Saturday's Breakdown Boys TipOff was a great show with lots of competitive games that, all in all, suggest that Class AAAA may be more wide open this year than it has been in a long time.
• #1AAAA East Ridge lost to #7AAAA Prior Lake 70-62, as the Lakers pulled away from a 38-all tie at 10 minutes and a 49-48 lead at 6. Prior Lake post Robert Jones failed to score in the 1st half but scored 3 times down the stretch, once on a fast-break dunk and again on a spectacular put-back inside of 30 seconds. The Lakers other big, Dawson Garcia also scored 3 times down the stretch and assisted on Jones 3rd bucket. All in all, Garcia and Jones outplayed the Raptors bigs Courtney Brown and Ben Carlson while point guard Sam Nissen was more than solid on the perimeter.
• #2AAAA Hopkins outlasted #4AAAA Lakeville North 78-72 as Zeke Nnaji scored 25 for the Royals and Tyler Wahl 24 for the Panthers. Hopkins guards Jalen Dearring and Kerwin Walton had been hurt and weren't even on the Breakdown rosters, but both played and scored 25 between them. Hopkins had lost its opener to East Ridge last week 74-65.
• #3AAAA Eden Prairie lost to #5AAAA Park Center 49-46 on reserve David Ijadimbola's 3 from the top of the key at the final buzzer. It was his only bucket of the night on what was obviously a set play designed for him coming out of a Pirates timeout. Park Center's Detavius Frierson had put the Pirates in a position to win with 16 points.
• #6AAAA Wayzata was demolished by #1AAA DeLaSalle 70-49, and the Islanders were without guard Tyrell Terry. Jamison Battle scored 40 for De, and the Islanders out-quicked the the Trojans all over the court.
• #8AAAA Cretin outclassed #9AAAA Rochester John Marshall 81-64, though JM's Matthew Hurt scored 42. Amari Carter and Curtis Jones combined for 44 for the Raiders.
Compared to the athleticism and the run-and-gun play of Class AAAA, the day's top smaller class matchup was a chess match, but what a great chess match as #4AA Perham defeated #5AA Caledonia 66-61. The stars here were the coaches Dave Cresap and Brad King.
Other top individuals were Jack Thompson, St. Thomas guard, with 37 points in a 78-77 win over Cooper; Cameron Steele's 43 in Minnetonka's 105-77 shellacking of Rochester Mayo; and Antwon Kimmons 45 points in Tartan's 74-67 loss to Edina.
Breakdown All-Stars
1st Team--Zeke Nnaji, Dawson Garcia, Michael Hurt, Jack Thompson, Jalen Suggs
2nd Team--Jamison Battle, Carter Steele, Amari Carter, Courtney Brown, Antwon Kimmons, Detavius Frierson, Tyler Wahl
Player of the Day--Prior Lake's Dawson Garcia didn't explode for 40+ like several players did today but against the state's #1AAAA opponent, his 25 points was the day's most impressive and consequential effort.
Team of the Day--After all was said and done, right now, with several of the top AAAA teams losing and DeLaSalle demolishing the #6AAAA team without its best player! I'd have to say that the Islanders are the state's all-around #1 team from all classes.
Coach of the Day--Coach James Ware of Park Center played a little bit of chess, too, in his team's nail-biter win over #3AAAA Eden Prairie.
Game of the Day--But the game of the day? I have to go back to Prior Lake's very impressive 70-62 win over #1AAAA East Ridge which, despite the 8 point final margin, was not decided until Robert Jones improbably put-back inside of 30 seconds.
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