Mounds View moves on with 49-47 win vs Roseville

Ryan James March 4, 2026 @ 10:21 AM

Mounds View and Roseville have been playing meaningful, physical basketball games since I think most people learned about Minnesota High School basketball. There were times in the 90s where the games as well as the passion in the crowds hit such a level that varsity games had to be played at 4pm to avoid certain conflicts.   The names that have been a part of this rivalry have quite a history. Eleven-year NBA veteran Mike Muscala played in this rivalry. Nick Horvath played in this rivalry before going to Duke. Niko Medved played in this rivalry before he became a college coach. Matt Anderle played in this rivalry before heading to Minnesota and the NFL. Lucas Brown played in this rivalry as a 2011 Mr. Basketball finalist. Nick Jacobson (played at Utah) and Joe Snowden competed were a part of the rivalry. 2005 Mr. Basketball winner Travis Busch was a part of this rivalry before heading to Minnesota and Colorado State. The Legendary Ziggy Kauls was on the sidelines for more Mustang/Raider games than one can count. The Critchley family has been a part of this rivalry since the school opened in 1912!   So yes there was spirit, yes it was a tussle, and yes there was defense!   Who played the most defense? For Mounds View I would look at [player_tooltip player_id='3157004' first='Qani' last='Mohamed'], Dom Barrett and [player_tooltip player_id='3163469' first='Connor' last='Crosby'] as guys that made defensive plays multiple times that helped their teams. As for Roseville, Abdouleye Dion is a guy that we saw make a lot of defensive plays. Marcus Cross worked really hard to try and limit Mounds View scoring options. Carter Bloomquist made some defensive plays.   Overall this was a defensive game which is why five minutes until the first half buzzer the score was 15-6. And why at the half, the teams combined to make just 14 of 48 field goal attempts.   Finally, what an effort by Mounds View junior guard Reid Defeyter to limit the quality touches and the comfortable touches of top Roseville scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2880161' first='Micah' last='Wiskus']. Micah is a junior wing with skill and length that has scored over 19 points a game this year. That said, Defeyter's position defense, his denial off the ball and his chase to Wiskus was outstanding (as was the help from his teammates supporting him on defense). Wiskus was held to 7 of 23 shooting for the game.   As for my numbers, I had [player_tooltip player_id='2140552' first='Andrew' last='Aitkin'] as the game high scorer for 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting. I will admit, the feed was kind of fuzzy so I had to watch for orange scoring often times, but those orange shoes had a stretch of scoring that was six makes in seven tries. And those six makes seemed to give Mounds View a two-three score breathing room for much of the second half. Aitkin was the one guy in the game that was able to create shots, and make some tough shots for his team to get the win. His ability to get balanced, get squared, and release with quality body control stood out.   In addition to his defense, Defeyter hit two threes and hit some clutch foul shots to get to double figures and [player_tooltip player_id='2140688' first='Rylan' last='Happel'] just missed a double double with ten points and nine rebounds (I tweeted eight but I know see that I had an extra mark in the column). Wiskus scored 15 and [player_tooltip player_id='2822813' first='Carter' last='Brenden'] had 13 points and five boards on 5 of 13 shooting.

Mounds View and Roseville have been playing meaningful, physical basketball games since I think most people learned about Minnesota High School basketball. There were times in the 90s where the games as well as the passion in the crowds hit such a level that varsity games had to be played at 4pm to avoid certain conflicts.