Minnesota Playoff Central: The 1AA Quarters are Set

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tonight Sections 3AA and 2A take center stage in the playoff run for the state tournament in March. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>. In section 3AA there is a North, and a South, and each has eight teams, and both have four quarterfinal match-ups this evening. In Section 2A there are five pigtail games: a bunch of single digit win teams that have a chance to win a playoff game and earn some everlasting high school memories as well as some momentum into next year, regardless of what happens in the next game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As for last night, the Section 1AA quarterfinals, one of the most watched and most anticipated playoff battles in the state, are now set. After last night's games, that results in Monday/Tuesday quarterfinals which is Goodhue against Lake City and Triton versus Rushford-Peterson (Monday) and then Zumbrota-Mazeppa vs Dover-Eyota and Caledonia taking on Cannon Falls. It will be hard to find a better set of quarterfinal games than this group.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Big Stage</strong>. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg won 17 games this year, Minnewaska Area won 16 games, and tonight they do battle in a 3/6 game as Paynesville Area (15-10) and New London-Spicer (11-14) play in the 4/5 game as both were seeded higher than 17-8 KMS . KMS and Minnewaska is definitely the top playoff game of the evening. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>.  Dover-Eyota, a solid 14 win team, knocked off Winona Cotter who at one point this season was a top ten basketball team. Dover-Eyota beat Cotter 76-70 and it was 6'4 junior Joel Skrukrud led the way with 26 points and 11 rebounds, and next week they will play top ten ranked Zumbrota-Mazeppa. Can Dover-Eyota pull another sectional upset? [player_tooltip player_id='2138701' first='Mat' last='Matejka'] scored 17 and 6'4 [player_tooltip player_id='2205727' first='Jace' last='Drilling'] had 13, and both of these players AND Skrukrud are all juniors, so keep an eye on the Eagles going forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A pair of three win teams earned playoff victories last night: Yellow Medicine East beat Lakeview, and LQPV knocked off Canby.  Senior Kia Greycloud had 20 for YME while sophomore Gunnar Fagen had 17. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performers</strong>. Lake City knocked off Chatfield 85-57 and [player_tooltip player_id='2126464' first='Gavyn' last='Lorenson'] scored 36 points aggressively to get this team to the next level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2119578' first='Pierce' last='Petersohn'] led Triton with 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Cobras knocked off Red Wing 80-57 in another controlling victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rylan Nelson led Hayfield over Fillmore Central 80-68 with a 23 point and 11 rebound double-double. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1889041' first='Luke' last='Friese'] of Schaeffer Academy saw his season end last night resulting in a season over with an impressive 27 points per game average. Luke had a recent 46 point game to beat Kingsland, he had 42 points TWICE against Houston, and four games where he scored in the 30s. Luke is one of the top scorers in Class A basketball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->