Minnesota Playoff Central – 20/20 Night For Southridge Sophomore

<p>March Madness rolls into the weekend and Minnesota Playoff Central is right here to guide you every step of the way.  What’s Next?  Prep Hoops is there to let you know!</p> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>.  South Ridge beat Mt. Iron-Buhl in a thriller last night 61-59 and they needed all 27 points and 20 rebounds that sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962243" first="Austin" last="Josephson"] gave them last night.  The 6-foot-9 sophomore is averaging 17 points and 13 rebounds a game this season with 3-4 blocks a game as well.  A definite up and comer in the 2023 class.  </p> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>.   Mankato Loyola had been ranked for part of the Class A season but they fell out at the end of the year.  There will be no reentering either because the South 7 Seed Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Bucs knocked off Loyola 50-47.  The Bucs were 8-8 during the regular season but have won two in the playoffs.   WEM junior Brady Nutter has had a big year!. </p> <p><strong>The Big Stage.  </strong>There are two sets of AAAA section semi-finals tonight. </p> <p>6AAAA.  The Robbinsdale School District Clash.  It’s Cooper vs Armstrong and Minneapolis South vs Wayzata (both games at 7pm).  Hopkins of course had to end their season because of Covid so it will be the Cooper/Armstrong winner facing the South/Wayzata winner for state. </p> <p>2AAAA.  We have a Jefferson/Shakopee game and a Chaska/Eden Prairie clash.  Despite Chaska losing only three games this year, EP (who lost six) beat the Hawks 61-55 a few weeks ago.  Chaska looks for a shot at revenge this evening.  Shakopee is a big favorite against Jefferson.  EP replaced nearly their entire team from a year ago, can they get back to the section final?</p> <p><strong>Player to Watch</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id="567103" first="Kooper" last="Vaughn"] is scoring nearly 38 points a game.  After scoring 59 or 61 (doesn’t seem like people are quite sure which it was) against Triton, how many will he score against a solid Lake City team that has great youth?  Many eyes are on Vaughn this evening.  </p> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>.  BOLD was knocked out of the playoffs last night meaning we tip our hat to Class A Preseason Player of the Year [player_tooltip player_id="567070" first="Drew" last="Sagedahl"].   Drew had an a Class A All State level season scoring 30.7 points a game for BOLD team that replaced their entire line-up.  Drew had a high of 43 the first game of the playoffs and scored 33 of his team’s 60 but the Warriors lost to SESM.  Drew is certainly one of the state’s best seniors.</p>