Class AAAA: Chaska goes from 11-17 to State Champs

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Chaska Hawks were 11-17 last season.&nbsp; Two years ago they won ten games. Three years ago they won nine games.&nbsp; They started this season 3-3 and then lost to Prior Lake 66-69 on December 29th.&nbsp; From that point on they never lost again.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chaska was expected to be good this season, but nobody expected them to be playing on the final Saturday..&nbsp; Apple Valley was expected to be at state this year but after they lost ten games nobody expected them to be in the state title game.&nbsp; It was a surprising final but a fantastic final.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Eagles were led by [player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'] who scored an incredible 33 points almost single-handedly kept his team in it.&nbsp; The rest of the Eagle starters scored a combined 11 points on 4 of 25 shooting.&nbsp; Despite the struggle they battled on the o-boards (12), the Eagles turned Chaska over 14 times and had only three turnovers of their own, and they made ten threes .</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But the Hawk balance was way too much.&nbsp; Four guys in double figures and nobody on the team scored more than a dozen points.&nbsp; That team effort led to 55 percent shooting and an overall 39-27 rebounding edge. Then you had the defense.&nbsp; You don't hold a team to 30.5 percent shooting without a strong defensive gameplan and a great defensive effort.&nbsp; Matthew Welter and [player_tooltip player_id='2126143' first='Kalin' last='Jochum'] did an awesome job limiting Young to four points on 2 of 12 shooting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And for the first time since 2004 the Chaska Hawks are the state champs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>MVP. </strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2126143' first='Kalin' last='Jochum'] of Chaska.&nbsp; This was a hard choice but I think Kalin just did a bit more than everybody else on a balanced effort.&nbsp; His defensive work for much of the game on Young was vital.&nbsp; Later in the game he was the player bringing the ball up the floor for his team to run the offense.&nbsp; He scored a team high 12 points making all eight of his foul shots and he had a team high four assists. A junior that will return with three other starters.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three More Standouts.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'] of Apple Valley.&nbsp; Trey was incredible and I fully expect about 3-4 schools to call by Monday night and say…. We want you next year. It's not just the 33 points, the Eagles had no other scoring option for the most part so Chaska was all over him, and Trey still scored in bulk.&nbsp; He made six threes, 10 of 25 shots overall and 7 of 9 free throws for his 33 points.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126118' first='Tyler' last='Forrest'] of Chaska.&nbsp; You will notice that Parker had 15 misses. Parker got rolling but there was a time early that Trey had a shooting struggle and that was because Forrest was all over him.&nbsp; Tyler got to the rim off the cut and off the bounce to score five times.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Matt Welster of Chaska.&nbsp; I pick Matt as my final choice because he represents the team effort.&nbsp; He came off the bench and finished off the defense of Young that led to holding the standout to four points on 2 of 12 shooting.&nbsp; Matt also grabbed nine rebounds and scored three times.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Class AAAAA All Tournament Team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King'] of Tartan</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2560499' first='Kevin' last='Wilson Jr.'] of Tartan</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='1560739' first='Max' last='Iversen'] of Maple Grove</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='1560867' first='Christian' last='Wiggins'] of Wayzata</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='1560778' first='Nolen' last='Anderson'] of Wayzata</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2271330' first='Trey' last='Parker'] of Apple Valley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='1560866' first='Camare'' last='Young'] of Apple Valley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2841981' first='Jed' last='Keenan'] of Chaska</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2126118' first='Tyler' last='Forrest'] of Chaska</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='2126143' first='Kalin' last='Jochum'] of Chaska</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong><br></strong></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list -->