Minnesota Playoff Central: Kloss at the Buzzer!

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Friday night had ten playoff games that included a buzzer beater, an upset, and a take note victory. Jump into it now with Minnesota Playoff Central!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central.</strong>&nbsp; The 11-16 Rosemount Irish were a few seconds away from the biggest playoff upset of the Minnesota March so far. They forced a tough miss from Eastview and things were looking good as they had a 41-40 lead. The long miss went mid-lane and the timed effort from Lightning senior forward [player_tooltip player_id='1140498' first='Chet' last='Kloss'] led to a collection of the ball over an opponent and a bank shot on the right side for a buzzer beating victory. [player_tooltip player_id='1625011' first='Mario' last='Adams'] led the Lightning with 14 points overcoming 19 from [player_tooltip player_id='1220381' first='Anish' last='Ramlall']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eastview will play Eagan for a shot at the state tournament in a one versus two section championship game. [player_tooltip player_id='1159158' first='Austin' last='Carruthers'] scored 21 leading the Wildcats over Bloomington Jefferson. Freitag scored 30 for the Jags in the loss. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>. Last night's upset was Duluth Denfeld knocking off North Branch 63-59. Six-foot-2 junior Aidan Newton scored 19 leading Denfeld to the win. Denfeld actually had a better record than North Branch and this was their 16th win of the season. Denfeld was the three seed while North Branch was the two seed. That said, this was the only low seed to beat a high seed last night so it fits the category. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Big Stage</strong>. This is a massive day of playoff basketball as 54 teams will move on, and 54 will be done for the season. There are five locations where you can go to catch four games: the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Denfeld High School in Duluth, St. John's University, and Hermantown High School. I would say the Mayo Civic Center will give you the best experience in terms of talent and atmosphere. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Want to catch three in the metro? You surely can. For example you could hit South St. Paul at STA at noon, Columbia Heights at Totino-Grace at 3, and then Stillwater at White Bear Lake at 7. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As for games, what stands out? I will go with....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Goodhue vs Lyle/Austin Pacelli at the Mayo Civic Center</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Southwest Minnesota Christian vs RTR at Southwest State</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>South St Paul at St. Thomas Academy</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Hayfield vs Spring Grove at the Mayo Civic Center</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Delano at Orono </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Caledonia vs PEM at the Mayo Civic Center</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lakeville South at Farmington</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Stillwater at White Bear Lake</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performers</strong>.&nbsp;Here is the Friday list!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962273' first='Cooper' last='Drews'] scored 21 for Princeton leading his team over Becker 67-59. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alexandria junior [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] had 26 leading the Cards past Rocori by a dozen</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Cloud Tech junior [player_tooltip player_id='1284214' first='Tameron' last='Ferguson'] had 30 for the Tigers who beat Sauk Rapids-Rice 69-57.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1167554' first='Hayden' last='Tibbits'] exploded for 36 pushing Wayzata past Armstrong in the section semi-finals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1595734' first='JJ' last='Semanko'] of Hopkins scored 25 leading Hopkins over Washburn. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962233' first='Matthew' last='Bothun'] scored 19 and [player_tooltip player_id='1492593' first='Derek' last='Stone'] had 18 for St. Francis who beat Big Lake by 20.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1220381' first='Anish' last='Ramlall'] saw his season come to a close last night as Rosemount fell to Eastviewa the buzzer. Ramlall is headed to St. Cloud State next year and is one of the best point guards and best leaders in the state. Ramlall developed steadily over the past three years and was always great to watch lead his team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->