Minnesota Playoff Central: Tuesday
Monday was the Weather Game Replay Night which led to a packed evening of basketball. Surprises? Not many but several monster performances. The Big Stage. There are only ten games this evening but those games include the 2AAAA semi-finals…
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Continue ReadingMonday was the Weather Game Replay Night which led to a packed evening of basketball. Surprises? Not many but several monster performances.
The Big Stage. There are only ten games this evening but those games include the 2AAAA semi-finals matching Prior Lake vs Shakopee and Eden Prairie vs Edina. Those games will be played at Prior Lake High School and all four of those teams are currently ranked in the Class AAAA top ten. I’ll say that again, one section of basketball has FOUR of the top ten teams (and if I redid those rankings right now I would add Chaska back in meaning five of the top ten). That’s your big stage for Tuesday. Coon Rapids hosts the Champlin Park vs Roseville and Park Center vs Osseo back to back contests starting at 5pm.
Upset City! Two seed Springfield beat one seed Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. It’s an upset, right? I mean the seedings say so! Springfield won the game 93-64 proving that the coaches of this section ignored the obvious difference in schedule between the two teams and just blindly went on record (WEM had one loss, Springfield two losses coming in). Mr. Basketball finalist Isaac Fink was a monster scoring 32 points on 13 of 19 shooting with eight boards and six assists. Decker Scheffler had a double-double of 23 and 10. WEM junior Grant McBroom scored 28.
Real Upset City. The actual surprise of the day was St. Paul Academy improving to 17-10 on the season with a 57-43 win over Cristo Rey. The Pumas had a one point halftime lead but SPA’s balanced offense wore on their opponents to a comfortable finish. SPA is a veteran team and those veterans – Will Christakos, Andrew Johnson, and Adam Holod – produced in their finest hour on Monday. Quality win, St. Croix Prep is next.
Right on Schedule. Get ready for another John Marshall vs Lakeville North section final this Friday. I don’t recall if it’s been seven or eight straight years these teams have played one another in this game but it’s happening again. Rochester JM defeated New Prague 69-56 pushing JM’s record to 22-6 as they have won 18 of their last 19 games. Matthew Hurt went over 1,000 points for the season – take a moment and let that sink in – as he scored 63.7 percent of his team’s points in the win. Hurt had 44 with 13 rebounds while Lincoln Meister and Simon Werven each came up just short of a double-double. Lakeville North avenged an earlier season loss to Lakeville South winning the season series 2-1 with last night’s 57-46 victory. North goes for their 8th straight trip to state this Friday at 8pm at the Mayo Civic Center vs JM.
Where’s the Czar? The Hoops Czar found his way to the Hastings High School gym early on Monday to get those top row seat back chairs in the middle of the bleachers. Once there he saw Cretin-Derham Hall defeat Tartan, and East Ridge defeat St. Paul Central. His twitter summaries: “East Ridge def St Paul Central 64-52. Ben Carlson 22, Kendall Brown 16. Dion Ford 16, Daveonte Davis 14” and “CDH def Tartan 81-76. Antwan Kimmons 41. Jaeden King 27, Amari Carter 17”
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Having watched Antwan Kimmons once more I feel reassured that he’s going to be fabulous at Idaho State from day one on both ends. Kimmons gave everything he had to Tartan last night scoring 41 points against the Raiders. Kimmons first grabbed me when he moved into the Howard Pulley starting line-up and his defense/table setting really helped the Panthers gel last 17u year. Then his performances this year for Tartan have made him at least a Class AAAA All State second team player and a rightful top ten talent on the Mr. Basketball semi-finalists list.
A couple other talented players that had their career end were Daveonte Davis and Dion Ford. They did a lot for Central bringing them a city championship with Davis earning a spot on the Mr. Basketball Watch List of 32 names. Camden Arndt of Morris Area is an outstanding student athlete that will do great things at Minnesota State-Moorhead. His team lost last nigh to Redwood Valley.
Breckenridge will not be making the state tournament for the third straight season as Hawley knocked them out of the playoffs on Monday. Noah Christensen – headed to NDSU – saw his outstanding career finish up in the sub-section final.