LE GRAND — The East Marshall boys’ basketball team knows only one speed.

The Mustangs raced away with a 15-0 run during the second quarter to capture a 71-54 victory over Baxter in Tuesday’s Class 1A District 6 final, advancing to the substate finals for the first time in eight years.

East Marshall (19-6) — the second-highest scoring team in 1A — came up just shy of its season average (75.5), but not because it backed off. The Mustangs forced Baxter (19-6) to play at their pace, and the law of diminishing returns eventually kicked in.

Their 15-0 run in the second quarter helped to prove it. Six different Mustangs scored during the decisive surge, which took East Marshall’s advantage from one to 16 over a span of four minutes.

It wasn’t the typical fast-break buckets the Mustangs like to try to get, but the Bolts were less resistant in their half-court defense.

Cody Weaver had a pair of steals and layups, Dallas Miller made a 3-pointer and Cael Curphy put back a Mustang miss to spur the Mustangs’ big move.

Down by 13, Baxter didn’t get that close again until a last-ditch comeback in the fourth period.

“Oh no, we don’t turn it off,” said East Marshall head coach Chris Hungerford. “If we can get [the ball] ahead, that’s the whole plan. Even if we don’t have anything, if we can throw the ball ahead, we want to make the other team sprint down the floor and cover their guy. It’s about wearing them down and making them play.

“If they make a mistake, we try to take advantage of it.”

Baxter was resistant to East Marshall’s transition scoring opportunities, but live-ball turnovers and Mustang 3-pointers propagated their big push. And there wasn’t much the state’s leading scorer could do about it.

Baxter senior Eli Dee scored 14 of his team’s first 19 points, but East Marshall’s defensive focus centered around the 6-foot-4 guard who gets an average of 29.9 points per game.

Dee finished with 20 points, but he had to earn them all.

“We were just making sure we knew where he’s at, at all times, on the court,” said Weaver. “He is a great player and we know he’s gonna get his points, but we wanted to limit that damage where we can.

“We closed off our gaps, didn’t let him spin around as much, and hit him early on drives rather than late when he’s got the advantage down low.”

The Mustangs didn’t junk up their defense at all, instead offering play-side support to prevent Dee from getting to the rim. The Bolts’ scoring star sank five 3-pointers, went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line, but had no 2-point field goals in the season-ending defeat.

“Dee had a great game,” said Hungerford. “He really showed me something that I hadn’t seen in the other games I’d seen him play. He really showed out tonight.”

Jackson Bidwell endured foul trouble to lead East Marshall with 18 points in the win, while Jaxson Boswell scored 13 points off the bench. Jackson Busch added 10 points as a consistent scoring option in the paint, and Blake Neuroth made three 3-pointers for nine points.

Seven different players scored at least six points apiece for the Mustangs, who will meet sixth-ranked Bellevue (21-3) in Saturday’s Substate 3 final at Solon High School.

“They’re going to be bigger than we are, and we’re going to have to knock down shots and play our defense,” Weaver said of the Comets, who last went to state in 2022.

On Tuesday night, East Marshall made nine 3-pointers with Bidwell getting three of his four in the first half. Neuroth added three triples, while Miller and Boswell both added another. Weaver got eight points, Miller had seven and Curphy six for the balanced Mustang attack.

A win on Saturday night would send East Marshall to its first state tournament since the school district was formed in 1992.

“They’ll be tough,” Hungerford said of Bellevue. “They’re 21-3 and they’ve played good competition, so we know there’s nothing easy this time of year.”

East Marshall 71, Baxter 54

BAXTER (19-6) — Eli Dee 5 5-6 20, Maddux Tuhn 3 0-0 7, Stadan Vansice 3 0-0 7, Hayden Burdess 1 0-0 2, Dakota Parker 0 0-0 0, Alec Robinson 0 0-0 0, Colten Damman 4 2-3 11, Cael Wishman 3 1-4 7, Miles McCord 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 8-13 54.

EAST MARSHALL (18-6) — Blake Neuroth 3 0-0 9, Cody Weaver 4 0-0 8, Jackson Bidwell 7 0-0 18, Cael Curphy 3 0-0 6, Jackson Busch 4 2-2 10, Dallas Miller 3 0-0 7, Kaden Good 0 0-0 0, Jaxson Boswell 4 4-6 13, Eli Burns 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 28 6-8 71.

BAXTER 13 7 17 17 — 54

E. MARSHALL 17 20 21 13 — 71

3-Point Goals–Baxter 8 (Dee 5, Tuhn, Damman, Vansice), East Marshall 9 (Bidwell 4, Neuroth 3, Miller, Boswell). Team Fouls–Baxter 10, East Marshall 15. Fouled Out–none.