Fifteen tickets will be punched for the 2022 Minnesota State Tournament tonight! And last night Deer River and Cherry advanced. It’s playoff time! Playoff Central. We gave you the rundown of 15 games and the match-ups that go with them…
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Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log inFifteen tickets will be punched for the 2022 Minnesota State Tournament tonight! And last night Deer River and Cherry advanced. It’s playoff time!
Playoff Central. We gave you the rundown of 15 games and the match-ups that go with them for tonight’s huge night of Minnesota High School basketball earlier today (Read Here). Of those 15, three of the contests are road/home games (DeLaSalle at South St. Paul, Totino-Grace at Columbia Heights, and Park of Cottage Grove at Eastview) and 11 of those 15 are single site contests starting at 7pm. There are two back to back sites tonight for those that want to see a pair of playoff games (more on that below). Wayzata was the first team to punch their ticket, 15 more will tonight, and the other half play for state Friday night.
Upset City. Seeding wise, Deer River beating North Woods was an upset but this was expected to be a one/two score game like it was earlier in the season. Deer River beat North Woods 66-62 with four guys in double figures.
Ty Morrison
Ty
Morrison
6'4" | SF
Deer River | 2022
State
MN
scored 19, Rhett Mundt 14,
Sam Rahier
Sam
Rahier
5'10" | PG
Deer River | 2023
State
MN
had 13, and
Ethan Williams
Ethan
Williams
6'3" | SF
Deer River | 2023
State
MN
scored 10. A balanced effort moves Deer River on to face Cherry tomorrow night.
The Big Stage. In terms of big time games that people should be at there are FOUR match-ups of top five teams. It doesn’t bigger than that:
- 1AAA Caledonia vs 3AAA Plainview/Elgin-Millville (8pm at Rochester Civic Center)
- 5AAAA Osseo vs 1AAAA Park Center (7pm at Rogers HS)
- 5AAA DeLaSalle at 2AAA South St. Paul (7pm)
- 3AAA Totino-Grace at 1AAA Columbia Heights (7pm)
Plus a few top ten games in addition to those top five games:
- 7A Goodhue vs 1A Hayfield (6pm at Rochester Civic Center)
- 9AAAA Park of Cottage Grove at 8AAAA Eastview (7pm)
- 8AAA Mound-Westonka vs 6AAA Orono (7pm at Chanhassen HS)
And an East Ridge vs Cretin-Derham Hall section title game that is happening for the 5th straight season!
Not to mention there are two locations (Rochester Civic Center and Southwest Minnesota State) where you can catch two games tonight:
Civic Center
- Goodhue vs Hayfield
- Caledonia vs Plainview/Elgin-Millville
Southwest Minnesota State
- Central Minnesota Christian vs Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
- Morris Area vs Redwood Valley
Top Performers. Cheery defeated Mountain-Ir. Buhl 86-80 and one of the state’s elite sophomores –
Isaac Asuma
Isaac
Asuma
6'3" | PG
Cherry | 2024
State
#81
Nation
MN
– scored 43 points points! For those that struggle at math, that was half of Cherry’s points. The sophomore also had seven assists and seven rebounds. This follows the 30 point performance from Isaac in the recent win over South Ridge.
Tip of the Hat to the Career. One of the better two-sport athletes in the state of Minnesota is TJ Chiabotti TJ Chiabotti 5'10" | PG North Woods | 2022 State MN of North Woods. He’s a big time running back that went over 2,000 this season alone and he’s been a long time 20 point scorer/all around playmaker for his basketball team. Ran for 30 touchdowns this season and led the Grizzlies to another 20+ win season.