NHR Playoff Central: Friday
NHR Playoff Central. Tonight is a quiet evening with only 13 games sandwiched between a large Class A showing on Thursday and a huge day of games Saturday. You can go to a couple places tonight to see some semi-finals and then pick a couple places to watch games Saturday.
Mounds View knocked off Centennial in overtime (69-67) led by a huge night from Zeke Thompson who scored 29 points. Nate Albers had 18 in support while Tyler Peterson scored 21 points.
Minneapolis North caught a lot of eyes with a 74-3 lead over Groves Academy at the half leading into a 102-12 victory. North played a lot of the young talent and Tayler Johnson had a game high 20.
The Big Stage. Lake Crystal is hosting a couple big games as is Mankato East this evening. Lake Crystal has the double header of USC vs St. Clair followed by Mankato Loyola against Springfield while Mankato East has St. James versus Maple River followed by NRHEG against WEM. There are some other places with double headers (Cambridge, New Prague, SMSU, and LeSueur) that have games as well but Lake Crystal and Mankato East would be the top places to watch games.
Name to Watch. Jess Hansen of Dawson-Boyd is scoring 21 points per game and the Jacks will need all of that and maybe more to beat Central Minnesota Christian this evening. The Jays beat the Jacks twice already including a 53 point win early in the year so Dawson-Boyd has a tough road to climb.
Upset City. There were upsets although nothing that was shocking, but some that were eye-opening. Maple Lake knocked off Watertown-Mayer by a score in the 5/4 game slowing down the contest and denying Trae Berhow the ball on every possession. Holy Family surprised many beating SW Christian by six and then Chisholm knocked off Ely 42-41. The biggest upset may have been six win Hawley beating Staples-Motley by a single score.
Hat Tip to the Career. Tyler Peterson returned from a knee injury earlier than many expected this year and gave Centennial some quality moments before last night’s road loss. Peterson will be at South Dakota next season as he remains a top ten player in the state.