NHR Playoff Central: Tuesday
NHR Playoff Central. Tonight is a huge night for Class A games, there are a lot of Class AA games as well, some Class AAAs are getting started and then four games in Class AAAA. Tonight if the first night you can see officially “it’s playoff time” and section basketball is in full swing in every area of the state.
The Big Stage. The Orono/Waconia and Minneapolis Henry/Benilde-St. Margaret’s games are played this evening and will have the atmosphere of section title games. They are section title game/first round of state tournament worthy contests as all four teams were top ten in Class AAA most of the year and no have to face off in round one of section play.
Southwest Minnesota State will host a nice double header with RTR and Dawson-Boyd playing in the 2/3 while Canby/Central MN Christian renew themselves with each other. The Bluejays handled Canby by 18 earlier in the year while the Jacks took out improved RTR by ten in their only meeting.
Another big game is JCC versus Redwood Valley. JCC won the first two games they played this year by double digits and in the recent 74-73 win or JCC, Augustana signed Bodey Behrends had a triple-double of 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 swats. Can Redwood figure out how to deal with him tonight?
Civic Center. The building is used so much in the playoffs it now gets its own paragraph. Tonight Spring Grove works to remain undefeated in Minnestoa against Wabasha-Kellogg, Pine Island and Broc Finstuen face Brady Kuchinka and Lake City, Rushford-Peterson’s road to repeat must go through 22-4 Houston, and Hayfield takes on St. Charles. That’s your slate of four at the Civic Center this evening.
Name to Watch. Steffan Musoke is the known name at Rogers (17.8 a game) but Allen Wilson leads the team in scoring and if Rogers is to get by St. Cloud Tech tonight in the 4/5 game Wilson is the guy that needs to be stopped as he is a tough playmaker.
Upset City. Cannon Falls beat Rochester Lourdes 62-47. The actual win for Cannon Falls wasn’t the part that was surprising, it was how they did it. The Bombers took the lead seven minutes in and never gave it back. Lourdes was just 3 of 21 from the arc and Cannon Falls role player Kyler Banks had one of the best games of his life scoring 16.
Hat Tip to the Career. Isaiah Wannarka. The Triton Cobra guard put his team on the map somewhat after years of people not even knowing Triton played anything but football. Isaiah averaged 20.3 points per game this year and led the Cobras to double digit wins. This year Isaiah became only the third player in scoring history to top 1,000 points and he did it shooting 49 percent at the arc this year.