Friday, March 7th.
Adapted Floor Hockey State Tournament CI Division.
Quarterfinals.
South Washington 17, Buffalo/Montrose/STMA 4. The Coyotes made their first state tournament in school history, but it was South Washington who came away with the victory in Coon Rapids.
Boys Basketball.
Section 5AAA Semifinals.
#2 Monticello 72, #3 Becker 55. Rhys Nebben had a big night with 24 points to lead the Magic to the Section finals. Sawyer Brown led the Bulldogs with 21.
Braydon Dollard, above #4, goes in for a layup against Becker in the Section 5AAA Semifinals.
Saturday, March 8th.
Boys Swim and Dive State Tournament at the U of M.
St. Thomas took home the state championship, while Monticello finished 10th, Delano 11th, and Dassel-Cokato 21st. On the Class AA side, Prior Lake won it all and Mason Eveson of Buffalo finished second in the finals of the 1-meter dive. Get all the results by going to our sports section and checking out my State Swim and Dive recap.
State CI Floor Hockey state tournament.
South Suburban 13, Buffalo/Montrose/STMA 3. The Coyotes making their state tournament debut was looking for their first win in the consolation round but lost to South Suburban ending their season. Still a great season for the Coyotes.
The Coyotes, above, getting pumped for their game with South Suburban on Saturday.
Boys Basketball.
Section 8AAAA Semifinals.
#1 STMA 78, #5 Brainerd 57. Hudson Hochstedler scored 29 points as the Knights rolled past the Warriors and into the Section finals.
#2 Moorhead 82, #3 Buffalo 70. The Bison took a four-point lead into the half, but it was all Spuds in the second half, outscoring the Bison 52-36 in the second half. Reign Battle (29 points) and David Mack (23 points) were too much for Buffalo on Saturday as the Spuds advanced to the finals. Ben Mueller and Jordy Sorenson each scored 10 points for Buffalo.
Section 5AA Quarterfinals.
Breck 78, Rockford 49. Ethan Robran, and Grant Kloss were the top scorers for the Rockets in the loss.
Wed, March 12th.
Girls Basketball Class AAA State Tournament.
#7 Cretin Derham Hall 59, #2 Monticello 50. The Magic came into the tournament undefeated at 29-0, and ranked #1 in the state, but they also came in shorthanded, and it showed. CDH in their first state tournament since 1984, advanced to the semifinals with an upset win at the Pav on the U of M Campus. The Magic hung in early, as the Raiders only led 26-25 at the half. In the second half it went back and forth until CDH pulled away in the last few minutes. Sage Gilbert scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the win, while Madeline Hamiel added 15 for the Raiders. The Magic had balanced scoring, just not enough. Parker Haffeman scored 12, while Maddy Barrow and Reese Hausmann each had 10 points for the Magic. The Magic will take on Rock Ridge Thursday in the consolation semifinals at the Ganglehoff Center on the Concordia St. Paul campus at 4 PM.
The Monticello Magic bench, above, celebrates a three pointer in the Magic’s state tournament game against Cretin Derham Hall.
Thursday, March 13th.
Boys Basketball.
Section 8AAAA Final.
#2 Moorhead 59, #1 STMA 58. The Spuds advanced to the state tournament with low scoring yet thrilling win over STMA on Thursday night in Sartell. The Spuds scored the first five points, but STMA outscored Moorhead 30-17 the rest of the half to take an eight point lead into the break. The Spuds who have dominated second half’s the whole season did again on Thursday. Up two David Mack hit Romeo Kromah for a layup on a back door, then stole the inbounds and hit Jett Feeney for a layup to put the Spuds up six. Behind two three’s from Hudson Hochstedler and one from Jordan Holm the Knights trailed by one with three seconds left and had the ball with a chance to win it. On the inbounds the inbounds deflected of Jack Thelen and hit the backboard, and once Moorhead secured the rebound it clinched a state birth for the Spuds. David Mack led Moorhead with 19 points, while Jeremiah Johnson in his final varsity game for STMA finished with 28 points.
Section 5AAA.
#1 Totino-Grace 78, #2 Monticello 52. The defending state champion Eagles came in as the heavy favorite in this Section final against a team that only won one game just two years ago. Instead it was Monticello who jumped out to a 20-6 lead, before Totino went on an incredible 41-6 run to clinch the Eagles return trip to state. Chace Watley scored 24 for TG, while Jackson Soroko was the top scorer for Monticello with 18 points.
Girls Basketball.
Class AAA Consolation Semifinals.
Rock Ridge 52, Monticello 50. The Magic came into the state tournament undefeated at 29-0 and ranked #1 in the state. Unfortunately for Monti, they were playing short handed at state and lost in the first round to Cretin Derham Hall on Wednesday. In the consolation semifinals on Thursday against Rock Ridge, both teams traded punches until the very end when Sophia Lammpa who had only two points going into the final seconds hit a jumper at the buzzer for a walk off win for the Wolverines. It was a big game for the Lamppa’s with Lexi scoring 19, Maija 14, and Sophia hitting the game winning jumper. Monticello had six players score fiver or more points, led by Abby Ruda with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
