The De Smet defense was on display once again Friday night at Wachs Arena.

The Bulldogs erased a seven-point deficit by holding Castlewood scoreless for more than seven minutes on the way to a 40-37 semifinal victory during the Class B Boys’ Basketball State Tournament.

“We all just work together. If someone gets blown by, we have a help guy,” said De Smet senior Tom Aughenbaugh. “I don’t know. That’s what we preach: it’s defense.”

That defense allowed the Bulldogs to get a second-half lead and once they had it, they were not about to relinquish it.

“They’re tough to beat. You have to beat them and we didn’t do enough to beat them,” said Castlewood coach Paul Raasch. “They are who they are and where they are for a reason. They’re well coached and they don’t stray from what they like to do.”

The Warriors closed the first half and opened the second half with 3-pointers on the way to opening up a 24-17 advantage early in the third quarter. However, the Bulldogs never panicked and stuck to the game plan.

“They were pretty calm,” De Smet coach Jeff Gruenhagen said of his players. “They were like hey, what do we want to run, what do we want to get?”

Soon, the Bulldogs found some offense and were able to surge ahead by scoring 11 unanswered points, led by five from Aughenbaugh and four by George Jensen.

“I think we were getting lackadaisical on defense,” said Castlewood’s Jamison Keszler, “and we were letting them do whatever they wanted.”

Meanwhile, Castlewood’s offense dried up on the other end of the floor. The Warriors missed nine consecutive shots and had three turnovers in the final six and half minutes of the third quarter.

“They do what they do and we knew we had to shoot the ball well to beat them,” Raasch said, “and bottom line, we didn’t shoot the ball well.”

De Smet hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final quarter to help stay in front and the Warriors were never quite able to recover after that.

“Those threes kind of broke our back a little bit,” Raasch said.

Jensen hit the first 3-pointer with 5:10 left as the Bulldogs opened a six-point lead.

“That three he hit out of the corner, again we’re trying to get it into the post,” Gruenhagen said, “and he drifted out there and was willing to just catch it and take that shot.”

Aughenbaugh hit the second triple with 3:11 left to increase De Smet’s lead to 35-28.

“Tom hasn’t been hitting in the tournament,” Gruenhagen said. “People have been face guarding him, but he’s confident that, hey if you give me a step or two, I’m going to turn and square up, and I can knock that down if there’s not a hand there.”

The Warriors had one last chance, trailing by three with the ball in the final minute, but were unable to connect as De Smet’s defense sealed another trip to the championship game, where the Bulldogs will be looking for their fourth straight state title.

When asked if the players talked about that quest Aughenbaugh responded, “That’s what we all think. Coach always tells us it’s a different team, but we’re all looking for the four-peat.”

Keszler topped the Warriors with 14 points, including eight in the second quarter to keep his team within striking distance.

“I felt like I was the next guy up,” Keszler said, “so I felt like I had to help my team win.”

Castlewood, 21-4, takes on White River for third place at 6 tonight.

“I told our guys White River’s in the same boat we are,” Raasch said. “Neither one of us wanted to be in the third place game, but we are.”

He said the Warriors will put their best foot forward for their final game of the season.

“Hopefully, we’ve got enough character and enough toughness to show through and play a good game (Saturday) night,” Raasch said.

Aughenbaugh finished with 12 points, Jensen 11, and Kadyn Fast 10 for De Smet.

The Bulldogs (22-3) will square off against Howard in the championship game at 7:45 tonight. De Smet won a previous encounter during the regular season, but the Tigers, behind the play of Kolt Koepsell and Luke Koepsell, bring a 15-game winning streak into the title contest.

“I think it’s going to be real good battle. Both Koepsells have been playing really good,” Gruenhagen said. “They’re super dangerous and Howard’s loaded with outside shooters. You’re not sure which guy is going to get on, so you have to get up and guard them all.”

CASTLEWOOD (21-4): Lane Tvedt 1 1-4 3, Quincy Thu 1 0-0 3, Luke Baumberger 3 0-0 9, Jamison Keszler 6 1-4 14, Bryon Laue 4 0-0 8. Totals 14-44 2-8 34.

De SMET (22-3): Tom Aughenbaugh 3 4-4 12, Trace Van Regenmorter 0 0-2 0, Kadyn Fast 3 4-8 10, Britt Carlson 2 0-0 5, George Jensen 5 0-0 11, Grant Wilkinson 1 0-0 2. Totals 14-40 8-14 40.

Castlewood 3 19 24 37

De Smet 7 17 28 40

3-point field goals – Thu, Baumberger (3), Keszler; Aughenbaugh (2), Carlson, Jensen. Total fouls – Castlewood 16; De Smet 10. Rebounds – Castlewood 28 (Laue 11, Thu 9); De Smet32 (Van Regenmorter 9, Wilkinson 8). Turnovers – Castlewood 8; De Smet 10. Assists – Castlewood 7 (Tvedt 3, Keszler 3); De Smet 7 (Fast 2, Jensen 2). Blocked Shots – Castlewood 5 (Laue 4); De Smet 4 (Jensen 3). Steals – Castlewood 5 (Tvedt 2); De Smet 2.