Minnesota Playoff Central: Wayzata at Hopkins, Tonight

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's the most anticipated high school basketball game in as long as I can remember, it's the [program_tooltip program_id='2075965' first='Trojans' last=''] and Royals, round three!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Big Stage</strong>. Game Three and it's at Hopkins. And it's sold out and all eyes of the high school sports world, maybe Twin Cities sports world, will be on this game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Why?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The last time they played there were students following Wayzata to the locker room throwing stuff while the [program_tooltip program_id='2075965' first='Trojans' last=''] didn't have a key to get in their locker room. There was the no hand shake, the Hopkins assistant chest bumping the Wayzata head coach on the way to the locker room, assistants on both staffs having to be held back saying stuff, a head coach suspended for a game for kicking a chair and hollering things quite aggressively, there was an assistant who hasn't coached since, assistants yelling and hollering, there were head coaches and assistant coaches all over the refs during the game, players posing and hollering after every made basket, and all of it led to quite the spectacle. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the days and week that followed there were multiple Wayzata suspensions, Hopkins took away the baseline student sections, the state sent a warning to the Lake about how to behave on the sidelines, and a battle about where the section final would take place. The state left that in the hands of the section and of course Hopkins did not budge and the game is at Hopkins. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And oh yeah, this is good teams with good players! And great coaches! Two State title contenders! It's [player_tooltip player_id='1550877' first='Jayden' last='Moore'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1560867' first='Christian' last='Wiggins'], it's [player_tooltip player_id='1574212' first='Anthony' last='Smith'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1560807' first='Isaac' last='Olmstead'], it's [player_tooltip player_id='1454976' first='Wyatt' last='McBeth'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1595734' first='JJ' last='Semanko'], it's Hart, it's Nolen, it's Ahmen Nur and it's a ton of talent. The game itself without all the crazy is a big deal. But the way everybody behaved last time, the game is a must see!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Playoff Central</strong>. Don't look past those Section 5AA semi-finals at Minnehaha Academy where now ranked Southwest Christian takes on Minneapolis North, both of which have been battled tested by playing a tough schedule, and then winner of that games takes on Breck or Hiawatha Collegiate. You have a nice group of stars to see including [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr, Miles Netwon, [player_tooltip player_id='1560864' first='JP' last='Musoke'], [player_tooltip player_id='2103256' first='Kam'Ron' last='Soloman'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2103376' first='Brayden' last='Beckering']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Upset City</strong>. Madelia knocked off ranked Springfield. Six-foot-3 freshman Kaydon Firchau continued his outstanding season and led Madelia with 28 points and Springfield had a terrible time slowing him down. Madelia also got 20 points from Hayden Jones and Madelia is moving on to the section final. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Performers</strong>.   BOLD had four players in double figures beat Cedar Mountain in overtime led by Hudson Vosika scoring 18, Owen Baumgartner scoring 16, and [player_tooltip player_id='1587155' first='Jack' last='Gross'] scoring 16.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior [player_tooltip player_id='2121332' first='Deron' last='Russell'] scored 30 points for Waseca who knocked off a good young JWP team and will face Belle Plaine in the finals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Niklas Theraldson and [player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] each scored 19 points as Belle Plaine cruised past GSL 81-57.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tip of the Hat to the Career</strong>.  [player_tooltip player_id='2447261' first='Brayden' last='Sturm'] of Springfield led his team to 79 wins the last four seasons as a multi-year winner of All League honors. Sturm helped Springfield into he top ten this year and the Tigers were a strong program his entire time in the program. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->