mountain to climb."

Hayfield topped out with 77 points in its regular-season finale against K-M. Senior point guard Tyler Kramer averages 18.2 points per game and sophomore forward David Johnson 17 every night.

The Vikings are 0-10 when their opponents score 58 or more. St. James has only been held below 60 twice, losing on both occasions.

"We have to slow it down, we want to do it every possession and get a layup," Pack said. "That's what we want, wide open shots or layups."

The Vikings played a deliberate fourth quarter in clinching their sub-section final victory over USC Monday night. Hayfield shot 75 percent from the free-throw line, and 82 percent in the fourth when playing the slow-down game. They will need to do it again if they want to get back to state.

Keeping Kaus at bay

St. James is led by 5-8 point guard Tyler Kaus, a junior with more speed than his teammates can sometimes keep up with. Kaus averages 28 points per game and got that many in the Saints' sub-section final victory over MVL.

"He's one of the best point guards in the state," said Kramer, who at the top of Hayfield's match-up zone will see plenty of Kaus.

"We're not going to be quick enough to defend him one-on-one, but on the other side you can't sag because he'll shoot threes like there's no tomorrow," Pack said. "We have to try and keep him from getting easy shots."

The cast surrounding Kaus is no slouch. Junior forward Scott Dorn scored 21 against MVL, and senior swingman Derek Lanoue kept the Saints in the running with his three-point shooting against MVL en route to 18 points.

"Obviously Kaus is the real deal," Pack said. "He turned it on and took over when he needed to (against MVL)."

State quarterfinals

The first round of state for the Section 2AA champion would be Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. The winner between St. James and Hayfield will face either Lake City or Zumbrota-Mazeppa, the Section 1 representative to be determined tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Rochester.

Both Lake City and Z-M defeated Hayfield in cross-Hiawatha Valley League play this season.

Eighth-ranked Zumbrota-Mazeppa knocked off No. 2 Byron with a last-second layup, 40-38, but a post-game incident involving Cougar coach Tim McAthie will have him absent from the bench from tonight's game.

"I told people that I thought Byron was primed to get beat," Pack said. "And Lake City pulled off three straight upsets and played Zumbrota to a nine-point game last time. If they can get somebody in foul trouble or just keep it a close game, without the coach on the bench, that could be a big impact.

"You never know come playoff time."

Lake City won the East Sub-Section as the fifth-seed, beating Nos. 4, 1 and 2 to win the title. Z-M defeated the favored Byron Bears, who hadn't lost since the season-opener at home to the Cougars.

"That would be cool," Pack said of playing a first-round state game in Rochester. "We'd like to see Lake City, but really we could care less. If we would happen to win (Friday) we wouldn't care who we played."