The Tuesday Night Elite – Kooper Vaughn Goes for 63!

<p>A lot happened last night but the headliner was the top scoring game in Minnesota in six years.  St. Charles scorer [player_tooltip player_id="567103" first="Kooper" last="Vaughn"] not only had a top ten scoring game ever, he broke his school scoring record. </p> <p><strong>63!</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="567103" first="Kooper" last="Vaughn"]</strong> of St. Charles High School is one of the better shooters/scorers in Minnesota.  As a junior Kooper averaged 28.6 points a game and with [player_tooltip player_id="774767" first="Drew" last="Maloney"] lost for the season we were expecting Kooper to be averaging 30 plus points per game this year.  That said, never did we expect him to open his season scoring 63 points!  Vaughn shot 11 of 26 from the arc (yeah, he took more threes in a game than most of you will take in a month this year) plus Kooper made 18 of 19 foul shots. Throw in six scores in the paint and you have a historic evening.  </p> <p>How historic?  Kooper’s 63 is the 8th highest total in the history of Minnesota high school basketball.  It’s the highest total since Bjorn Broman scored 74 points in 2015.  He also broke the school scoring record in this same game.  What does he do for an encore?  Vaughn and the Saints take on La Crescent tomorrow night.  </p> <p><strong>Class AAAA Top Spot</strong>.   Hopkins put together an outstanding effort to knock off top rated Wayzata and if the Royals beat STMA on Friday they will be number one in the Class AAAA rankings next Monday (Hopkins is our second ranked squad right now).  Another big game that will impact the rankings this week is 3rd ranked Lakeville South at up and coming Lakeville North (Friday night).  Tonight Maple Grove is taking on Osseo.  Champlin Park plays that same Maple Grove team on Friday.  East Ridge faces CDH this Friday and on that same big night, Wayzata hosts Minnetonka.  The Class AAAA top ten rankings could be a game of musical chairs this year because it’s a balanced group of contenders and those contenders will be in key battles throughout the year.  </p> <p><strong>Glover for 40+ Again</strong>. Most nights the <strong>Ja’Sean Glover</strong> 42 point performance (a junior from Madelia) would be the headliner.  Glover topped the 40 point total for the second time this season as last week he had a 47 point game.  This performance was in a 78-63 win over St James.  Sixteen of Glover’s points were from the foul line (he attempted 23).  Glover played in a few events for the Southwest Minnesota Stars this past summer but was not on the 17u/16u scene much at all.  The pandemic likely took away a big summer from Glover in terms of schools seeing him play.  Hopefully Glover will start to get some eyes his way as Ja’Sean is a top talent.  </p> <p><strong>Eyes on Park.</strong>  Park of Cottage Grove knocked off neighborhood district rival Woodbury 68-55 last night led by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958678" first="Evan" last="Bearth"]</strong>’s 31 points and a double-double from <strong>Pharrel Payne</strong>, a top 25-30 caliber 2022 prospect in his class (and climbing).  Evan hit on 9 of 13 three-pointers as the Royals scrambled to cover the Wolfpack shooter.  Evan is a 6-foot-5 junior wing who doubles as an excellent quarterback prospect.  Bearth &amp; Payne, a hell of a lead duo for Coach Weah. </p> <p><strong>Princeton Slips on the Long Street</strong>.  Princeton is a top 20 level squad in Class AAA basketball.   Delano is a top 20 level squad in Class AAA basketball.  Delano lost all of their regulars from last season except Northern State signed [player_tooltip player_id="532583" first="Trey" last="Longstreet"] while Princeton has a more experience back.  That’s why Longstreet’s massive 36 point game was so big. He also went over the 1,000 point total in that win.  In the loss Callahan O’Neill scored a game high 39 points.  O’Neill is a six-foot-1 senior guard that also scored 24 points versus Milaca.  Last year O’Neill averaged 5.8 points a game. </p>