Minnesota Playoff Central – Willert Explosion, Buffalo Moves On
Tonight is the first massive evening of playoff basketball at each level throughout the state. Where are the top games? Who stood out Tuesday night?
Buffalo Over Elk River. A three-score game between the Bison and Elks was changed by a 10-0 run from Matthew Willert, and Buffalo never looked back. Willert knocked out back to back threes followed by a pair of rim scores personally changing the outlook. Willert then hit another pair of threes pushing Buffalo to a 44-20 halftime lead. As Willert’s opportunities faded away (sat most of the second half) the Bison sophomore trio stepped in and picked up the pace. The biggest name in that group is guard
Antonio Bluiett
Antonio
Bluiett
6'2" | PG
Buffalo | 2022
State
MN
who has to have one of the softest mid-range touches coupled with a mid-lane burst that you will see. Bluiett scored five times, Will Pool had 13 points, and Carter Jackson disrupted several Elk River possessions with his defense. It was also great to see Buffalo senior
Tony Dahl
Tony
Dahl
6'3" | SF
Buffalo | 2020
State
MN
back on the court after 8 months of ACL rehab.
The Big Stage. Wayzata at Armstrong. In by far the most ridiculous "Coach Vote" item of the section seedings this year (at the big school level) Wayzata and Armstrong (19-7) are playing in the 4/5 game tonight while St. Louis Park (11-15) is the three seed taking on the six seed. Think that’s ridiculous? I hope at some point you hear about the section meeting and how that went down. As I said on Twitter, not enough coaches can be consistently trusted to handle this process, too many ridiculous things are happening.
Back to the game, Armstrong defeated Wayzata 66-61 just over two weeks ago. It was Armstrong’s 9th game against a team that was ranked in the top ten this year (Falcons are 4-5 in those games) and in that game
Adam Biewen
Adam
Biewen
6'4" | SF
Robbinsdale Armstrong | 2020
State
MN
had a game high 17 points. This game will have great match-ups with D’Sean Larkins battling
Eddie Beeninga
Eddie
Beeninga
6'1" | PG
Wayzata | 2021
State
MN
, top MIAC recruit Hezekiah Iaywe battling shooter
Carter Bjerke
Carter
Bjerke
6'9" | C
Wayzata | 2022
State
MN
, and Biewen facing
Camden Heide
Camden
Heide
6'7" | SF
Wasatch Academy | 2022
State
#129
Nation
UT
. This will be an excellent contest.
Upset City! Simley over Winona.
Breyton Buysman
Breyton
Buysman
6'3" | SG
Simley | 2021
State
MN
is a shooter that must be located any time he’s on the floor and last night a Winona team that has talent but has struggled, they weren’t able to locate Breyton often enough so Buysman went off for a 24 point night in a physical 58-49 game. The Spartans - already angered because of the 6 seed - held Winona under 50 points and will move on to play Albert Lea later int he week.
Right on Schedule. The Rochester Mayo Spartans once again put up a ton of points on Northfield, this time scoring 99 winning the first round section game by 17 points. Junior
Michael Sharp
Michael
Sharp
6'2" | SG
Rochester Mayo | 2021
State
MN
grabbed some spotlight with a 7-0 second half run on his own scoring 26 points. Of course it’s hard to hold down the Cincinnati pair as
Mason Madsen
Mason
Madsen
6'3" | PG
Rochester Mayo | 2020
State
#243
Nation
MN
scored 30 with 8 boards and
Gabe Madsen
Gabe
Madsen
6'5" | SF
Rochester Mayo | 2020
State
#123
Nation
MN
had a full stat line of 23 points, 10 boards, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Carter Mceachern of Zimmerman is a 6-foot-6 wing with good skill, good agility, and a lot of passion to the way he plays. Carter is that player that will battle you until the buzzer goes like it or not. He’s a a respected 20 plus per game scorer for multiple years and after last night’s loss to Delano his season is done.
Where’s the Czar? Last night TC Hoops Czar took in High School of Recording Arts vs Minnesota Transitions. The results of that game are in the tweet below:
