The Big Game February 2011

Players of the Month

Joe Coleman, Hopkins boys

Carl Hipp, Hamline men

Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves

Jeremy Sutherland, Carleton men

Zach Lofton, Columbia Heights boys

2nd Team

Rebekah Dahlman, Braham girls

Aaron Burtzel, St. John's men

Sanjay Lumpkin, Benilde boys

Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota Gopher men

Jackie Johnson, Eden Prairie girls

3rd Team

Dan Schmidtknecht, Gustavus men

Marissa Janning, Watertown-Mayer girls

Majra Mucic, Macalester women

Katie Loberg, Minnesota Gopher women

Tori Rule, Mpls. South girls

Team of the Month

1. Mankato State men

2. Hopkins boys

3. Lakeville North girls

4. Concordia (St. Paul) women

5. St. Thomas men

6. St. Paul Johnson boys

7. Eden Prairie girls

8. Hopkins girls

9. Pequot Lakes girls

10. Carleton and Gustavus men

Coach of the Month

1. Matt Marganthaler, Mankato State men

2. Paul Fessler, Concordia (St. Paul) women

3. Ellen Thompson, Macalester women, and Tim Whittle, Macalester men

4. Guy Kalland, Carleton men, and Mark Hanson, Gustavus men

5. Steve Fritz, St. Thomas men

6. Nelson Whitmore, Hamline men

7. Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls

8. Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes girls

9. Andy Berkvam, Lakeville North girls

10. Josh Wieme, Goodhue girls

Best Game

1. Eden Prairie girls 71 Hopkins 65; Hopkins girls 49 Eden Prairie 44

2. Eden Prairie boys 75 Hopkins 71; Hopkins boys 73 Eden Prairie 60

3. Rochester Lourdes girls 53 Goodhue 50

4. Mankato State men 82 Augustana 79

5. Minnetonka girls 74 Hopkins 71

6. Carleton men 84 St. Olaf 73 (OT)

7. Minnetonka girls 64 Braham 63

8. Braham girls 60 Barnum 49

9. Concordia (St. Paul) women 86 Winona State 74

10. Carleton men 67 St. Thomas 64

Game, Player and Coach of the Day

Monday, February 28--#3A Minnesota Transitions boys 73 at #4A Springfield 63. Player of the Day: Malik El-Amin, Mpls. North boys 23 as North beats Patrick Henry 72-59. Coach of the Day: Keenan Shelton, Mpls. North boys

Sunday, February 27--St. Thomas men 83 Gustavus 77 for MIAC playoff title. There's a write-up of this game embedded in the MIAC post. Player of the Day: Katie Loberg, Minnesota Gopher women, 19 points, 9 boards, 3 steals but the Gophers did exactly what they always seem to do. They led at the half 33-26. In the second half, the Spartans blitzed 'em 39-18.Coach of the Day: Steve Fritz, St. Thomas men.

Saturday, February 26--#2 Concordia (Moorhead) women 71 #1 St. Thomas 61 for MIAC play-off title. Concordia had great balance--Nord 17 Thesing off the bench for 15 Jossert 13 Bauernfiend 11 and 12 rebounds Lippert 8, 7 boards, 3 blocks. The Tommies got 40 points from Taylor Young and Jazmin Townsend, but not much from anybody else. Rachel Booth was 1-for-8 for 2 points after a 2 point night against Gustavus in the semis. Player of the Day: Tori Rule, Mpls. South girls, scored 34 in a 76-63 win over St. Paul Central in the Twin City Game. Coach of the Day: Jessica Beachy Rahman, Concordia.

Friday, February 25--Chisholm boys 68 Ely 51. Bob McDonald defeats son Tom. Carl Hipp, Hamline men, contributes 23 points and 21 boards, but Pipers loses MIAC semi at St. Thomas 78-70. Mark Hanson, Gustavus men, who upset #1 seed Carleton 70-64 in the other semi.

Thursday, February 24--Minnetonka girls 74 Hopkins 71, as Ali MacArthur hits a 2+1 with 3 seconds left. Kiara Buford, Minnesota Gopher women. Buford hit 8-of-17 shots for 21 points as the Gophers surprised, well, they surprised me, edging Michigan 82-78 in 2 OT! Bart Inniger, Minnetonka girls.

Wednesday, February 23--MIAC men's 1st round playoffs, Gustavus men 90 St. Olaf 71. The Gusties broke away from a 59-59 tie at about the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half with a 21-0 spurt over a period of 6 minutes. Bobby Johnson scored 7 quick points and Seth Anderson 4, and then Phil Wirtjes hit a pair of 3s and suddenly it was 72-59 at 6:40. By the time St. Olaf scored again Johnson had hit another 3 and Dan Schmidtknecht a pair of buckets. The Gusties hit a ridiculous 21-of-29 shots in the 2nd half. Dan Schmidtkecht, Gustavus. He is the glue that keep 'em together. Only the #4 scorer with 14 points, but he led the Gusties in rebounds with 5, assists with 7, and steals with 3. Mark Hanson, Gustavus men, who recently became the 65th NCAA D3 coach, and the 6th in the MIAC, to win 400 games.

Tuesday, February 22--#1AA Braham girls 60 #2A Barnum 49. Roosevelt Scott, St. Paul Johnson boys, who scored 40 in the Gov's 104-90 win over Minnesota Transitions. Mike Durbin, St. Ben's women, got his slumping Blazers up for their 1st round playoff challenge, and the Blazers therefore beat Macalester 62-57.

Monday, February 21--#8AA Rochester Lourdes girls 53 #1A Goodhue 50 in Hiawatha Valley Conference championship game. Lourdes finishes at 24-2 ad the #1 seed in Section 1AA West. Goodhue is 23-4 and #1 in 1A. All of Goodhue's losses are to teams that are or have been ranked in AA and AAA. Erika Tipcke, Goodhue girls, led all scorers with 15. Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes girls, who usually wins "the big game" and did this time as well.

Sunday, February 20--Northwestern women 62 Minnesota Gophers 55. I think I'm beginning to detect a pattern. The Gophers led 43-37 with 10:00 left to go. Northwestern out-scored Minnesota 20-6 over the next 8 minutes. Kevin Love, Timberwolves. Hey, he didn't do a whole lot, but he's an all-star.

Saturday, February 19--Carleton men 84 St. Olaf 73 (OT) to clinch the MIAC regular season title (on a tie-breaker with St. Thomas). Jeremy Sutherland scored 10 of his 21 points in the last 4 minutes of regulation to bring the Knights from 8 points down. Seth Jonker scored 26 points for Carleton. Anthony Moody, U-Mary men, 42 pts in a 78-73 win, at St. Cloud State.Guy Kalland, Carleton men

Friday, February 18--The Hopkins boys and girls return the favor for the sweep that Eden Prairie put on to Hopkins a couple weeks ago. #1AAAA Hopkins girls 49 #

2AAAA Eden Prairie girls 44. Joe Coleman, Hopkins boys, 25 points in a 73-60 win over Eden Prairie. Paul Fessler, Concordia (St. Paul) hammers U. Mary 108-74.

Thursday, February 17--The Minnesota Gopher men and women got swept. It was Penn State men 66 Gophers 63 and Purdue women 60 Gophers 50. The men led Penn State 60-57 but got out-scored 9-3 down the stretch. The Gopher women shot 32 percent, Kiara Buford 2-for-15, nuff said. Rebekah Dahlman, Braham girls 35 points in 83-46 rout of #5AA Esko. Phil Johnsrud, Minnewaska boys, who defeated #8AA Montevideo 59-58 in OT to move to a 20-2 record.

Wednesday, February 16--Hamline women 85 St. Thomas 71. Hamline wins their 8th straight home game, beating 1st place St. Thomas easily. Player of the Day: Aaron Burtzel, St. John's 17 points, 10 boards, 6 assists in a 74-67 win over St. Mary's. Coach of the Day: Tim Whittle, Macalester men, who despite their 2-17 record are possibly "most improved" in the MIAC.

Tuesday, February 15--Edina 53

#2AAAA Eden Prairie 52. Jamie Bresnahan scored 19 for the Hornets. Tyus Jones, Apple Valley boys, 33 points, as the Eagles lost to Eastview 74-67. Rocky Peterson, Winona, who defeated #3AAAA Owatonna 63-52 to move into a tie for first place in the Big Nine.

Monday, February 14--Worthington 55

#9A Ellsworth boys 54. Junior Lucas Henning's steal and 2 with 0:29 remaining was the difference. The 15-3 Trojans thus avenged a 1-point loss to the Panthers back in December. Aaron Burtzel, St. John's men 32 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 blocks as the Johnnies won at Gustavus in OT 96-88. Nelson Whitmore, Hamline men, who beat St. Olaf in OT 79-76. Carl Hipp's 1500th career point gave the Pipers the lead for good at 73-71 with 0:50 remaining in OT. Hamline thus clinches the 4th seed in the now rapidly approaching MIAC playoffs.

Sunday, February 13--Minnesota Gopher men 62 Iowa Hawkeyes 45. The Gophers out-scored the Hawks 24-6 late in the 1st half to take a 38-23 lead, which they later extended to 48-27. Trevor Mbakwe, Gopher men, scored 22 of his 24 points in the 2nd half. Tubby Smith, Gopher men, who appears to have lit a fire beneath his squad, at least for today.

Saturday, February 12--#1AAAA Eden Prairie girls 50 at #4AAAA and previously undefeated Mpls. South 41. Sattoria Rule led all players in scoring, however, with 28. Jordan Taylor of the Minnesota Badgers, formerly of Benilde, scored 27 points with 7 assists as the, oh, wait, I meant to say Wisconsin Badgers, beat previously undefeated, #1 ranked Ohio State 71-67. Not only that but Minnesotans scored 51 of the Badgers 71 points on the day--Jon Leuer and Mike Brusewitz each added 12. Tom Schuller, Jackson County Central girls, led his unrated (but now 20-2) team to a 58-44 over #4AA, 15-2 St. Peter.

Friday, February 11--Minnetonka girls 64 Braham 63. The Skippers' Ali McArthur banked home a long, desperation 3 from the right sideline after 'Tonka in-bounded the ball from its own baseline with 3.7 seconds remaining. Rebekah Dahlman, Braham 32 points in a losing effort. Andy Berkvam, Lakeville North girls, who hammered arch-rival Eastwood 66-40 behind 23 and 20 points by Apiew Ojulu and Rachel Banham, respectively.

Thursday, February 10--Minnesota Gophers men and women swept. The women got a moral victory, losing 64-62 at Iowa on a driving lay-up by the Hawkeye's Kachine Alexander at 0:05. The men, not so much, as Illinois pulled away down the stretch. The Gophers led 43-41 at 12:24 but the Illini won the final 12 minutes 30-19, at Williams Arena no less. China Antoine, Gopher women 19 points, 4 assists, 2 steals. Pam Borton, Gopher women.

Wednesday, February 9--Two 1st place teams went down in the MIAC. The bigger upset saw also-ran Macalester 72 at 1st place (tied) St. Ben's 58. The second upset was the 2nd place Carleton men 67 1st place St. Thomas 61. The Mac women led most of the way, falling behind briefly, 47-46 in the second half but immediately pulling away at 58-51 and 65-53. The Carleton men too pulled out to an early lead at 19-10 and 39-29 at the half. St. Thomas got within 61-57 but ran out of gas. Majra Mucic, Macalester women, 17 points, 16 boards and 4 steals. Ellen Thompson, Macalester women.

Tuesday, February 8--Unranked (but 15-4) Chaska 68 #1AAAA Eden Prairie (16-3) 63. EP has been rated number one for just six days, since defeating then number one Hopkins last week, and now that's probably over. Ross Travis scored 23 points to lead the Hawks, Dylan Stewart 24 for the Eagles. Sanjay Lumpkin, Benilde boys (#3AAA), scored 34 as his side pulled away from a 38-38 half-time tie to defeat DeLaSalle (#1AAA) 81-68. Brian Pendleton, Cedar Mountain/Comfrey boys (#10A, 13-2) who defeated Springfield (#3A, 14-2) 80-75.

Monday, February 7--Minnesota Timberwolves 104 at New Orleans 92. The Wolves knocked off the Hornets for the 2nd time this season, and at the Big Easy, no less. Minnesota made 11-of-26 3 pointers and 25-of-25 FT. Michael Beasley and Darko Milicic both left the floor with injuries. Player of the Day: Who else? Kevin Love 27 points and 17 boards. Coach of the Day: Jon Dale, Pequot Lakes girls (#9AA) who gave Esko (#4AA) its 1st loss of the season 88-64.

Sunday, February 6--Ohio State 82 Minnesota Gopher men 69. The Gophers shot 51 percent, but took just 49 shots to 71 for the Buckeyes. Ohio State had 20 offensive boards, Minnesota 6. On the Gophers defensive board, the rebounds were Minnesota 23 Ohio State 20. I thought that was a strong suit? And the turnovers were reversed--Minnesota 19 Ohio State 8. 25 extra possessions for the Buckeyes. At that rate the Gophers would have had to shoot 67 percent to win. Sam Lynn, Minnesota West women, scored 29 points as the Worthington-based CC hammered Fergus Falls 112-65. Coach of the Day: Mike Fury, Minnesota West women

Saturday, February 5--Concordia (St. Paul) women 76 Winona State 64 at Winona. Once 2-5 in the NSIC, the Bears are now 11-5 in 2nd place. Marissa Janning, Watertown-Mayer girls, scoring 34 points tonight in a 62-52 win over Atwater. Coach Paul Fessler, Concordia making a late run on NSIC leaders.

Friday, February 4--Minnesota State Mankato men 92 Augustana 79. A very impressive win for the NSIC 1st place Mavericks at the 2nd place Augies. Mankato seemed to be in control 72-63 but Augie came back to within 77-75. From there it was 15-4 Mavs. Jordan Van Eps, Mounds View boys, scored 37 in an 88-74 upset of Roseville. Matt Marganthaler, Mankato State men.

Thursday, February 3--Minnesota Gopher women 65 at Indiana 59. The Gophers came from 55-46 down at 7:52 to win for the 1st time this year on the road and its third straight game overall. Do themath--that's a 19-4 Minnesota edge down the stretch! Kiara Buford scored 16 points, Katie Loberg 14 and Kristen Dockery 10. Danika Gieske and Kahla Becken, Centennial, 23 points each in a 68-50 win over Blaine. Gieske is among the "most improved" in metro girls basketball in 2011. Nick Rathmann, Blake boys. Blake has lost at least 11 straight to DeLaSalle now, probably more, but I can only find the results back to 2004 online. The average score has been 69-34. Last night Blake threw an actual scare into the Islanders before losing 40-36.

Wednesday, February 2--Indiana men 60 Minnesota Gophers 57. Ouch. The Gophers never led against 3-7 Indiana. Carl Hipp, Hamline men 23 points, 15 boards, 2 blocks. Nelson Whitmore, Hamline men defeated Gustavus 86-74.

Tuesday, February 1--Holy cow! Eden Prairie sweeps Hopkins! #2AAAA Eden Prairie girls 71 #1AAAA Hopkins girls 65, and #3AAAA Eden Prairie boys 75 #1AAAA Hopkins 71. For the girls, Jackie Johnson led all scorers with 16, while Hopkins missed 17 FT. EP pulled away from a 42-41 2nd half lead with a 15-1 run. Hopkins got within 4 but it was never a 1 possession game. Similarly, the EP boys led 69-53 with about 5:00 remaining when Hopkins roared back to within 69-67 at 1:30. Then Dylan Stewart scored for EP on a back door cut and the Eagles survived the Royals' rally, on the Hopkins home court no less. Zach Lofton, #9AAA Columbia Heights, 53 points in a 92-78 upset win over #4AAA Mpls. Washburn David Flom, Eden Prairie boys, and Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls