MANKATO — Mesa State guard Mike Dominguez said that even though his team was the No. 2 seed, he felt like everyone considered seventh-seeded Winona State the favorite heading into Saturday’s game.

“We don’t care what other people think of us,” Dominguez said. “I think most people probably thought this was an upset, but our mentality is we expect to win.”

Mesa State (23-5) rallied from an 11-point deficit to defeat Winona State 73-68 in the quarterfinals of the Central Region men’s basketball tournament Saturday at Bresnan Arena.

Winona State held a 23-14 lead at the 7:47 mark of the first half, but Mesa State came back to tie the game in the final seconds. However, Xavier Humphrey scored in the lane to make it 31-29 for Winona State at halftime.

In the second half, Winona State stretched the lead to 46-35 with 14:40 remaining, but the Mavericks answered with a 19-4 run to go up 54-50 with two minutes to play. Mesa State made 11 of 12 free throws at the end.

“It’s a game of runs,” Mesa State coach Jim Heaps said. “We’ve had a lot of games this year where we’ve trailed double digits, and the kids keep coming at you.”

Dominguez led Mesa State with 19 points, going 10 of 10 at the free throw line. Brian Kenshalo also scored 19 points, making five 3-pointers. The Mavericks were 23 of 24 at the line, compared to 11 of 20 free-throw shooting by Winona State.

Ben Fischer had 20 points and seven rebounds for Winona State, and Jon Walburg added 19 points.

Mesa State advances to the semifinals and will face Augustana at 5 p.m. today.

Augustana 87, Highlands 73

David Foster didn’t play in Augustana’s last game, the quarterfinal loss in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament, but he returned from a knee injury with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the quarterfinal game of the Central Region tournament.

Foster was 7 of 13 from the field, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line.

“It was kind of a bummer not to play in the last home game,” Foster said. “The trainer and I went about it the right way and rested it.”

Highlands led 17-13 after six minutes, but Augustana scored 19 straight points to start a 27-2 run that covered 10 minutes. However, Highlands got the lead down to 11 before the Vikings scored the final seven points to lead 51-34 at the break.

The second half was a mixture of timeouts and fouls.

“That second half was long,” Augustana coach Tom Billeter said. “With about three minutes to go, I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since 6 (a.m.).”

The game had three technical fouls, one flagrant foul and an ejection of Highlands’ Chris Dunn for an elbow to the head in the first half. The teams combined for 73 free throws, with Augustana making 31 of 41 and Highlands making 24 of 32.

Cody Schilling added 20 points and eight rebounds for Augustana. Roman Andrade led Highlands with 25 points, making 14 of 17 free throws.

Augustana (23-6) takes on Mesa State in the region semifinals at 5 p.m. today at Bresnan Arena.

St. Cloud State 82, Metro State 77

Taylor Witt scored 22 points, including 11 points in the final five minutes, as St. Cloud State hung on to defeat Metro State in the last quarterfinal game of Saturday’s Central Region men’s basketball tournament.

Matt Schneck scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds, and Andrew Bernstetter added 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Huskies led by 12 early in the second half, but Metro State closed the gap to 62-61 with five minutes remaining. However, Witt scored 11 points in the final stretch as the Huskies secured the victory, despite missing a few free throws that kept Metro State alive.

Brian Minor scored 19 points to lead the Roadrunners, and A.J. Flournoy added 16. Donte Nicholas had 14 points and nine rebounds.

The fourth-seeded Huskies (26-5) take on Minnesota State in the tournament semifinals at 7:30 p.m. today. The teams split during the regular season, with each team winning at home.