Minnesota Playoff Central: Payton Belka, Rogers Upset Sartell
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It’s a big time night in Minnesota high school playoffs. We give you…. Best Games tonight, Best Location tonight, Top Performers from Tuesday, etc. Playoff Central. Tonight half of the Class AAAA and Class AAA quarterfinals will be played…
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Continue ReadingIt’s a big time night in Minnesota high school playoffs. We give you…. Best Games tonight, Best Location tonight, Top Performers from Tuesday, etc.
Playoff Central. Tonight half of the Class AAAA and Class AAA quarterfinals will be played as well as small school games played at Mayo Civic Center (see The Big Stage). Best games of the night? Here’s our list:
Class AAAA
- Stillwater at Tartan
- Chanhassen at Edina
- Irondale at Mounds View
- Spring Lake Park at Maple Grove
- White Bear Lake at Woodbury
Class AAA
- St. Thomas Academy at Two Rivers
- Richfield at Hutchinson
- Holy Angels at Mound-Westonka
- St. Paul Como Park at Simley
- St. Francis at Big Lake
Upset City. Last night was full of upsets. We will go class by class for this section:
Class A: Three seeds Lester Prairie and Springfield went down to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (who was 10-12) and Madelia (13-14) respectively.
Class AA: Waseca took out NRHEG earning their tenth win of the season.
Class AAA: Just some 4/5 upsets with Marshall beating Jordan and Rocori beat Detroit Lakes. Some may say these weren’t event upsets.
Class AAAA: Armstrong beat Cooper in the 4/5 game, and Moorhead beat Bemidji in the 6/3 game. The big news was Rogers defeating Sartell in the upset of the night. Seth Kuhlman dropped in the perfect pass to Easton Whitcomb Easton Whitcomb 6'3" | SF Rogers | 2023 State MN at the cup for a 74-73 game winner. It was the 10th win of the season for Rogers knocking off Sartell who was 19-7. Big time game from Peyton Belka Peyton Belka 6'1" | PG Rogers | 2022 State MN who scored 27 points.
The Big Stage. The Mayo Civic Center. There is one location you can go tonight to see multiple basketball games and once again it’s the Minnesota cathedral for high school basketball, the Mayo Civic Center. Class AA’s third ranked team Plainview/Elgin-Millville takes on a solid Chatfield team and the number one ranked Caledonia Warriors face Pine Island at 7:30. Perfect chance to see two of the top three teams in Class AA basketball on the same night. And down the hall if you want to see Class A action, Rushford-Peterson faces the Southland Rebels and in one of the best games of the evening, Goodhue takes on Lyle/Austin Pacelli (game includes Buay Koak Buay Koak 6'4" | SG Lyle-Pacelli | 2023 State MN and Will Opsahl Will Opsahl 6'8" | SF Goodhue | 2023 State MN , all state level Class A juniors).
Top Performers. We start with a familiar name, Ja’Sean Glover. Glover and Madelia surprised Springfield last night in a 6/3 game upset. Madelia won 66-59 and Glover had 41 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Johnny Tennyson Johnny Tennyson 6'3" | SG STMA | 2022 State MN scored 30 points pushing STMA to a close game with Buffalo before the Bison took control led by Nate Dahl’s 17 points. Buffalo won 64-62.
Payton Mogire Payton Mogire 6'8" | C Maple Grove | 2022 State MN had a massive 24 points mostly in the paint giving the Robbinsdale Armstrong squad an edge inside beating Cooper.
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Mason Lund Mason Lund 6'6" | SF Sartell | 2022 State MN . Davion Evans Davion Evans 6'0" | PG Robbinsdale Cooper | 2022 State MN . Ashton Sivilay Ashton Sivilay 6'0" | PG Jordan | 2022 State MN . Lund is one of the top 25 level prospects in the senior class and while his Sartell team lost last night, and he will be at Southwest Minnesota State next season likely making an impact. Evans scored 24 points a game this season for Cooper. His Hawks lost to rival Armstrong last night but Evans had a great senior year. Then we have Sivilay. Ashton exploded early in the season and maintained a 23 point per game average for the Hubmen.