By Matt Krumrie
MaxPreps.com
THE STARTING FIVE
1. Section Playoffs Start: The 2008 Minnesota high school basketball season has concluded, and it’s now tournament time. Playoffs kicked off across the state this week, as players and coaches begin their quest for the ultimate goal – making the state tournament and winning a state title. Among the early upsets was in 4A, Section 4 when No. 6 seed Woodbury defeated No. 3 seed Stillwater, 59-57. Stillwater and Cretin-Derham Hall tied for the Suburban East Conference title at 14-2, while Woodbury was 7-9 in conference action and 12-14 overall heading into the playoffs. The two teams were tied at halftime, and it went down to the wire with the Royals emerging as the winners. Ernest Dorsett scored 16 points to lead Woodbury, while Aaron Anderson led Stillwater with 21 points.
2. Conference Winners: With the regular season finished, here is a look at some of the Twin Cities-area conference champions (conference record in parenthesis): Wright County: Orono (15-3); Classic Lake: Hopkins and Minnetonka (7-1); Tri-Metro East: St. Bernard’s (15-1); Tri-Metro West: DeLasalle (12-4); Classic Suburban: Henry Sibley (15-1); Lake: Eden Prairie (16-4); MCAA: Marantha (10-0); Minneapolis: Henry (10-2); Suburban East: Cretin-Derham Hall, Stillwater, (14-2); Northwest Suburban: Osseo (18-0); North Suburban: Benilde-St. Margaret’s (19-1); Missota: Shakopee, New Prague, Prior lake (10-4); Mississippi 8: Buffalo (15-1); Minnesota River: Mayer Lutheran (13-1).
3. Leading Scorers: Leading scorers in those conferences: Classic Lake (points per game): Anthony Tucker, Minnetonka (21.2); Classic Suburban: Anthony Kelley, Mahtomedi (19.5); Lake: Tarrell Clark, Burnsville (23.3); MCAA: Stewart Herman, Heritage (25.5); Minneapolis: Mandela Jackson, Henry (21.1); Minnesota River: Tyler Schmidt, LeSeuer (25.1); Mississippi 8: Jared Berggren, Princeton (26); Missota: Tony Johnson, New Prague (20.6); Missota: Tony Johnson, New Prague (20.6); North Suburban: Armond Battle, Benilde-St. Margaret’s (22.3); Northwest Suburban: Dylan Rodriquez, Blaine (19.2); Suburban East: Michael Floyd, Cretin-Derham Hall (24.4); Tri-Metro East: Evan McMillan, St. Paul Academy (23.1); Wright County: Sheldon Carlson, Orono (17.1)
4. Near Upset: Cambridge-Isanti, the No. 2 seed in 4A, Section 7, survived a scare with an 81-80 overtime win over No. 7 seed Anoka. Braden Johnson scored 24 points, Sam Soderman 19 and Christian Metz 13 in the win for the Bluejackets (17-10), who face Anoka Friday in a 7AAA semi-final matchup. Anoka’s upset bid was led by Bernie Ward, who had 22 points. Drew Kramer (18), John Hosseline (17) and Jeff Belster (10) were also in double figures for the Tornadoes. Anoka was 3-15 in the Northwest Suburban Conference and finished 6-21 overall. Cambridge-Isanti improved to 17-10 with the win.
5. Central Wins City Championship: St. Paul Central defeated Minneapolis Henry 93-81 in the annual Twin Cities Championship game, which features the St. Paul City Conference champs (Central) vs. the Minneapolis City Conference champs (Henry). The 93 points scored by the Minutemen broke the series record for most points scored in a game in the City Conference championship series. Dylan Hale (28 points), Larry Brown (24) and Jordan Larson (21) led the Central attack. The previous record of 92 points was set twice by Minneapolis North in 1992 and 1997. Henry’s Mandela Jackson led all scorers with 31 points. Central, which finished 11-1 in the conference (21-6 overall), saw its season come to an end however, in the first round of the 4AAAA playoffs, as the No. 5 Minutemen lost 71-55 to the No. 4 seed Tartan Titans. Central tied Johnson for the City Conference title, but Central played in this year’s championship game.
THREE TO WATCH
1. Section 4AAAA: This section started with four conference champs competing for a berth to the state tournament – Cretin and Stillwater from the Suburban East, Central from the St. Paul City, and Henry Sibley from the Classic Suburban. Only two remain; Cretin and Sibley. Whoever wins the section will have definitely earned it.
2. Cole Jendro, Royalton: Jendro averages 17.6 points per game and was closing in on over 300 points for the season heading into the section playoffs. Royalton had won its last two regular season games and were 14-9 heading into postseason action.
3. New London-Spicer: The West Central North champions are 27-1, finished undefeated in the conference, and are already in the Section 6AA subsection finals after an 87-58 win over Paynesville Thursday at St. John’s University. Six players scored in double figures in that win, including: Jordan Radel (14), Wade Powers (12), Jackson Wright (11), Jay Moten (10), and Erik Tengwall (10).
TWO HOT TOO HANDLE
1. Evan McMillan, St. Paul Academy: McMillan, who was among the east metro’s leading scorers this season, had a two game stretch he – and opponents – won’t forget anytime soon. The sophomore had 43 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in a 79-74 win over Ascension Academy, and 34 points, nine rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots in a 82-73 loss to St. Agnes.
2. Cody Aasness, Hillcrest: Aasness, a senior, made seven three-point shots and scored 31 points to lead the Comets to a 79-47 Section 6A playoff win over Brandon/Evansville High.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
106 – Points Tri-Metro East champ St. Bernard’s scored in a 106-45 win over Mounds Park Academy in the regular season finale.
30 – Points St. Bernard’s Jordaire Jett scored in that win over Roosevelt. He scored 21 in the win over Mounds Park Academy and averages 20.6 points per game.
19 – Rebounds Champlin Park’s Emeka Okafor had in a 62-51 5AAAA section opening round win against Irondale. Okafor added ten points in the win.
18.9 – Points per game average of Eric Sather, a senior for McGregor. Sather also averaged 9.5 rebounds on the year.
18.1 – Points per game this season by Chris Breuer of St. Croix Lutheran. Breuer, a 6-5 junior, is the son of former Minnesota Gophers star and longtime NBA center Randy Breuer.
.1 – Points away Jacob Thomas of Columbia Heights and Sam Lundeen of Dassel-Cokato were from tying for their conference scoring title. Thomas averaged 22.2 points per game, while Blaine’s Dylan Rodriquez won the scoring title with a 22.3 point per game average. Lundeen averaged 17.0 points per game, while Orono’s Sheldon Carlson led the conference in scoring with 17.1 points per game.
