Photo by Samantha Davis: Dawson-Boyd senior Jaxton Hastad splits through defenders and drives toward the basket in the second half against Yellow Medicine East in the Section 3A North subsection quarterfinals Saturday afternoon in Montevideo. The Blackjacks defeated the Sting 75-50.

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MONTEVIDEO — The second-seeded Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team opened up the postseason in dominant fashion while on the hunt to repeat as Section 3A champions and return back to the state tournament. The Blackjacks defeated No. 10 Yellow Medicine East 75-50 Saturday afternoon in the North subsection quarterfinals.

The loss ends the Stings’ season 4-22 overall, who will graduate a core group of five seniors.

Dawson-Boyd initially took the first part of the opening half to get into a rhythm and see shots begin to fall more consistently, while YME kept chipping at the Blackjacks for a competitive start.

The Blackjacks eventually took a 15-point lead at the break and never let up on either end of the floor, specifically making a difference with their rebounding effort to earn extra possessions.

Gavin Torvik hit the first 3-pointer of the game for an early 3-3 tie with Dawson-Boyd, which continued to 7-7 after Jack Mensink made back-to-back jumpers near the same spot of the right side of the paint near the block.

Kia Greycloud also got in on the 3-point action for a Sting 10-9 edge, but a pair of Jaxton Hastad buckets between a field goal and a fastbreak dunk gave Dawson-Boyd back a 13-10 lead. The Blackjacks didn’t lose their lead the rest of the way.

Out of a timeout, Dawson-Boyd began to heat up by turning up the dial on its defense and was able to turn it into points to get some momentum going.

Carver Schwegel hit a 3 for an 18-12 lead, and Liebl caught the hot hand with 9 straight points to build Dawson-Boyd’s lead up to 27-14.

Liebl had a pair of steals and layups with two free throws and a 3-pointer for her personal run.

Ace Larson also drilled in a 3, and the Blackjacks built some comfort with a 36-21 halftime lead.

Dawson-Boyd ultimately took care of business the rest of the game, with a tenacious effort on both ends of the floor with significant contributions from several players in the well-balanced team win.

Jaxton Hastad in particular also was strong on the boards, and shined throughout the night in splitting YME’s interior defense and was a force inside between scoring and offensive rebounding.

Greycloud also continued to be a key piece of YME’s offense, who hit a few more 3s throughout the second half.

YME opened up the post season with a 55-52 thriller over No. 7 Lakeview Thursday night in the play-in round, initially taking a 17-point halftime lead.

The Blackjacks on the other hand are the Class A reigning state champions, who won their first-ever title last season. They have also spent this season either state-ranked in the top-10 Class A coaches poll, or have been receiving votes.

Yellow Medicine East will graduate seniors Greycloud, Wyatt Ansell, Cooper McCosh, Gavin Torvik and Aaden Kuehn.

Dawson-Boyd (21-5) will next take on the winner of No. 3 Wabasso (24-3) and No. 6 Minneota (8-18) in the subsection semifinals on Tuesday, back at Montevideo High School with a 4 p.m. tipoff.