Minnesota Boys State Tournament Day-One Games Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This Tuesday, March 21st, 2023 the Minnesota State Boys Basketball Tournament kicks off with quarterfinal games. All 2A, 3A, and 4A games will take place under two roofs, home of the Timberwolves, Target Center, and home of the Gophers, Williams Arena starting at 10AM and running until 8PM.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>10AM Games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The #1 seeds in 3A and 4A play early. Both defending champions that return players from last year's state champs. In 4A Park Center, the #1 team almost all year takes on Andover. Park Center features numerous high ranked 2024 Junior's including [player_tooltip player_id='1172835' first='Casmir' last='Chavis'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284106' first='Chiang' last='Ring'] but also Unsigned 2023 Senior's CJ O'Hara and [player_tooltip player_id='962202' first='JJ' last='Ware']. Andover features a pair of 2023 guards [player_tooltip player_id='962246' first='Ben' last='Kopetzki'] and Sam Musungu.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 3A game between Totino-Grace and St. Francis features numerous Division 1 committed Seniors including [player_tooltip player_id='962198' first='Taison' last='Chatman'], [player_tooltip player_id='962203' first='Tommy' last='Humphries'], and [player_tooltip player_id='962233' first='Matthew' last='Bothun']. The Eagles have had an up and down 21-8 season, they rolled into state winning all section games in dominating fashion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>12PM Games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Minnetonka vs Eastview and Mankato East vs Alexandria. Interesting match-ups as the Skippers are guard heavy with 2023 [player_tooltip player_id='962207' first='Ibrahim' last='El-Amin'], [player_tooltip player_id='962205' first='Jalen' last='Cain'], and 2024 Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1284083' first='Andy' last='Stefonowicz'] while Eastview features one of the best 2024 wings in the state [player_tooltip player_id='1287440' first='Jonathan' last='Mekonnen'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mankato East and Alexandria are similar as East is led by [player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] a 2025 guard and 2023 Senior Giles Lancaster while Alexandria is led by 2024 Junior six-foot-eight-inch forward [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] and six-foot-five-inch wing [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2PM Games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4A it is a pair of Mr. Basketball Top 10 Finalist with #2 seed Lakeville North led by [player_tooltip player_id='962214' first='Nolan' last='Winter'] facing off with Buffalo and [player_tooltip player_id='1491756' first='Nate' last='Dahl']. Lakeville has been the 2nd best team all year in the state and much of it because of Jack Robinson, [player_tooltip player_id='1269166' first='Matt' last='Drake'], [player_tooltip player_id='1214457' first='Will' last='Kutzler'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1139350' first='Hudson' last='Vaith'] along with Winter. Along with Dahl Junior's [player_tooltip player_id='1284137' first='Grady' last='Guida'], [player_tooltip player_id='1284217' first='Torii' last='Johnson'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1288787' first='Brody' last='Wishart'] have helped Buffalo to a 23-6 record.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3A it's arguably the best 3A team all year Orono led by the experience of [player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'], [player_tooltip player_id='962230' first='Kyle' last='Kallenbach'], [player_tooltip player_id='1336696' first='Riley' last='Nelson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1491768' first='Zach' last='Close'] backed by underclassmen [player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves']. They face Hermantown who went 22-6 and is led by Abraham Soumis, [player_tooltip player_id='962316' first='Blake' last='Schmitz'], [player_tooltip player_id='962302' first='Keaton' last='Christianson'] and Peyton Menzel.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4PM Games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4A is returning runner-up from 2022 the 24-4 Wayzata Trojans led by Senior [player_tooltip player_id='1167554' first='Hayden' last='Tibbits'] who's backed by [player_tooltip player_id='1201757' first='Spencer' last='Hall'], [player_tooltip player_id='1436435' first='Jake' last='Schmitt'], and 2024 Junior wing [player_tooltip player_id='1287438' first='Jackson' last='McAndrew']. The Trojans first round match-up is the White Bear Lake led by Wisconsin commit [player_tooltip player_id='962200' first='Jack' last='Janicki'] and St Cloud State commit [player_tooltip player_id='1485219' first='Wyatt' last='Hawks'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3A is state runner-up from 2022 DeLaSalle led by Mr. Basketball Finalist [player_tooltip player_id='962218' first='Nasir' last='Whitlock'] facing off with Stewartville and 2024 guard [player_tooltip player_id='1139594' first='Henry' last='Tschetter']. Stewartville went 25-4 while the Islanders were 24-5. Whitlock is having a fantastic year averaging 27 points per game, he's supported by Division 1 football commit Isreal Moses and [player_tooltip player_id='1288764' first='Pj' last='Pounds'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1148715' first='Jaden' last='Morgan']. Stewartville after Tschetter gets support from [player_tooltip player_id='1476739' first='Caleb' last='Bancroft'], Tegan Malone, [player_tooltip player_id='1198613' first='Parker' last='Wangen'], and Caleb Jannsen.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6PM Games and 8PM Games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the rest of the night it's the 2A teams going. At 6PM it's Holy Family vs Eden Valley-Watkins and Pequot Lakes vs Albany. At 8PM it's Minnehaha Academy vs Maple River while Dilworth Gylndon-Felton takes on Plainview-Elgin-Millville.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holy Family features a pair of Division 1 big guys, [player_tooltip player_id='962212' first='Boden' last='Kapke'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1492564' first='Collin' last='Mulholland'] with support from 2024 guard [player_tooltip player_id='1287442' first='Kole' last='Hanson']. Albany vs Pequot you'll see Division 2 guards [player_tooltip player_id='962249' first='Eli' last='Laposky'] face off with [player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Minnehaha Academy features 2 dynamic under six-foot guards Jerome Williams and [player_tooltip player_id='1499627' first='Lorenzo' last='Levy'] along with 2023 forward [player_tooltip player_id='1221177' first='Rolyns' last='Aligbe']. Maple River comes into the game 29-2 and beat Minnehaha earlier this season. They're led by [player_tooltip player_id='962272' first='Mason' last='Schirmer'] and [player_tooltip player_id='962308' first='Hayden' last='Niebuhr'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DGF vs PEM should also be a very good game. DGF got to state by beating Thief River Falls in a game that UMD 2023 commit [player_tooltip player_id='962228' first='Owen' last='Leach'] scored 50 points. PEM comes into this contest 26-4 and led by a number of seniors like [player_tooltip player_id='1339196' first='Aeron' last='Stevens'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1492565' first='Kaiden' last='Peters'].&nbsp; To make it to state PEM needed a game winner vs Lake City from Peters to advance.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->