Caption: Huron High School's A.J. Matthew dives for a loose ball along the sideline during fourth quarter action of Friday afternoon, March 26th's MHSAA Class A State Semifinal clash versus Southfield High School at Michigan State University's Breslin Center.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

EAST LANSING - All season long, the Huron High School boys basketball team had envisioned itself playing on the Breslin Center court in late March.

On Friday afternoon, it came true.

But even the most optimistic of the River Rats couldn't have imagined they'd blow open a Class A state semifinal and take a 21-point lead into halftime on their way to Saturday's 4 p.m. state championship game.

The River Rats (23-4) took control early in the game with the same approach that got them to this stage. They spread around the offensive scoring, clamped down on Southfield with its full-court defensive pressure and fought through a late Blue Jay charge for a 76-64 win.

"When you get to a final four, of course you have nerves. But you can either let those nerves get the best of you or you can use them to make you better," said junior guard Matt Hastings. "That's probably the most energy we ever came out with."

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Huron made 6-of-11 shots from 3-point range in the first half - two each by Hastings, Dante Williams and A.J. Mathew - and held Southfield without a made shot from the floor for a nine-minute stretch.

Southfield took a 12-11 lead with 2:21 in the first quarter but wouldn't make another basket until 57 seconds remained in the second quarter and Huron had built a 41-19 lead.

Big game nerves? Trouble with the big-arena backdrop? Forget about it.

"We knew if we played our game, we could do whatever we want," said senior guard Jalen Bouma. "That's exactly what we did."

Williams, who finished with a team-high 19 points, gave Huron the lead for good when he hit a 3-pointer with 1:58 left in the first quarter and beat the first quarter buzzer with another long-distance shot to put the River Rats ahead 19-13.

Mathew scored eight of his 13 points in the second quarter while Huron pulled away by holding Southfield to 1-of-10 shooting from the floor.

Southfield slowly whittled away at the lead during the second half. The Blue Jays were within 17 (60-43) after three quarters, within 11 (62-51) midway through the fourth and cut the lead to as little as nine (70-61) in the final minutes.

"As great as it was to be up 22, it creates a different type of challenge. I think some of the edge came off us," Samaha said. "But I never felt threatened at any point from the second quarter on.

"For me, it's just that we have a standard we like to uphold offensively and defensively. I just felt like we weren't moving the ball very well offensively. Defensively, when you have a 21-point lead, you defend a different way. ... We'll get that corrected."

Hastings (13 points), Mike Lewis (13 points) and Kyle Baker (11 points) joined Williams and Mathew in double-digit scoring totals for the balanced River Rats.

Carleton Brundidge, a University of Michigan class of 2011 commitment, scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half. Desmond Brown added 21 points for the Blue Jays.

"This is the best team I think we've played all year," Brown said of Huron. "The (defensive) pressure made us play faster than we wanted to."

Rich Rezler covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734-623-2553 or richrezler@annarbor.com.