Six big stories from the weekend in Minnesota hoops, Feb. 21-23

 If the Section 2AA playoffs are as exciting as Thursday’s St. Peter/Maple River game, the fans in the southern part of the state are in for a treat.  #5 Maple River traveled to #4 St. Peter on Thursday night, and the folks in the gym were treated to a double-overtime classic.  In the end, Maple River emerged with a 62-61 victory, their second straight one-point, double-overtime win (they defeated Martin County West 63-62 in two overtimes last Saturday).  Both teams have a game remaining with #3 Fairmont before heading into tournament play; Fairmont plays in Section 3AA so the games serve as a top-notch tuneup for section play. The Austin Packers are just one game away from running the table in the regular season; they moved to 24-0 on the year and 17-0 in the Big 9 with a 66-47 victory at Rochester John Marshall on Saturday night.  The Packers have spent the entire season at #2 in the Class 3A poll (DeLaSalle’s been #1 all year long), and they’re looking to build on last season’s trip to the state quarterfinals.  The Packers play in Section 1AAA and look like a lock for the #1 seed; New Prague appears to be in line for the #2 seed. The Edina Hornets started the season ranked #2 in the Minnesota Basketball News Class 4A poll, but four straight losses to start the season cost them their spot in the poll.  They may not be in the top 10 right now, but they’re sitting atop the difficult Lake Conference by themselves after a buzzer-beating 57-55 victory over #7 Eden Prairie Friday night.  The Hornets, 17-3 since that 0-4 start, have won five of their six conference games and lead Hopkins by a game; they host Wayzata on Tuesday before traveling to Hopkins on Friday where the conference title will be on the line.They won’t leave the Lake Conference behind when they begin tournament play, as all but one of the conference teams play in Section 6AAAA (Eden Prairie plays in 2AAAA).  The winner of the Edina/Hopkins game will likely claim the #1 seed in the section while the loser will grapple with Minnetonka for #2.View the list »
 Roseville evened the score against Woodbury Friday night, making up for a 80-71 loss earlier in the year by defeating the fifth-ranked Royals 74-52 in Roseville.  The Raiders, ranked #10 in the latest 4A poll, needed the victory to stay alive in the Suburban East conference race, as the win tied them with Woodbury atop the conference with matching 13-3 conference records.  Both teams have two conference games remaining, with Woodbury hosting Park of Cottage Grove and Mounds View next week while Roseville hosts White Bear Lake before finishing their regular season at Hastings.It’s possible these teams haven’t seen the last of each other this season- they’re both in Section 4AAAA, a section that appears to be loaded.  In addition to Roseville and Woodbury, the section features #4 Tartan, a Stillwater team that’s defeated Roseville and Woodbury this season, and three other teams with records at or above .500.  Last season, Woodbury edged Roseville 68-66 in overtime to claim the section crown and advance to the state tournament.

High School Sports newsletter

With just one week to play in the 2012-2013 Minnesota boys high school basketball regular season, teams around the state are making final pushes for conference championships and tuning up for the section tournaments. Many teams put forward strong efforts to get those wins and in some cases clinch conference titles; the next few pages list some of the more notable performances from this past weekend.

Related topics

Advertisement
View the list
  •  Roseville evened the score against Woodbury Friday night, making up for a 80-71 loss earlier in the year by defeating the fifth-ranked Royals 74-52 in Roseville.  The Raiders, ranked #10 in the latest 4A poll, needed the victory to stay alive in the Suburban East conference race, as the win tied them with Woodbury atop the conference with matching 13-3 conference records.  Both teams have two conference games remaining, with Woodbury hosting Park of Cottage Grove and Mounds View next week while Roseville hosts White Bear Lake before finishing their regular season at Hastings.It’s possible these teams haven’t seen the last of each other this season- they’re both in Section 4AAAA, a section that appears to be loaded.  In addition to Roseville and Woodbury, the section features #4 Tartan, a Stillwater team that’s defeated Roseville and Woodbury this season, and three other teams with records at or above .500.  Last season, Woodbury edged Roseville 68-66 in overtime to claim the section crown and advance to the state tournament.
  •  The Edina Hornets started the season ranked #2 in the Minnesota Basketball News Class 4A poll, but four straight losses to start the season cost them their spot in the poll.  They may not be in the top 10 right now, but they’re sitting atop the difficult Lake Conference by themselves after a buzzer-beating 57-55 victory over #7 Eden Prairie Friday night.  The Hornets, 17-3 since that 0-4 start, have won five of their six conference games and lead Hopkins by a game; they host Wayzata on Tuesday before traveling to Hopkins on Friday where the conference title will be on the line.They won’t leave the Lake Conference behind when they begin tournament play, as all but one of the conference teams play in Section 6AAAA (Eden Prairie plays in 2AAAA).  The winner of the Edina/Hopkins game will likely claim the #1 seed in the section while the loser will grapple with Minnetonka for #2.
  •  The Austin Packers are just one game away from running the table in the regular season; they moved to 24-0 on the year and 17-0 in the Big 9 with a 66-47 victory at Rochester John Marshall on Saturday night.  The Packers have spent the entire season at #2 in the Class 3A poll (DeLaSalle’s been #1 all year long), and they’re looking to build on last season’s trip to the state quarterfinals.  The Packers play in Section 1AAA and look like a lock for the #1 seed; New Prague appears to be in line for the #2 seed.
  •  If the Section 2AA playoffs are as exciting as Thursday’s St. Peter/Maple River game, the fans in the southern part of the state are in for a treat.  #5 Maple River traveled to #4 St. Peter on Thursday night, and the folks in the gym were treated to a double-overtime classic.  In the end, Maple River emerged with a 62-61 victory, their second straight one-point, double-overtime win (they defeated Martin County West 63-62 in two overtimes last Saturday).  Both teams have a game remaining with #3 Fairmont before heading into tournament play; Fairmont plays in Section 3AA so the games serve as a top-notch tuneup for section play.
  •  The Upsala Cardinals, ranked #4 in Class 1A, kept their undefeated season alive by torching the nets for 217 points combined in their Friday and Saturday games.  After setting a school record by scoring 112 points on Friday against West Central Area, the Cardinals won a shootout against Anders Broman’s Lakeview Christian squad 105-96.  The 217 point explosion came on the heels of Upsala’s 93 point outburst last Monday, giving the Cardinals 310 total points in their last three games.Upsala wasn’t the only high-scoring team last week; 3A #8 St. Paul Johnson lit up the scoreboard for 305 points in their three games as they tune up for a contest against St. Paul Highland Park on Thursday that will decide the St. Paul City Conference title.  In individual scoring, Anders Broman poured in 60 points in the loss to Upsala, extending his state scoring total record to 4,866 career points.
  •  Russell-Tyler-Ruthton completed a stellar 25-1 regular season on Friday as the fifth-ranked Knights defeated #8 Dawson-Boyd 72-67 in the Camden Conference title game.  R-T-R avenged a loss to Dawson-Boyd in last year’s conference title game; the two squads now head into a very competitive Section 3A playoff, a section that features three top 10 teams.  In fact, R-T-R didn’t receive the #1 seed in their half of the section despite their 25-1 record; that honor went to Southwest Minnesota Christian, the #3 team in the latest Class 1A poll.  Both R-T-R and Dawson-Boyd open their tournament play on Saturday. 
View the list
Suggested by the author:

, Minnesota High School Sports Examiner

If it's Friday night, Dan Hinrichs is likely somewhere in the state doing radio play-by-play of a big high school game. He's called more than 300 games in the last seven years, ranging from football to fastpitch softball. A native of Grantsburg, WI, he's a graduate of St. John's University and...

Advertisement

Today's top buzz...