Hopkins romped. Lakeville North survived. The result is a rubber match. A 3rd meeting for the state title in recent years between these 2 Class AAAA heavyweights. In 2014, #2 seed Lakeville North (27-5) shocked #1 seed Hopkins (30-2) 84-82 in the final as J.P. Macura torched the Royals for 43 points and the Panthers wiped out a 5 point deficit in the final 50 seconds. 2 years later Hopkins got revenge in the final 64-55 as Amir Coffey scored 19 points. Of course, there's also that little matter of Lakeville North's upset of Hopkins in the 1st round in 2015. The unseeded Panthers knocked off the #3 seeded Royals 65-61 after breaking away from a 58-all tie. Lakeville then lost to champion Apple Valley and settled for 4th place.
Still, with this being the 3rd title matchup between the red and the blue, I would still call this a rubber match.
Lakeville North 47 Park Center 45
The 1st semi-final was 2 games, as Park Center coach James Ware was quick to point out. North ran out to leads of 16-2 and 24-4 and "won" the 1st half 31-14. Park Center ground out a 31-16 "win" in the 2nd half that left it 2 points short at the final buzzer. So, it was 2 games in that each team "won" one half, but also in that a least one team was running in the 1st half. Neither team did much of that in the 2nd.
Both coaches credited their success to their defense. In the 1st half, North consistently beat the Park Center offense down the floor so that the Pirates faced a defense that was set up just the way coach John Oxton wanted it. There were no open looks and, as a result, Park Center shot 4-of-22 (18 percent). Lakeville also did a great job on the boards, as coach Oxton pointed out, grabbing 16 defensive rebounds and limiting the Pirates to 5 offensive boards. Lakeville won the battle in the paint 12-6, on 2nd chancers 5-0, and on the fast break 9-4. Even then Park Center won the battle off turnovers if just 7-5.
This one thing--points off turnovers--turned out to be the big preview of the 2nd half. Park Center shot a lot better but still only 11-of-26. Lakeville shot a lot worse. 30 percent vs. 48 percent in the 1st, and 2-of-8 from the line. But the big story was 15 Lakeville turnovers, 6 of them on steals by Emmanuel Tamba, who also had 3 in the 1st half, for a total of 9. (There is no state tournament record for steals. This has to be in the ballpark.) Park Center enjoyed a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers, but it wasn't quite enough.
Down 38-15 at 16:01, Park Center got it within 20 for good at 40-22 at 13:38 on a Tamba layup. They got it inside 10 for good at 45-36 at 7:28 on a 3 by Tommy Chatman. They got within 5 for good only with 51 ticks on the clock at 47-43 on a 2+1 by Khari Broadway. 2 missed 1-and-1 FT and a turnover by Lakeville led to another Tamba layup at 17 seconds. 2 more missed FT by North gave the Pirates one last chance. Coach James Ware said, "We don't have a single play in our offense designed for Emmanuel to score," and so on this final play Tamba drove into the lane expecting somebody to lay off his man to help out. He would then dish it to whoever's man was helping or to Dain Dainja, "but nobody left their man," Tamba said, "and I had to take the shot." It missed at the buzzer.
Tamba finished with 16 and those 9 steals. Dainja eventually got off 8 heavily contested shots, making 5 for 11 points plus 11 boards. Tamba had 8 in each half, while Dainja got 9 of his 11 in the 2nd. Tommy Jensen led Lakeville with 16 points, 11 on 3-of-4 3s in the 1st half. Tyler Wahl added 11 plus 15 boards, 5 assists and 3 blocked shots, but he also had 6 turnovers in the 2nd half.
Hopkins East Ridge
The 2nd AAAA semi-final was just one game. For East Ridge it was one long long game of wheel spinning against an aggressive Hopkins defense. It was pretty even early on as the Hopkins offense struggled to. The Royals made just 1-of-3 3s, and led 26-24. But it was already 20-10 Hopkins in the paint, and the Royals' 6-11 Zeke Nnaji had darn near-outscored East Ridge's 3 big guys--6-10 Ben Carlson, 6-7 Kendall Brown and 6-6 Courtney Brown--all by himself (13 to 15). Hopkins was shooting 44 percent, East Ridge 35. East Ridge stayed close by making 4 3s to Hopkins' 1.
When Hopkins started swinging the ball to the other side, said coach Ken Novak, Jr., it opened everything up and the Royals shot 19-of-26 (73 percent) in the 2nd half. East Ridge actually improved to 36 percent but it was far from good enough. Hopkins led by 10 at the 10 minute mark, 20 (65-45) a minute later, and as many as 26 at 71-45. The final was 71-47.
Ken Novak, Jr., had said several times this year that this Hopkins team didn't defend like the Hopkins teams of old. Maybe not well enough to win a state championship. Tell it to East Ridge.
Zeke Nnaji was a man among boys, scoring 23 points with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. Kerwin Walton, Andy Stafford and Jalen Dearring all scored in double figures, and Nnaji and Dane Zimmer were in double figures in boards. East Ridge had just 4 more turnovers than Hopkins, and yet the Royals led in points off turnovers 19-6. They were a lot better at converting their fast break opportunities. Similarly, East Ridge actually had 8 offensive boards to 6 for Hopkins, yet Hopkins led in 2nd chance points, 10-4. East Ridge couldn't convert much of anything inside, and its wasn't any different just because they grabbed an offensive board or 2.
The Outlook
I had picked Park Center and Hopkins, each by 2, and then Park Center by 1. But, today, Lakeville North won by 2, Hopkins by 24. Gotta go with Hopkins, right? Well, right. Lakeville has OK size, but nobody in Minnesota right now is as strong as Zeke Nnaji when he wants to be. North has the quickness to run with Hopkins better than East Ridge, but it doesn't have the size to stay with Zeke Nnaji. Hopkins by 10.
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