2023 State Tournament: AAAA/AAA Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The best of the best from the Class AAAA and Class AAA morning and afternoon games. Here are the top performers!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] of Totino-Grace (sr).&nbsp; St. Francis is not a physical team in the paint and the Eagles took advantage. Specifically [player_tooltip player_id='1223070' first='Patrick' last='Bath'] took advantage.&nbsp; The 6'9 unsigned senior went after shot blocks and contests, he went after D-boards, and he cut hard at the rim to catch and finish aggressively.&nbsp; He scored his 23 points on 10 of 11 shooting in 17 minutes of play taking advantage of every time the Saints were broken down either defending him, or his teammates.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962198' first='Taison' last='Chatman'] of Totino-Grace (sr).&nbsp; Watching Taison in the first half made me think of last season when the Ohio State signed guard took over the flow of the game and led his team to a title.&nbsp; We got some of the same indicators today with Chatman's push, Chatman's one dribble into a score or creation for others, and his smooth playmaking scoring against his defender like it was a student manager in practice playing half-token. Taison had 16 points with six assists on 7 of 9 shooting.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1172835' first='Casmir' last='Chavis'] of Park Center (jr).  The junior continues to make his case as Class AAAA Player of the Year with his ball pressure, explosive rim attack, and constantly improving creation for others. Chavis has 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting, five rebounds, and an outstanding 11 assists. When Chavis is coming down hill at a player it's about as scary a thing as there is in Minnesota high school basketball.  Well, almost as scary as when Chavis is ball pressuring a point guard.  That might be scarier. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] of Alexandria (jr).  Big time game from Grove to get his team from the quarters to the semis. Grove had 20 points on 6 of 11 shooting and 8 of 10 foul shooting drawing six fouls from the Cougars.  He also grabbed ten rebounds and dished out five assists. Throw in two blocks and it was a versatile performance for the versatile forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] of Orono (sr).&nbsp; Guess who exploded in a big game situation again?&nbsp; Yep, it was Isaiah! Hagen attacked Hermantown relentlessly and they often looked helpless to stop him scoring 35 points including 11 of 13 foul shots in a two point win!.&nbsp; Isaiah scored on 12 of 22 attempts overall continuing a trend of huge 30+ point games in big game situations.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1287438' first='Jackson' last='McAndrew'] of Wayzata (jr).&nbsp; Jackson played 22 minutes and that was all was needed to get up big on White Bear Lake.&nbsp; McAndrew grabbed seven defensive rebounds controlling every opposing miss and knocked out four threes with that pretty touch. Incredible range already with a picturesque shooting stroke.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1139192' first='Dylan' last='Omweno'] of Eastview (sr).&nbsp; Dylan had one of the best games of his career today and it came at a big time leading the Lightning into the semis. Omweno had the green light against the Tonka defenders and he scored 25 points on 8 of 13 shooting including three triples.&nbsp; Drew seven fouls getting to the foul line for ten free throws (made six).&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284106' first='Chiang' last='Ring'] of Park Center (jr).&nbsp; Ring was a major difference maker in the paint.&nbsp; He blocked five shots and contested at least five more into a miss, he grabbed four offensive rebounds (and five defensive), and he finished six times getting to his 13 points.&nbsp; Andover did not have a counter to wing Ring provided and that was a big difference in the game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Abe Soumis of Hermantown (jr).&nbsp; Abe has had an incredible junior season and that continued today as Hermantown nearly knocked Orono out of the state tournament. Soumis scored 34 points on 10 of 17 shooting including four threes.&nbsp; He made all ten of his foul shots and also grabbed a dozen rebounds using that 6'4 guard/wing frame.&nbsp; Big game for the state to take notice of.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284083' first='Andy' last='Stefonowicz'] of Minnetonka (jr).&nbsp; Andy nearly matched Omweno the other way knocking out three threes, getting to the foul line to score, and hitting on 7 of 14 field goals for his 22 points.&nbsp; A couple of division one coaching staffs were in the building to see Andy play and in this game it was his skilled touch that they saw regularly.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] of Lakeville North (sr).&nbsp; In the most dominant performance of the day, [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] went for 25 points and 17 rebounds making 11 of 17 shots against the smaller Buffalo team.&nbsp; The Panthers do a great job of getting Winter great touches in their actions and Winter continues to do an elite job of completing plays in the paint.&nbsp; Surely put together an eye catching performance for the Mr. Basketball race.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->