Class AA State Tournament: Wednesday’s Top Performers
Class AA basketball grabbed the spotlight Wednesday night taking over both Williams Arena and the Target Center. Who stood out the most? NHR gives you the rundown.
Camden Burger of Esko, Junior. Burger had a rougher shooting day, in the middle of the game. When his team needed him to score late Burger had back to back buckets with a transition attack and then a transition pull-up. Burger also showed that late game foul shots with the season on the line are no big deal as he made those as well building to 16 points.
Noah Christensen of Breckenridge, Junior. Noah’s team lost but it wasn’t because of his effort. He had 18 points making half of his dozen shots plus collected 13 rebounds. The NDSU staff was there watching him close and word around state is that they are the heavy, heavy, heavy favorite to soon land Christensen.
Quinn Fischer of Esko, Senior. Quinn was the biggest stock raiser of the day for me. He’s definitely bigger than when I saw him over the summer and his agility that goes with his dribble separation has made for a nasty dribble attack. Fischer attacks the rim with a lot of shake to him and can elevate to finish creatively against the help. His 18 points was vital to the Esko gameplan including his second overtime attack finish. He unfortunately fouled out on a play he really couldn’t avoid.
Chet Holmgren of Minnehaha Academy, Freshmen. The 6-foot-10 Redhawks center has been getting better and better with each game. Not only is he 6-foot-10, his arms seem to go for days. Chet knocked down two of three treys as he consistently does and made his foul shots. Holmgren collected eight boards and had a few aggressive dunks scoring 14 points on 5 of 8 points. The size of Holmgren with pretty good skills and an aggressive approach mean he’s on the short list of best prospects in the state in his class. And when he physically matures the world needs to look out.
Jackson Jangula, Junior. Jackson stepped up huge late in the game making two clutch threes and he knocked down late foul shots on his way to 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting. When the game was on the line, Jackson was clutch.
Noah King of Caledonia, Sophomore. Noah didn’t have quite as tough of a time shooting in Williams Arena brother Owen did, but what Noah was able to do was slice the Minnewaska squad with his creative passing on the move or within the halfcourt set. He also scored 14 on 6 of 15 shooting. Such a heady young player.
Terry Lockett of Minnehaha Academy, Sophomore. The Redhawks PG is back from injury and he did a nice job of balancing the Redhawks attack and settling his team. Scored nine points in his return and more importantly got a feel for the pace in the Target Center. Not many assists but a lot of quality decisions with the way the offense was paced.
Marten Morem of Caledonia, Senior. Minnewaska didn’t have the size to do anything with Marten, especially the way Caledonia moved the ball. Morem took eight shots, made eight shots, scored 18 points for the game. Simple as that and the Warriors beat Minnewaska by 39,.
Lu’Cye Patterson of Brooklyn Center, Sophomore. Still questioning the seed of two for Brooklyn Center? The Centaurs completely outplayed a good Breckenridge team by 15 points and once again Patterson didn’t have an opposing guard that could do anything against him. Patterson made three threes, scored on 10 of 17 shots for his 25 points with six rebounds.
Mitchell Plombon of St. Cloud Cathedral, Senior. Mitchell was said to have hit seven threes all season coming into this game, according to the media guide. Number eight was massive as Mitchell hit a clutch shot with five seconds to go to send the game into a second overtime. He also found ways to score around the Esko zone putting up 14 points with 6 rebounds while long time teammate Michael Schaefer had 16 boards.
Ryan Samuelson of Jordan, Sophomore. The run of quality Jordan players will continue. Samuelson does not look like a sophomore at all in physical make-up or in the way he plays. Scored a dozen points and collected six boards.
Nick Schaefer of St. Cloud Cathedral, Junior. His excellent shooting touch led to a team high 18 points including three three-pointers. It was a big stage and that big stage didn’t hurt the confidence of Schaefer. I have a feeling that his shooting touch is going to be a conversation among many college coaches the next five months.
Adreone Sprinkles of Brooklyn Center, Junior. The slashing, physical, off ball active Sprinkles was once again the key ingredient that opposing defenses could not rotated to and Adreone scored 16 points with six boards.
Jalen Suggs of Minnehaha Academy, Sophomore. Suggs scored 19 and did his usual collecting steals, grabbing five boards, throwing down some dunks, and dribble separating into some well touched shots. Coaches from Texas and Minnesota were here watching Suggs and he was his usual physically gifted self. The one problem was the continued struggles at the arc. Today Jalen shot 1 of 7 but that was offset by everything else he did.
Eric Tiedman of Jordan, Senior. Who goes from defending Jalen Suggs at lead guard to JaVonni Bickham in the post? Tiedman. Maybe one of the most underappreciated players because he’s a high level defender and he can score more than others realize. Tiedman has spent a lot of the year playing lead guard as the skills have vastly improved. Had 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting plus made 6 of 8 foul shots.
Adam Trapp of Esko, Senior. It’s comical trying to watch guys score over him. They try, and miss badly at first. Later they don’t even try. Trapp sits behind that 2-3 zone and is the best weapon a 2-3 zone can have as nobody can shoot over him. Offensively he struggled to keep his balance with each post move (Cathedral defenders leaning hard on him in the post) resulting in a low percentage but he made enough to score 16 points with 14 rebounds. His late game dunk off a feed was a big bucket for Esko.