Orono 77 BSM 69: Five Things to Know
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Orono picked up a huge Class AAA, Section 6AAA, Metro West win on Friday night when they topped Benilde-St. Margaret’s 77-69. Here are Five Things to Know One. Big Game Producer. Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono |…
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Continue ReadingOrono picked up a huge Class AAA, Section 6AAA, Metro West win on Friday night when they topped Benilde-St. Margaret’s 77-69. Here are Five Things to Know
One. Big Game Producer. Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN has come up huge in big games. Early in the season the Spartans beat Hopkins and Isaiah went for 30 plus. They had a game of top five teams at Alexandria and Isaiah went for 30 plus. Hagen went against Daniel Freitag Daniel Freitag 6'1" | PG Breck | 2024 State #142 Nation MN and he had 30 plus in a key all league game. And of course in another top five Class AAA match-up, Isaiah Hagen Isaiah Hagen 6'3" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN went for 30 plus again in one of the biggest games of the regular season! Hagen went 11 of 20 from the field, mage 10 of 12 foul shots and made four threes! He went on a late game run of ten straight points that changed everything plus he had a dozen boards. This guy has had more Mr. Basketball moments than everybody on the final ten not named Nasir Whitlock Nasir Whitlock 6'2" | PG Delasalle | 2023 State MN and he didn’t make the list (seriously, just a horrible miss by the committee).
Two. Win Despite Injuries. Orono won this game and they did it with three key players getting hurt. Starting center Brady Wooley Brady Wooley 6'9" | C Orono | 2025 State #187 Nation MN did not play at all, Nolan Groves Nolan Groves 6'4" | CG Orono | 2025 State #259 Nation MN hurt I believe his ankle and had to sit, and I think it was Grand Gunderson who hurt his shoulder, went over and seemed to fix it, and then walked back over and said he was good to go! Impressive. Despite all of those injuries Orono had the depth to win because Zach Close Zach Close 6'7" | PF Orono | 2023 State MN was a beast on the glass (12 boards), Gunderson scored 11, Kyle Kallenbach Kyle Kallenbach 6'0" | CG Orono | 2023 State MN did a great job passing the ball despite a tough day shooting, and Riley Nelson Riley Nelson 6'2" | SG Orono | 2024 State MN stepped up big!
Three. Jalen Wilson Jalen Wilson 6'8" | PF Benilde-St. Margaret's | 2025 State #230 Nation MN The Best Sophomore. Wilson has the frame of a modern college basketball small forward and we are seeing a face-up touch from him as well as some more pushing the ball up the floor. At times he was also the main ball handler out of dead balls. Wilson is at his best though around the basket playing the game of a back to the basket producer. He had a very impressive 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting with ten rebounds and four assists. Every part of what Wilson has done this year backs up him being the top 2025 in the state right now.
Four. Big Game for Nelson. Late in the game Orono had a really good possession of ball movement that led to a corner pass to Nelson who hit a three. That make was the biggest shot of the game as it put Orono up for good and it was the mark where BSM just did not have enough to overcome the deficit. With injuries throughout the Spartan line-up Nelson stepped into a big spot and hit five threes and he only took six shots for the game! It was a 17 point, seven board night in a key situation where his team needed him and Riley stepped up big.
Five. Where Are We Now? I have a feeling we will get BSM vs Orono one more time. BSM won the first game, Orono won the second. The Class AAA rankings will be out tonight and both BSM and Orono are top four teams in the state. With this win Orono will likely take a step in front of BSM in the rankings. That said…… BSM will still have the edge in the two items that are more important: QRF in 6AAAA and Metro West standings. BSM has the better QRF rank of 2 while Orono has the rank of 4 (not sure how the Orono loss to South Dakota power Sioux Falls Jefferson works into that).
BSM also has the one game lead in the conference at 10-2 whereas Orono is 9-3. Both teams play Chaska this week with Orono playing St. Louis Park while BSM has New Prague. Chaska, New Prague, and St. Louis Park are the three worst teams in the league so you can expect BSM to hold that one game conference league to the end. The out liner here is that BSM lost to Waconia while Orono lost to both Jefferson and Chanhassen and that is where the one game edge comes in.