Minnesota Playoff Central - Samuelson is Monday's MVP

Championship Week got off to a blazing start with [player_tooltip player_id="846127" first="Ryan" last="Samuelson"] exploding in Mankato while top ranked BOLD became the first #1 to lose in this year’s playoffs. Minnesota Playoff Central is NOW! The Big Stage. [player_tooltip player_id="846127" first="Ryan" last="Samuelson"] led Jordan to a 91-67 win over Minnesota Valley Lutheran earning a sub-section championship. Samuelson is the kind of talent that accepted the defensive stopper role for the Minnesota Fury and then moved over to his senior year at Jordan and does whatever it takes to earn a win. Last night it took a blazing eight three-pointer make game from Samuelson resulting in a 40 point blitz of the opponent. Twice in that game Samuelson - who is headed to Minnesota State-Mankato to play football next year - changed the momentum pretty much on his own (it does take willing and smart teammates to pass the ball to him in spots as well). He had a five basket run in the first half turning a one score game into a double figure lead, then he gave Jordan a no-doubt victory with a second half three-point barrage. Ryan made 14 of 24 shots total for the 40 plus he dished out five assists. It wasn’t Samuelson alone that helped Jordan beat MVL. Juniors Reeagan Koch and JoJo Kloeppel both played a big party in the victory as well. Koch totaled 11 points with five boards and five assists while Kloeppel gave Jordan a paint presence with a near double-double (10 points and nine boards). In defeat [player_tooltip player_id="846146" first="Dunwa" last="Omot"] gave MVL 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting including three triples. Omot had to work for that 14 too as MVL really didn’t run much for him, most of that 24 was Omot’s own creation. Dunwa is one of the more improved players of the season. Tonight’s Big Stage. Coon Rapids High School. There are eight games this evening with a pair being played at Coon Rapids High School. It’s 8th ranked Park Center taking on 20-win Mounds View followed by 10th ranked Spring Lake Park facing 18-9 Champlin Park. There are several quality players to take including 2020 available shooter [player_tooltip player_id="549408" first="Josh" last="Brown"], a top sophomore in [player_tooltip player_id="850723" first="Dylan" last="Wheeler"], one of the best unsigned forwards in [player_tooltip player_id="846121" first="Blake" last="Remme"], and a solid junior class from Champlin Park led by Francis Nwaokorie. The first game is at 5pm at Coon Rapids so get there early. Upset City! New Ulm Cathedral! That [player_tooltip player_id="846154" first="Jon" last="Zinniel"] and Chris Knowles was at it again on Monday combining for 45 points and ending the season of the BOLD Warriors. The Greyhounds improved to 26-3 avenging a previous loss to BOLD and now they are looking at a section title game with 7th ranked Springfield. Can New Ulm Cathedral go 3-0 against the Tigers this year? That’s the goal. The game is this Friday and it will be interesting to see what Cathedral comes out in as last night they put a Triangle and Two on BOLD and the Warriors didn’t have an answer. Right on Schedule. Waseca can hit you in so many ways that it makes things nearly impossible to defend. The Jays have [player_tooltip player_id="567041" first="Kyreese" last="Willingham"] bringing the ball up the floor making an initial read and teams really can’t pressure him because Kyreese needs to be defended with size. Most, or just about all Class AA schools don’t have a player with size that can move with Kyreese away from the basket. To make things tougher the Jays had Willingham defending [player_tooltip player_id="774780" first="Cameron" last="Anderson"], the best Blue Earth weapon. Anderson had ten in the first half but took only one second half shot. With Willingham defending and creating where did the points come from? [player_tooltip player_id="532560" first="Ryan" last="Dufault"]. Dufault had a near flawless night scoring the ball making 9 of 11 shots and 8 of 9 foul shots for 27 points. His combination of skill, quickness, and strength meant there was nobody to defend him. Picking up all the pieces was 6-foot-9 [player_tooltip player_id="532587" first="Andrew" last="Morgan"] who had 14 points on nine shots plus grabbed nine boards. Tip of the Hat to the Career. With WEM falling to Springfield that meant the outstanding season of senior Grant McBroom has come to an end. McBroom scored 28 a game this year with a double figure rebound average. Mr 30/10 led the Bucs to a wonderful season with a ranking of 3rd in state. Where’s the Czar? The Czar was not located last evening. If you see a man chasing down a Pepsi truck someplace, please stop and help him. Get him a Coke and it was cure his ills. Thank you.