Minnesota Playoff Central: Lake City Youth Gets Past St. Charles

<p>Last night Prep Hoops watched Lake City’s balanced young squad withstand 38 points from Kaden Vaughn.  That and more at Playoff Central. </p> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>.   Last night I took in Lake City beating St. Charles 61-60 and it was a fantastic high school basketball game.  [player_tooltip player_id="796956" first="Justin" last="Wohlers"] hit the shot of his career draining a game winning three late.  Wohlers - a junior - had a dozen points and a dozen boards leading his team.  The Tigers play with great balance for such a young squad.  Six-foot-2 freshman Keagan Ryan stepped up big hitting three triples scoring 15 points and grabbing eight boards and fellow freshman guard Hunter Lorenson totaled 13 points and four assists. Another freshman, Jaden Shones, gave Lake City ten points and six boards plus sophomore Ryan Heise made some defensive plays.  Throw in [player_tooltip player_id="958776" first="Carson" last="Matzke"] and you have a really tough group of six that all returns.  </p> <p>In defeat [player_tooltip player_id="567103" first="Kooper" last="Vaughn"] was amazing.  He hit eight threes and scored 38 points on 12 of 28 shooting.  His ability to dribble separate and quickly release is better than I was aware of, he’s a guy that can hit NBA threes because the range is there, and Kooper gets that shot off so fast.  This isn’t just a St. Charles player that gets to shoot a lot, this is a talented, talented kid who will be even higher in our final senior rankings (even higher than I had him yesterday!).  He could have a big career for the Johnnies. </p> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>.   Worthington over Mankato East 74-46.  It’s an upset in team name, not who was on the floor.  With East missing their top three players (in talent and size) because of Covid, they weren’t able to match up with Worthington.  Worthington is a 7 seed but a good seven.  They’ve been a .500 team with solid seniors.  [player_tooltip player_id="567104" first="Terbuto" last="Ochothow"] hit five three pointers in the first half and scored 20 points for the game.  [player_tooltip player_id="774854" first="Brock" last="Bruns"] had 23 points and 13 boards. </p> <p><strong>The Big Stage.  </strong>I’m going with Basketball in Bullet Points for my top games:</p> <ul> <li>Rosemount vs Lakeville North</li> <li>Park of Cottage Grove vs Eastview</li> <li>Waconia vs DeLaSalle</li> <li>Osseo vs Spring Lake Park</li> <li>Richfield vs St. Croix Lutheran</li> </ul> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>.   Unfortunately Tip of the Hat to the Career is becoming a spot where we honor a team that was forced to end early because of Covid.  Today the 4th ranked Blake Bears had to forfeit their game with Holy Family meaning the Blake Bears season is over.  Seniors Jasper Lui, [player_tooltip player_id="774756" first="Robert" last="Grace IV"], and [player_tooltip player_id="774777" first="Gabe" last="Ganz"] have been long time varsity players having the senior season they’ve been working for their entire careers.  The trio has teamed with standout freshman Grayson Okoronkwo and junior Theo Lui to be one of the state’s best squads.  Grace is one of the best lead guards in state and the entire senior core has put so much time into their careers and to see it end this way without a shot at playing for state, well it downright sucks. </p>