Class A State Tournament First Round Recap
The only class that didn’t play Wednesday, the Class A tournament opened up Thursday and it was a mixed bag of entertaining games and routes. Minneapolis North and Goodhue looked strong as usual while Springfield and North Woods advanced thanks to strong second half efforts.
Game One: Minneapolis North 93, Red Lake 46
The Polars wasted little time establishing themselves as the heavy favorite to repeat as the Class A state champs, jumping out to a 62-29 halftime lead before running away with a 47-point win. North forced 23 turnovers and held the Warriors to just 27 percent shooting in the game.
Four Polars scored in double figures as Odell Wilson IV led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Isaac Johnson added 20, five rebounds and three assists and JaQuan Sanders-Smith had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Red Lake’s Rob McClain Jr. filled up the stat sheet for the Warriors with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and seven steals.
Game Two: Springfield 73, Nevis 65
Springfield took a little while to get going but once it did, there wasn’t much Nevis could do to slow the Tigers down. An up-and-down entertaining game, Springfield outscored Nevis 51-34 in the second half, overcoming an early double-digit deficit to go away with an eight-point win.
Isaac Fink set the tone for Springfield scoring 20 points with 10 rebounds and six assists. Kale Meendering led the team in scoring with 22 points, benefitting many times from a spaced-out defense and Fink’s court-vision. Michael Landquist led Nevis with 24 points, knocking down three 3-pointers in defeat.
Game Three: Goodhue 57, Lake Park-Audubon 37
In a field where it feels like every other team is playing for second place to Minneapolis North, Goodhue looked like the clear second-best team in the field. A dominant defense and methodical pace helped the Wildcats stifle the Trojans. Goodhue forced 17 turnovers and held the Trojans to just 14 made field goals in the game.
Goodhue knocked down 11 of 22 3-point attempts as Taylor Buck and Nicholas Thomforde hit four and three respectively. Thomforde led Goodhue with 15 points while Buck added 12. Jacob McNamara scored eight points and played a key role in containing LP-A big man Jesse Bergh, who had 17 points and nine rebounds in defeat.
Game Four: North Woods 54, Central MN Christian 51
The best game of the day in Class A, North Woods took out third-seeded Central MN Christian thanks to a halfcourt heave from sophomore guard Cade Goggleye to beat the buzzer. CMC had tied the game at 51-51 with less than three seconds to play and came back from down eight with less than two minutes to go before Goggleye sent North Woods to the state semifinals.
Goggleye had a solid day for the Grizzlies with 12 points and seven assists. The Grizzlies knocked down 11 triples in the game as Tate Olson and Brendan Parson hit four apiece. Ethan Brouwer had a big game for the Bluejays with 16 points and 14 rebounds and Matthew Van Eps scored 17 points.
Minneapolis North plays Springfield while Goodhue gets North Woods in the Class A semis Friday. CMC plays LP-A while Red Lake takes on Nevis in a Northland Conference matchup in the consolation bracket.