Class AA State Preview: Top Duos

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s never too early for way-too-early season. With fall sports hitting the halfway point soon, attention will start turning to the winter season. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With that in mind, here’s a look at some of the top duos in Class AA for this upcoming season:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Lake City:</strong> Reid Gastner and Nate Heise</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a section full of really good teams, Lake City will be the favorite and the cause is Gastner and Heise. Both enter their fourth years as starters and they’ve been double-figure scorers each year. Heise led the way last year, averaging 22 points, six rebounds and five assists while Gastner put up nearly 15 points and eight rebounds. Heise’s one of the elite shooters and playmakers in Class AA while Gastner is one of the best inside-outside players and can defend up or down a lineup.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>St. Charles:</strong> Drew Maloney and Kooper Vaughn</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">St. Charles was better than expected last season and the emergence of Maloney and Vaughn in their sophomore seasons was the primary reason. Vaughn is one of the best shooters in the state regardless of class and averaged 17 points per game. He showed an increasing ability to create plays for himself and his teammates over the summer with MN Lightning. Maloney put up 16 and eight last year and is a mismatch nightmare thanks to his combination of shooting, ball handling and explosiveness. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Jackson County Central:</strong> Rudy Voss and Andrew Hesebeck</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jackson County Central will likely be the favorite in Section 3AA thanks to a strong senior class led by Rudy Voss and Andrew Hesebeck. Voss is one of the best players in the 2020 class and can fill up the stat sheet like few others. He’s a dynamic multi-level scorer who has the passing creativity to spoon feed his teammates easy buckets. Hesebeck had good moments this summer on the AAU circuit and can score in a variety of ways thanks to good footwork, understanding of positioning and a soft shooting touch.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Minneapolis North:</strong> Davon Townley and Willie Wilson</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Polars graduated two really good guards from last year’s team but they’ve still got plenty of talent in the pipe. Townley is one of the best big men in Class AA and can control a game like few other bigs. He was solid last year as an underclassman and looked like he’s ready to dominate this past summer. Wilson didn’t shoot the ball particularly well last year but showed improvement over the summer. He’s already a top-notch defender. If he shoots it like he did over the summer, he’s going to put up big scoring numbers too.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Melrose:</strong> Rowan Nelson and Grant Moscho</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Melrose is always good and the Dutchmen do an excellent job of developing and growing young talent. They went to state last season despite losing their best player to injury for a big chunk of the season. Sophomores Rowan Nelson and Grant Moscho were big reasons for that. Now those guys are juniors. Nelson is a terrific defender and rebounder plus has the skill to put up double-double type numbers. He’s a very good finisher and can face guys up in the mid-post and get to the rim. Moscho is one of the best 3-point shooters in the area and will have more opportunity this winter to show he’s capable of creating his own shot and making his teammates better too.</span></p>