By Matt Krumrie
MaxPreps.com
STARTING FIVE
1. Those Kids From Cooper: In a marquee North Suburban Conference matchup featuring two ranked teams, No. 9 Robbinsdale Cooper defeated No. 6 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 94-84 Tuesday (MaxPreps.com rankings). Rodney Williams led the Hawks with 32 points in this high-scoring contest. It was a tale of two halves, as Cooper outscored BSM 45-22 in the first half, and BSM outscored Cooper 62-49 in the second half. Cooper improved to 10-4 with the win, while BSM fell to 10-2. Cooper is 8-0 in the conference, while BSM is 7-1.
2. National Leaders: Where do Minnesota kids stack up against national competition? According to the latest MaxPreps.com stats, Kevin Noreen of Minnesota Transitions Tech & Communication Arts is ninth in the nation in scoring at 30.7 points per game. Stewart Herman of Heritage Christian Academy is 32nd among national scoring leaders with 27.8 points per game. Peter Beckstand of Lake of the Woods is 39th at 27.3, followed by Tyler Schmidt of Leseur-Henderson, No. 41 at 27.2 ppg, in the top 50.
3. Milestone for Lee: West Central Area senior Kolten Lee went over the 1,000 career point mark Tuesday in a 78-52 to loss to Hawley. Lee scored 16 points, and scored points No. 1,000 and 1,001 on free throws late in the second half. Lee entered the game with 985 points and scored 16 more –and added 13 rebounds – in the loss.
4. Crosby-Ironton: The Rangers, coached by David Galovich, are 13-0 this season and in first place in the Mid-States Conference. The Rangers have won every way possible – by scoring a lot of points, as they did in a 94-40 win over Hermantown earlier this month, and by playing defense and a slow down game, as they did Jan. 23 in a 38-37 win over Esko. The Rangers are ranked No. 1 in the state in Class AA, and are led by a variety of players, including Derek Swanhorst, Bryce Tesdahl, Trevor Dickie, Kody Bartels and Joe McLaughlin, among others.
5. Back At It: One week after being upset by Simley in a Classic Suburban Conference game, St. Thomas Academy bounced back to defeat rival Tartan in a big conference win. Cadets center AlexSchneider scored 27 points to lead STA to the win. St. Thomas is ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 3A, while Tartan was ranked No. 8 in Class 4A. Marc Sonnen led Tartan with 18 points.
THREE TO WATCH
1. Peter Beckstrand, Lake of the Woods: Up in northern Minnesota, where hockey is king, Beckstrand, a sharp-shooting, 6-foot-1 senior guard is averaging 27.3 points per game. Beckstrand also averages 12.2 rebounds per game, 5.2 steals and 3.9 assists.
2. Hawley: Undefeated Hawley has climbed to No. 5 in the MaxPreps.com rankings. The Nuggets are 11-0 under coach Trevor Peterson.
3. St. Cloud Tech: SCT, ranked No. 10 in the state in 4A, has won a number of close games recently. Friday, it earned a big win over Central Lakes Conference rival and No. 2-ranked (3A) Rocori, 68-58, to improve to 6-1 in the conference, 11-2 overall. Tech’s Nate Wolters had 19 points and Alex Hanks 17 in the win.
TWO HOT TOO HANDLE
1. Jake Ryan, Hastings: Ryan made five three pointers and converted on all 10 free throw attempts to help Hastings to a 63-55 win over Farmington last week. Ryan leads the team with an average of 15.8 points per game.
2. Tom Gores, Rochester Lourdes: Gores scored 36 points to help Rochester Lourdes to its eighth-straight win Tuesday, this one a 62-58 win over Stewartville. With the win, Lourdes improved to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the Hiawatha Valley League.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
100 – Points scored by Little-Fork Big Falls in a 100-63 winover Babbitt-Embarrass
55 – Points Benilde-St. Margaret’s Armond Battle and Jordan Turner combined to score in a 94-84 loss to Cooper. Battle had 30 points, Taylor 25.
54 – Season-high point total for Lake of the Woods’ Beckstrand. He scored 54 points in a 76-66 win over Clearbook-Govnick.
22 – Points Adam Meyer of Rocori scored in aloss to St. Cloud Tech last week in a key Central Lakes Conference battle.
18.4 – Rebounds per game by B.J. Coleman of the International School of Minneapolis, tops in the state.
4 – Number of teams, out of five, from the Classic Lake Conference that are ranked in the Minnesota Basketball News latest Class 4A poll. Included are Hopkins (No. 1), Minnetonka (No. 3), Wayzata (No. 4) and Armstrong (No. 8).
