Cissna Park finished the first quarter on a 12-4 run in the final 4:26 to take a 17-6 advantage and never looked back as they advanced to the state finals in Class 1A boys basketball state semifinal action with a 56-44 win over Central A&M at Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center.
Bailey Sluis scored 9 of his 12 points in the first quarter to help the Timberwolves get out to a fast start.
After a Griffin Andricks layup with just under five minutes left in the first half for Central A&M cut the Cissna Park lead to 17-10, Christian Stadeli scored six straight points and Sluis buried another three to open up the lead to 25-10 with 2:15 for the first half and the Timberwolves led 25-12 at the break.
The teams played evenly the rest of the way as the Raiders could not get any closer than 11.
Yesterday, Stadeli and A&M's Connor Heaton were named All-State in Class 1A and the two did not disappoint. Stadeli fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 17 points and nine boards.
Heaton led all scorers with 18 points and pulled down seven boards. Andricks fell a rebound shy of a double-double for the Raiders, finishing with 12 points and nine boards.
The Raiders shot 18-for-30 from the free throw line and finished 6-for-12 from three and shot 48.5-percent from the floor.
Meanwhile, the Raiders finished just 1-for-14 from distance, going 7-for-11 from the free throw line. After going just 6-for-23 from the floor in the second half, Central A&M rebounded to shoot 12-for-25 in the second half, but it wasn't enough as they finished the game shooting 37.5-percent.
The Timberwolves will play for the state title Saturday afternoon at 1 pm while A&M can still finish the season with a third-place finish Saturday morning at 11 am.