Minnesota Playoff Central: The Night of the Upset!

Ryan James March 5, 2024 @ 08:27 AM

Last night had upsets, it had top performers, and tonight there is more hoops to come! Minnesota Playoff Central!   Playoff Central. Monday night was the night of the upset. Even in two of the big school pigtail games the nine seeds (Minneapolis Edison and Sartell) knocked off the eight seeds. Mille Lacs got their 4th win of the season defeating North Lakes Academy, five win Rothsay beat Underwood (a team that was a game over .500), and then two shockers that saw teams get their third/fourth win of the year beating teams with double figure wings. Breckenridge earned their third win of the season with a 67-64 win over Parkers Prairie (10-17).   Upset City. Before the playoffs Brooklyn Center had not won a game since January 4th when they beat St. Paul Washington (their other win was against Holy Angels two weeks before that). They had an 18 game losing streak going heading into the playoffs before beating Metro Schools Prep this past weekend. On Monday, BC got on a bus and traveled 48 miles from north of Minneapolis to the country and put together a winning streak!   HLWW has had a nice season. A better season than I think many expected. [player_tooltip player_id='2103397' first='Cody' last='Stapel'] is a very good junior who had seniors around him that had good seasons as well. Unfortunately for them they had lost their last five games of the season and ran into an energized BC squad led by top scorer Steven Nzimi and BC earned the 79-72 win.   Next up for Brooklyn Center is Jordan. Could BC win a third straight playoff game? Jordan has lost 12 of their last 13 games so it's possible! The game is Thursday.   The Big Stage.  Every one of the 31 games this evening is being played at the high seed's home location. I would say the biggest game of the evening will be Rochester JM at Farmington or Owatonna at Rochester Century. JM finished in 4th place of the Big Nine this season and they won 15 games with a dangerous line-up led by a group of juniors that has found their groove and won 13 of their last 17 games. [player_tooltip player_id='1287441' first='Brandon' last='Hrncir'], [player_tooltip player_id='1439459' first='Tyler' last='Beckwith'], Nik Domier and company up front against 6'10 Joe Lueth, 6'7 stretch four Eliah Ladu, and constant worker [player_tooltip player_id='2359929' first='Chan' last='Malith'] who is having a wonderful season. Malith and Beckwith should be fun.   Imagine being Farmington, a top ten team in the state with a 20-6 record, and your first game is against the JM group of developing prospects that has won 15 of 25 games this year. And then you look a few miles north and a team you beat twice that is a few games over .500, they are a one seed playing a five win team.   Such is life in the very, very unbalanced sections of Class AAAA.   Century is a four seed at 19 wins and Owatonna is a five seed at 17 wins. They split the season series.   Top Performers. We run through a handful of players that had big games leading their teams to playoff wins.   Senior Gabe Hein scored 23 and led Blooming Prairie over Kenyon-Wanamingo to a convincing 25 point win.   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='2376031' first='Adam' last='Neumann'] had 23 for Moose Lake Willow River who beat Proctor 81-57.   Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] scored 31 points to push Duluth Marshall past Two Harbors 83-76.   Six-foot-3 junior [player_tooltip player_id='2445445' first='Braden' last='Blanchard'] scored 23 for Rockford in a 77-44 win over Cristo Rey.   [player_tooltip player_id='1612342' first='Deidrick' last='Taylor'] scored 23 for Edison to beat Henry in the pigtail game.   Mikkel Rawdon also went for 31 for St. Paul Academy defeating Heritage Christie 74-62.

Last night had upsets, it had top performers, and tonight there is more hoops to come! Minnesota Playoff Central!