State High School Basketball Tournaments Summary
March 2014

The conclusion of the 2014 boys’ and girls’ state high school basketball tournaments brought up the ever-popular observation that both events are losing public interest and have done so since the turn of the century.

While no one expects 19,018 rabid basketball fans to turn out as they did on the finals night in 1960 to watch the Edgerton boys defeat Austin, the fact that 5,235 showed up for the opening round of the 2000 AAAA tournament has become the new normal.

As for the girls, this year’s total attendance for all sessions (AAAA, AAA, AA, and A) was 31,676, the third-lowest in tournament history, which began in 1975. Nearly 60,000 spectators attended the 1990 girls’ tournament.

Officials of the all-powerful Minnesota State High School League have reacted thusly – they don’t care. The tournaments are for the kids, their parents, their classmates, and a legion of league bureaucrats and school administrators. And, if your allegiance is not related to a particular participating public or private high school, stay home and watch the event on television. However, if you are a parent or friend of a player, be prepared to be herded, in and out like cattle, between sessions.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune, once the biggest booster of the tournaments, has so little regard for the events that it relegates coverage to pages 11 and 12 of the sports section. Only when something truly unusual happens does the newspaper grant Page One coverage. And so it came to pass that an AAAA boys’ semi-final game merited such attention. Unfortunately for the MSHSL, the circumstances did not shine a favorable light on the league. Minnesota high school basketball does not use a shot clock, so when the Hopkins and Shakopee game went into overtime, essentially nothing happened. Shakopee uses a zone defense and sticks to that strategy. With the score tied at 41, Hopkins coach Ken Novak his players not to advance the ball once the center-court line was penetrated. Point guard Kamali Chambers simply stood there with the ball for three minutes until, with the clock running down, his team missed a shot. The game went into overtime. Hopkins got the ball, and the same scenario was repeated. Shakopee coach Bruce Kugath would not allow his players to come out of the zone, which was his prerogative under the rules. The first overtime was scoreless. So was the second. The third saw each team scoring five points. The fourth overtime also would have been scoreless had it not been for a desperation shot flung 75 feet by Hopkins’ Amir Coffey that somehow went through the net. Coffey is the son of Richard Coffey, current broadcaster and former Gopher great. The elder Coffey was behind the mike when his son’s shot was released.

Immediately cries went out for the MSHSL to initiate a shot clock rule. But the league is a closed circle of like-thinking individuals, and change comes slow. Rural schools hold the power, and while Eden Prairie could easily afford shot clocks and an operator, Cherry High School cannot. Shot clocks are an expense that small schools can’t afford. Meanwhile, everything that coach Kugath did was smart and within the rules of the state high school league. Only a fluke shot interrupted his strategy.

Things were controversy-free during the girls’ tournament, which, owing to the fact that Target Center was otherwise occupied, was held following the boys’ tourney. The story of the girls’ tournament can be summed up in two words: Carlie Wagner.

Wagner and her two twin sisters, freshmen Maddie and Marlie, dominated the AA girls’ event and their team, representing New Richland-HEG, won its second successive state championship.

Possessed with the quickest release seen in either the girls’ or the boys’ tournament, Carlie Wagner shattered the girls’ event single-game record by pouring in 53 points against Pequot Lakes in the opener. New Richland-HEG won, 100-68. She topped her own record of 50 points set in the finals against Braham last year.

In the semi-finals, Wagner scored 41 points in a 87-58 rout of Howard Lake-Winsted-Waverly, and, in the finals, had 36, aiding New Richland-HEG to a 71-61 win over Kenyon-Wanamingo. She now holds the tournament record for most points, most points in a single game, most field goals attempted, and most field goals made. She is headed for the University of Minnesota, unless events emanating from a coaching change throw a wrench into her plans. As a Gopher she would be the next Lindsay Whalen.

Both state tournaments demonstrated flaws that have been evident for years but are unlikely to be corrected. First, there is one class too many. More teams, especially those representing private school teams like DeLaSalle, need to be added to Class AAAA. Currently, because this class has fewer teams, AAAA teams have an easier path to the tournament than those in other classes.

Four classes are too many. In Class AA, two boys’ teams each from the same conference made the state tournament and had played each other twice before gaining entrance. That just should not happen. We can never go back to a one-class system. That ship has sailed. But a three-class system would iron out the inequities of a four-class system. Unfortunately, the high school league doesn’t take suggestions from non-members, even as statewide public interest in high school basketball declines.

Progress in girls’ basketball remains slow with the gap between haves and have-nots continuing to be wide. Too many scores of 64-9, 70-5, and 90-3 are reported, especially from remote rural areas.

Boys’ tournament results:

CLASS AAAA
Hopkins 70, Tartan 58
Shakopee 54, Osseo 51
Cretin-Durham Hall 69, St. Francis 53
Lakeville North 59, Buffalo 47
Hopkins 49, Shakopee 46, 4 OT
Lakeville North 55, Cretin-Durham Hall 52
Lakeville North 84, Hopkins 82

Tourney MVP J.P. Macura’s 43 points lead Panthers’ upset win over Hopkins.

CLASS AAA
DeLaSalle 81, St. Paul Central 48
Orono 77, Marshall 72
Austin 61, Alexandria 50
Holy Family 63, Cloquet 41
DeLaSalle 67, Orono 41
Austin 70, Holy Family 42
DeLaSalle 60, Austin 40

Clearly superior to AAA opponents, DeLaSalle belongs in AAAA, but don’t expect change.

CLASS AA
Annandale 76, New London-Spicer 70
Caledonia 73, St. Paul Academy 53
Esko 57, East Grand Forks 54, OT
Fairmont 58, St. Peter 54
Annandale 81, Caledonia 76
Esko 56, Fairmont 41
Esko 60, Annandale 41

Esko is the first boys’ basketball champions from Section 7 since 1991 (Chisholm).

CLASS A
Belgrade-Brooton-Elrosa 76, Park Christian 50
Fond du Lac Ojibwe 85, Canby 82, 3 OT
Maranatha 95, Red Lake 67
Rushford-Peterson 71, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 63
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 76, Fond du Lac Ojibway 58
Rushford-Peterson 53, Maranatha 51
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 52, Rushford Peterson 40

All-hyphenated final reflects current growing high school consolidation trend.

Girls’ Tournament Results:

CLASS AAAA
Bloomington Kennedy 71, St. Michael-Albertville 57
Eastview 63, St. Paul Central 58
Eden Prairie 67, Anoka 57
Lakeville North 69, Centennial 52
Bloomington Kennedy 61, Lakeville North 51
Eastview 62, Eden Prairie 51
Eastview 64, Bloomington Kennedy 61

CLASS AAA
Minneapolis Washburn 62, Monticello 53
Park Center 68, Simley 53
Fergus Falls 61, Kasson-Mantorville 52
Marshall 68, Chisago Lakes 44
Marshall 52, Fergus Falls 51
Park Center 63, Minneapolis Washburn 59
Park Center 73, Marshall 71, 3 OT

CLASS AA
Esko 39, New London-Spicer 35
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 62, Minneha Academy 43
Kenyon-Wanamingo 64, Redwood Valley 31
New Richland-HEG 100, Pequot Lakes 68
Kenyon-Wanamingo 60, Esko 36
New Richland-HEG 87, Howard Lake Waverly-Winsted 58
New Richland-HEG 71, Kenyon-Wanamingo 61

CLASS A
Goodhue 65, Ada-Borup 58
Mankato Loyola 93, Maranatha 91, OT
Minneota 77, Browerville 50
Win-E-Mac 73, Mt. Iron-Buhl 62
Minneota 45, Goodhue 43
Win-E-Mac 62, Mankato Loyola 21
Win-E-Mac 61, Minneota 53

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