There were early danger signs for 5A boys basketball top-seed Gilbert on Friday night. 

Starting 6-foot-7 center Carson Towt headed to the bench with two fouls in the first 2 minutes and 21 seconds of the opening quarter. Add a dismal 2 for 11 shooting quarter to the mix (Williams Field was 1 for 11) and the Tigers could put not distance between them and the Black Hawks.

However, as has been the case all season Gilbert had a remedy for early ills. This time it was senior forward Jake Ehmann and a nifty two-minute close to the first half by the Tigers. That added up to a 56-36 victory at the Jungle.

Gilbert (27-1) and winners of 25 consecutive games, advances to Monday's semifinals at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena to face No. 4 seed McClintock, a 63-59 winner over No. 5 Cactus Shadows. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Gilbert's only loss is to 6A No. 1 seed Pinnacle.

A large crowd on both sides enjoyed the game, but Tigers' fans were raucous after the final buzzer celebrating the boys addition to the semis with the girls hoops team on Monday.

"With Carson getting those two fouls so quick I think we panicked a little bit," Gilbert coach Jay Caserio said. "We ran our offense horribly so it's not wonder we shot so poorly. But Jake was the guy, 100 percent."

The teams played to a 4-4 tie after the first period,- ice-cold shooting as mentioned on both sides. Williams Field (16-11) led for the majority of the second quarter as offenses started to play better. Williams Field was leading 15-13 with 1:51 left in the half when Gilbert made its move. Ehmann, who scored both of Gilbert's first-quarter baskets with mid-range jumpers, took control of scoring more in the second. He made 6 of 6 free throws and a putback to finish the first 16 minutes with 12 points. Ehmann took game-high scoring honors with 16 points.

Gilbert tied it at 15 and  built a 19-15 lead with seven seconds left in the half. Williams Field moved up court likely for the last shot of the half. A turnover gave the ball back to Gilbert with 3.2 seconds left. Senior guard Doc Self got the inbounds pass from midcourt and quickly maneuvered for a long three as time it expired. Nothing but net. Tigers 22, Black Hawk 15. A 9-0 run to close the half.

Self's three was an exclamation point and if nothing else allowed Gilbert to regain its equilibrium.

"We executed the offense a little better in the third quarter," Caserio said. "Carson didn't play much that quarter getting his third foul (5:08 left in the quarter). We gradually got the lead to go bigger and closed it in the last quarter."

The victory was Gilbert's third in as many games with Williams Field,all by double digits. 

"(Williams Field coach) Erik Kamrath has done an amazing job with their program," Caserio said. "All of the games we had to work hard to win."

Brycen Long, scoreless in the first half for Gilbert, finished with 10. Most came from the free-throw line where the Tigers were 9 of 9 in the opening half and 19 of 25 for the game. Jaeden Bailey led Williams Field with 12 points - eight in the first half.