Minnesota Playoff Central: A night of MONSTER performances

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I don't recall a playoff night where there were so many monster individual performances from so many good players. It seemed like the </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performances</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1560782' first='Kolby' last='Christl'] scored a combined 68 points in the two games against Waconia this year (36 and 32) and he went a step further last night scoring FORTY points at Waconia to lead his team to an 84-81 win. The 6'6 senior is one of the stories of the season averaging over 24 points a game and playing like a Class AAAA All State player. Mr. Basketball and McDonald Watch lists.... I think you missed one here!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then you look to Sartell. [player_tooltip player_id='1560795' first='Maddox' last='Lewis'] hit TEN three-pointers to score the majority of his 32 points at the arc. Imagine scoring THIRTY points at the three point line alone. The Black Hill State signed shooter did just that leading Sartell to the next round against St. Cloud Tech. Lewis would have had a chance to score more if Sartell wasn't beating Little Falls by such a wide margin so quickly (they won 89-35). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chisago Lakes beat Hermantown 83-69. In the Cats win, senior [player_tooltip player_id='3077591' first='Joe' last='Couwenhoven'] exploded for 39 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a pair of blocks. Chisago Lakes has now won 12 games and they won only three last season! Couwenhoven has been a huge part of that. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owatonna improved to 16-11 on the season with a 73-72 win over Lakeville North after Owatonna junior [player_tooltip player_id='2140710' first='Willie' last='Moore'] hit the game winning foul shots. The junior scored 43 points last night to move Owatonna to the next round, and Moore is scoring 22 points a game this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>. What is tonight? An even bigger day of games with 58 tonight! And I was wrong the other day, we have an even bigger day of games Saturday when there are 70 games on the playoff schedule. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tonight there are NO games at the Class AAAA and Class AAA levels but there are 26 games at the Class AA level and 32 games to be played at the Class A level. Most of the Class A games are round of sixteen games with the exception of Section 2A which is quarterfinal games. In Class AA, Section 2AA also has quarterfinals while everything else is Northern Minnesota (and North Metro) round of 16 games or more pigtail games in those huge sections. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Big Stage</strong>.I would say Sibley East High School is the top location for this night of 58 games. Madelia (21-4) takes on GFW (16-11) and Springfield (20-6) plays Mankato Loyola (16-11) and those games are back to back in the same location. St. Peter also has a quality Class A double header.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>. Section 8AAA was turned on it's head last night with two teams that have been ranked this year - Apollo and Willmar - seeing their season's end at the hands of Sauk Rapids-Rice and Fergus Falls respectively. This means on one side of the section you have a 6/7 game between SRR and FF, and then Sartell taking on St. Cloud Tech on the other side. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sauk Rapids-Rice had a stronger control of the game than you would expect in a 2/7 game between an 8-18 team and a 19-8 team. As for Fergus Falls and Willmar, this game went to overtime and the Otters won the game on a [player_tooltip player_id='2434316' first='Micah' last='Johnson'] corner three for the 80-79 victory. Johnson scored 22 points and teammate Henry Bethel had 23 points and five assits.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There was also the overtime win for Fridley, who had won nine games all season, beating Zimmerman in overtime. When it comes to rising up and playing better than expected, nobody does it better than Fridley who won 59-56!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finally, Duluth East put an end to the Anoka season 59-56 dropping the Tornadoes to a final record of 15-12. Anoka was the pick from most to win 7AAAA and they are now out of the playoffs. Big win for the Greyhounds who will next face Andover. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>. Some very good players saw their seasons end last night: guys like [player_tooltip player_id='2115655' first='Ryan' last='Kreager'] of Faribault, [player_tooltip player_id='1437598' first='Dane' last='Danielson'] of Lakeville North, and [player_tooltip player_id='2119642' first='Avery' last='Christensen'] of Willmar among others. The guy that really went out fighting was [player_tooltip player_id='1560741' first='Will' last='Kirsch'], the Waconia all time leading scorer who had 43 points in his final game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kirsch will play football at St. Thomas in the future but as an athlete in Waconia, Will is a very well respected student athlete of character that is looked up to when it comes to the young kids in the stands. Will has always carried himself with class that was respected by many even as a middle schooler at St. Joe's, and an 8th grader at Holy Family before starting high school at Waconia. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->