Only One (Out of Four) Champions Is a Public School: State Basketball Tourney Winners Are Southwest Minnesota Christian, Minnehaha Academy, DeLaSalle, Apple Valley
March 23, 2013

Former University of Minnesota head football coach Glen Mason is fond of saying, “You’re either getting better, or you’re getting worse.” In the case of the 2013 Minnesota Boys’ State High School Basketball Tournament, the Apple Valley Eagles got better while the Park Center Pirates were, well, something less.

The two teams met on December 8, and Park Center won by the score of 72 to 70. From there, Apple Valley got better. The Eagles won their next 30 games The Pirates, however, stumbled in losing games to DeLaSalle, Osseo, and Minnetonka before winning the Section 5 tourney and the first two games of the Class AAAA State Tournament.

Apple Valley and Park Center met in the finals on March 23 at Target Center before a crowd announced by tournament officials as numbering 18,551. Led by all-state guard Tyus Jones, Apple Valley jumped off to a 3-0 lead, increased it to 13-8, and, with five minutes remaining in the half, 23-12. The halftime score read: Apple Valley 32, Park Center 25. A successful jump shot by Jones started the second half, and the route was on. With five minutes to go in the game, the lead was 60-40. From there, the Eagles coasted to a 74-57 win. Jones led the way with 28 points, including 18 (of 18) free throws. Dennis Austin had 15 points for Apple Valley. The Pirates’ star performer was Quinton Hooker with 18 points, followed by Devin Buckley with 15.

All four classes crowned champions on March 23. Class AAA, Class AA, and Class A winners showed off what could have been called the state private high school tournament. The A Class tournament even featured a pair of private schools, Maranatha Christian Acadamy and Southwest Minnesota Christian. This holy war was won by SW Minnesota Christian, 81-73.

The AA finals came next and pitted Litchfield, last year’s runner-up, and Minnehaha Academy out of Minneapolis. Litchfield came up the bride’s maid again, falling to the private school academy in a thriller, 56-54. Minnehaha nearly blew a 53-49 lead but won on the strength of free throws by senior guard Kaharri Carter. The losers were led by senior forward Riley Pater who scored 16 points.

Private school success continued in the third game as the mighty DeLaSalle Islanders blew out previously-undefeated Austin. DeLaSalle’s Junior forward 6-7 Reid Travis proved to be the star of the tournament, controlling the pace of the game and scoring 17 points while grabbing a dozen rebounds. Austin’s zone defense proved to be inadequate as the Islander offense pulled the ball out and played catch for long periods. The game was an advertisement for the shot clock as the Packers refused to come out it and after DeLaSalle’s guards.

The Islanders walzed past the stubborn Packers and coach Kris Fadness by 50 to 33, bringing a sad end to what had been a perfect Austin season.

Don’t look for the shot clock in Minnesota high school basketball in the near future. The expense to great to install the system in high school gyms located in such towns as Cook, Sebeka, and Underwood.

As for the private schools, their domination (three out of four champions) was clearly evident, ruining the event for qualifying public schools, especially those located in the cities of Litchfield and Austin. The private schools should be given a special, separate classification. Either that or be required to compete in Class AAAA. What about the so-called weaker private schools? They should learn how to recruit athletes like Minnehaha Academy, Cretin, DeLaSalle, and STA do.