Hutchinson ? Wellsville High’s boys basketball players might have surprised everybody but themselves when the Eagles advanced to today’s Class 3A state tournament.

Now they will have to pull off another shocker if they don’t want their season to end when they take on top-seeded Minneapolis at 3 p.m. at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

“We’re there to win,” said Wellsville first-year coach Dirk Over, whose 5-18 squad is seeded eighth.

“We had a poor regular season. But we’ve gotten hot at just the right time. We’re playing really well lately at both ends of the floor, and I think we deserve to be there as much as anyone else.”

But Minneapolis (22-1) poses a very stiff challenge. The Lions picked up where they left off last year after losing 74-60 to undefeated Burlington in the 3A title game.

Minneapolis has fallen just once, and if their play in last weekend’s regional is any indication, the Lions look for real. Minneapolis’ closest contest was its 74-59 victory over Riley County (18-3) in the sub-state title tilt.

“We play a real good team, maybe one of the best teams in the state,” Over said. “Definitely the top team in 3A.”

No matter what happens today, though, the Wellsville coach said his team should be proud of how it has played lately. The Eagles doubled their win total this season last weekend, rally to win their championship game.

Down 55-54 to Osage City with four seconds left, the Eagles quickly moved down their home court with a couple of lightning-quick passes with the ball ending up in Scott Samsel’s hands for a brief second before he laid it up for the game-winner at the buzzer.

“We found a way to finally get it done, which is something we haven’t been able to do all season,” said Over of the Eagles, who finished fourth at state in 2001 and won the title in 1994. “Our league is real tough, and things didn’t fall our way most of the season.

“But once we started playing schools our size we’ve been OK, and if we put together one last run at state, no one will remember those other things.”