Nolan Butkowski found out Wednesday at a team meeting that he'd be starting in place of Mitchell Burger in Xavier's big game against Clear Creek Amana in the Class 3A district finals Thursday night.

It did not faze him a bit.

Butkowski embraced the assignment and scored a team-high 16 points as the Saints pulled away from the Clippers, 56-43, in the Prairie gym to move within one victory of reaching the state tournament for the second straight year.

Xavier (15-8) will face Mount Pleasant (18-5) in the substate finals at 7 p.m. Monday at Iowa City West.

Burger leads the Saints in scoring at 16.6 points, but the senior guard had to serve a one-game suspension for an unspecified violation of rules. In stepped Butkowski, who began the night with a 5.0 average.

Butkowski started a few other games during the season when Burger and Matt Mims were unable to play, so getting his name called at the start of a contest was not a foreign assignment.

"It didn't rattle me or anything like that," he said. "I had been in this position before when Mitchell was hurt. No added pressure."

Butkowski popped in three 3-pointers and hit some key shots for the Saints. He nailed a big 3-pointer after Clear Creek Amana had pulled within 26-24 in the third quarter and he made another triple a few minutes to make it 34-27 entering the fourth period.

"It doesn't surprise me," Coach Ryan Luehrsmann said about Butkowski's performance. "He's a very competitive, tough-minded, team-first kind of player.

"He knew he was in a difficult spot, but he's the kind of kid that I think looks forward to those type of challenges. He likes to be in that situation."

The Saints had a 36-30 lead with five minutes left in the ballgame against their pesky Wamac Conference opponent when they finally took control with a 12-2 spurt in a little more than two minutes. Mims scored eight points during the decisive 12-2 run with a pair of 3-pointers, a steal and a layup to help his club take a 48-32 advantage with 2:20 left.

Mims played a calm, steady game at point guard and never felt like he had to make up for Burger's absence by scoring a lot of points himself.

"Coach just told me to be myself out there and play within myself and I didn't need to do anything special," said Mims, who finished with 15 markers. "It worked well."

Luehrsmann liked the way Mims ran the club for all 32 minutes. "He's the guy that's behind the steering wheel, he's driving the car," the coach remarked.

Bryce Schulte, the star quarterback for the Xavier football team, gave the Saints a big lift off the bench with his defense, rebounding, steals and hustle. He also set a vicious pick near mid-court that knocked the tar out of Clear Creek's Kahler Green at the start of the fourth quarter, more befitting a fullback than a quarterback.

Schulte scored only two points for the Saints, but he was a key part of the victory.

"More than anything, he's just a competitive, tough kid that loves to get out there and play in big games," Luehrsmann said, "so I'm not surprised at all that he gave us a lift off the bench."

Schulte has no ego on the basketball floor, just like in football, although his roles are vastly different in the two sports.

"I'm just trying to help my team out wherever they need me," he said. "I'm the sixth or seventh man when they need me to be. I'm just trying to help any way I can."

Schulte does some of the "dirty work" for the Saints with contributions that do not always show up in the scorebook.

"I love doing it, I love doing it in practice," he said. "I think it's fun. I think it's fun to get all the rebounds and steals."

Clear Creek Amana (12-11) gave the Saints some problems with a 1-2-2 zone defense that featured 6-foot-5 Evan Downes at the top of the key with his big body and long arms. The maneuver surprised the Saints and it took them awhile to devise an effective plan of attack.

"They hadn't shown it that much this year," Luehsrmann said. "That was something they put in just for us.

"They made it difficult on us. And to our credit, the kids responded and played with composure, which you have to do this time of year, and made enough plays to win."

The Saints also played well on defense, holding the Clippers to 43 games after they had poured in 75 in their previous outing. The Saints put special emphasis on trying to keep Jake Neubauer in check and held him to eight points. Green led Clear Creek Amana with 15 points, despite nearly being sliced in half by Schulte on that mid-court screen.

Max Techau did some good work around the basket and scored 14 points for Xavier.

The Saints walloped Mount Pleasant, 61-28, in the opening game of the season Nov. 30 in Mount Pleasant, but the Panthers have won 18 of 22 games since then. "They're a totally different team than when we first saw them," said Luehrsmann.

Luehrsmann said Burger will practice with the team Friday and will be in uniform Monday night in the substate finals.

CLEAR CREEK AMANA (43): Thomsen 1 0-0 3, Miller 2 2-2 7, Neubauer 3 2-2 8, Green 5 1-2 15, Hallett 0 0-0 0, Akers 2 2-4 6, Downes 2 0-1 4. Totals 15 7-11 43.

XAVIER (56): Mims 5 1-2 15, Butkowski 5 3-6 16, Whitten 0 0-0 0, Joens 2 3-4 7, Stulken 1 0-0 2, Schulte 1 0-2 2, Techau 7 0-0 14. Totals 21 7-14 56.

Halftime - Xavier 23, Clear Creek Amana 17. 3-point goals - Clear Creek Amana 6 (Green 4, Thomsen 1, Miller 1), Xavier 7 (Mims 4, Butkowski 3).