The best of 2025-26 Week 2

A full week 2 is now complete.  22 more games are in the books, here's the best of what I saw and didn't see.

Nominate Me a Commissioner Please!
Monday night I tried to go see an Exploration home game not knowing for sure if they had a home gym or not (turns out they don't).  They were on the road at Metro Schools College Prep.  Then the Hub had the Cristo Rey vs Prairie Seeds location wrong and I read it wrong on the EMAC site.  Wednesday off to Higher Ground, no game.  Thursday, off to Community of Peace at Prairie Seeds and the game must have been late with no JV because I arrived early only to find locked doors.

Sad to see the Tipoff Classic get cancelled due to safety concerns.  Thankfully many of the teams were able to play the games as regular non-conference games.  But we lost the chance for some non-metro teams to be on the big stage such as the Hills-Beaver Creek vs Braham game.  One fun outcome though was Breck and Liberty Classical matching up as they couldn't reschedule their out-state opponents.  Liberty ends up winning that game which is an eye opener that will probably get more attention than the game they would have had.

Monday
St. Paul Central rolls along with an 18 point win over Camden.  Camden fell apart late and then they pulled the plug with 3:15 to play and it was only a 15 point game.  The Camden freshman bigs, Lamar McBride and star prospect Malik Martin, didn't disappoint.  Both ended up with double doubles.  McBride is a wrecking ball on the glass.  Martin is a smooth lefty and while the jumper needs work, you can why he has the hype.  Camden would come from 6 down at half on Saturday to pickup a very good win over Maranatha at the Southside Showcase.  Glad I mentioned Trequan White in my preview as he had another big game in the win.  Also in the Southside Showcase, Central would go on to easily beat Minneapolis South.

Tuesday
Forward Isaan Kitila of St. Anthony with a clutch 2nd half controlling the paint.  Huskies won their Tri-Metro matchup with Fridley 70-61 in overtime.  PACT defeated Eagle Ridge 65-58 in a MCAA showdown.  Good guard matchup there with PACT's Fred Onyinkwa (18 pts) and ERA's Braxton Ray (20 pts) leading their teams.  Low scoring affair saw Rochester John Marshall defeat Hastings 50-39  Rockets had a 17-2 run and held Hastings without a FG for 11 minutes in the 2nd half.  Eden Prairie continued their good start with a 81-64 section win at Shakopee.  That was a 24 point game early in the 2nd half.  Carter Pulrang with 6 of his 7 triples in the first half on his way to 27 points.  Hamze Yusuf really pushes the pace and attacks the rim.  He scored 19 pts.  Luke Schroeder with 26 points for Shakopee but not much help beyond that.  Shakopee 0-3 and all of those in the section to start the year.  But some adjustment was to be expected with an all junior starting lineup.  White Bear Lake with a good Suburban East win at Mounds View.  Colin Piper made a living at the foul line in the 1st half on his way to 23 points in the win.  Andrew Aitkin 25 points and 5 triples for Mounds View.

Wednesday
The battle of Bloomington highlighted a quiet schedule.  Jefferson took an 11 point lead with 13:30 to go but only scored 3 field goals the rest of the way.  Star soph PG Judah Mitchell was the story for Kennedy after that.  A couple of steals and a tip in to spark an 8-0 run to make it a game.  Then 2 hoops with under 2 minutes left to keep Kennedy ahead.  He iced it at the line with 2 FT with 8 seconds left.  Mitchell with 15 of his 24 in the 2nd half.  Kennedy wins 49-44.  They also added soph Musunguindji Mwenentanda from Sioux Falls Lincoln.  He was a top 10 prospect in South Dakota.  Add in 8th grader Jerrell Washington Jr and you have a group to keep an eye on long term.  MTS went into Jump City and had no problems with High School for Recording Arts.  Running time victory for the Wolves 85-41.

Thursday
Now the first of back to back days of making up for lost time with the Wright County Conference.  Jack Burke of SW Christian and Kolby Christl of Chanhassen lighting it up in their game.  SW Christian would fall behind by 10 at the half but tie the game at 59 with 5:34 left.  Christl with a triple and a 3 point play in a 10-1 run after that to keep Chan ahead.  The Stars would get 1 final chance but couldn't convert.  75-73 Chanhassen win.  Christl with 4 triples and 35 points.  Bennet Barger adds 21 points for the Storm.  Jack Burke with 32 points and 7 threes to lead SW Christian. Jameson McCarthy 12 of his 14 in the second half for the Stars.

In my live game, Delano hung around with #5AAA Mahtomedi until late in the first half.  Zephyrs stretched a 5 point lead late to 12 at the half.  Then they ran away in the second half on their way to a 74-38 win.  Delano trying some triangle and 2 (or so it appeared) on Mark Graff and Willie Roelofs in the first half.  Always fun to see some junk defense.  Noah Carlson 19 points and 5 triples to lead Mahtomedi.  Most of that damage in the 1st half.  Roelofs14 and Graff with 12.

Friday
Game of the day saw #6AA Holy Family win 74-68 at #10AA Minnehaha.  Holy Family opened up a 16 point first half lead.  That was cut to 9 before going back to 15.  Holy Family hung on from there.  They played most of the 2nd half without PG Geno Ward (11 pts 1st half).  Having that ball handler was a factor.  Minnehaha PG Carter Cupito with 4 steals, 3 of them leading to layups in the rally.  But the 4th was a highlight chasedown block by Dylan Baker with 1:36 left in a 6 point game.  Add in the game circumstances and it was a major wow moment.  Cupito 18 points and all those steals to lead Minnehaha.  Guard Ayden Green showing a nice burst on his way to 16 points.  Drew Coleman 20 points and Lexyn Grof adds 15 for Holy Family.

Buffalo went on the road for a 70-66 win at St. Louis Park.  Lots of trading runs in this one.  Buffalo 8 in a row for a lead only to see St. Louis Park score the last 10 of the half and go to halftime up 33-32.  Then a 9-0 Orioles run to open a 10 point lead in the 2nd half.  Buffalo flips the script 9-0 to take the lead with 7:40 left.  They stretch it to 7 and hang on.  Matthew Jordan 23 points on 13-18 FTs.  Soph Thomas Jordan continues to impress with 29 points (11-14 FT).  No Eli Hegle for the Bison.  St. Louis Park wing Matthew Johnson continues to be a name to watch.  He scored 21 points to lead the Orioles.

Forest Lake used a 12-2 run early in the 2nd half to gain just enough separation from Irondale.  Jayden Dillard with a late stepback 3 that was a dagger in a 4 point game.  Rangers win 67-57.  Dillard leads Forest Lake with 15 points. Cameron Cramble using his size advantage for a game high 29 points and he added 10 rebounds on my sheet.  Forest Lake running some skip action on the first play of the game for DJ Westman.  Thank you UConn for that.  I'm here for it.  A fun set even it does involve an element of THE WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE.

St. Croix Lutheran defeated New Life Academy 84-73.  The Crusaders jumped out to a 17-1 lead but a pesky 2-3 zone from the Eagles saw the lead cut all the way down to 7.  St. Croix Lutheran pushed the lead back to 22 before a late rally tightened up the final score.  Isaac Garcia 5 triples and 17 points.  3 of those triples to extend the lead in the 2nd half.  Thomas Hermann with 20.  Forward Riley Johnson adds 18 for the Crusaders.  John Norring 23 points and 4 triples for New Life.

The late game was the back half of the Minnesota River Conference Revival Tournament out at Mayer Lutheran. Mayer Lutheran led most of the game.  A 10-0 run early in the 2nd half was the difference here.  Junior guard Ben Lindesmith 25 points to lead the Crusaders to victory.  Soph Carter Neitzel adds 16 points.  They start 4 juniors and a sophomore with 2 freshman off the bench.  Mitchell Schmidt leads Jordan with 17 points.  8th grader Henry Hanzel showing he's ready with 13 points.  The lanky forward will definitely be one to watch for the Hubmen in the future.

Spectrum struggled with United Christian Academy.  Spectrum went 7 minutes without a FG in the 2nd half. United Christian went 5 minutes without a FG against the Sting 1-3-1 during that same stretch.  United Christian up 3 with 2 minutes left but they give up a 10-2 run to end the game.  3 ball ties it, then Eli Miller coast to coast for the lead.  UCA ties it and its Miller with the putback for the lead again.  UCA gets a good look at a final 3 that doesn't go.  They give up 2 offensive boards on free throws in the final minute which was a killer.  Lots of open 3s against the zone for UCA.  Spectrum wins 68-63.  Evan Grover 15 pts, Sam Rich 14 for UCA.  Eli Miller 23 points, Cody Benson 22 to lead Spectrum.

Saturday
I did an online version of what I would have watched if the Tipoff Classic had been played. But being online added the advantage of being able to jump sites.

#7AAA Orono blewout Faribault 77-39 in the opener.  Orono taking advantage of suspect Faribault guard play.  That made post touches for Ryan Kreager few and far between.  He was held to 3 points.  Brennan Doherty with 5 3s and an assist for the 1st 17 Orono points.  He finished with 20 points. Tommy Lundell adds 15.  Breuer Wolff 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Falcons.

Best game of the day was the #1AAA Totino-Grace 72-64 win over #5AAAA Hopkins.  A 17-3 TG run would give them a 10 point lead going to the break.  Hopkins would rally back to take a 50-44 lead on an Ahmed Nur dunk.  TG right back with a 9-0 run. Dothan Ijadimbola with 2 buckets.  Malachi Hill with a big 3 off an offensive rebound and 2 FTs to push the lead to 7 and Hopkins couldn't recover.  Dothan Ijadimbola was terrific with 27 points and the 2 clutch buckets with under 4 min left.  Its the best I've seen him play in a while.  Malachi Hill adds 14.  Xavier Frelix 15 to lead Hopkins.  Tre Moore, Jayden Moore and Ahmed Nur each add 13.

Good win 65-61 for Lakeville North at Spring Lake Park.  That was despite Nolan Myren going off for 32 points for Spring Lake Park.  But nobody else was in double figures.  A surprisingly sloppy game from SLP.  Owen Brezinski leads Lakeville North with 19 points.  He had an important putback in the last minute.  Dane Danielson adds 16 points and 12 rebounds.

#1AAAA Wayzata jumped all over #4AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall in the first half.  52-28 at the half with everything going right.  Very much like last year's AAAA championship game.  CDH would cut that lead all the way down to 9 in the middle of the 2nd.  JoJo Mitchell and Ty Schlagel leading that rally.  But CDH runs out of gas and Wayzata runs away for a 96-66 win.  Nolan Anderson 21 pts, 11 rbs, 3 blk on my sheet.  Christian Wiggins 20 points 6 rebounds. Xavy Ivey 18 points.  JoJo Mitchell 26 points and 4 3s to lead CDH.  Ty Schlagel with 12 of his 16 in the 2nd half.

Then over to the Showside Showcase with Anoka taking on the hosts Benilde-St. Margaret's in the late game.  Anoka without Bryce Gaustad, Kolden Johnson and 1 other starter for this one.  All BSM in this one against the depleted Tornadoes lineup.  12 players score with 9 having at least 6 points.  Wing Braylon Kelly-Taylor with 12 points to lead the way.  Brody Lakanen 16 points to lead Anoka.

Then the intended Tipoff Classic final of #8AAAA Prior Lake at Edina.   24 all at half as Edina went 7 minutes without a field goal.  Vince Cronin with a 3 point play and lob dunk off a turnover.  Mason Mohs adds a 3.  Its part of a 19-6 run to open up a 52-41 lead.  Junior forward Trey Theis off the bench with a pair of 3s as Prior Lake tried to cut into the lead to no avail.  Edina wins 68-52.  Kolby Thompson 4 3s and 19 points to lead Prior Lake. Vince Cronin 18 of his 25 in the second half to help Edina pull away.

2025 Southside Showcase 2 Preview

The 2nd round of the Southside Showcase is this Saturday.  Benilde- St. Margaret's will once again host these games.  A full slate of 6 games on the schedule.  Here's a preview of what to watch.

Game 1 11:45 AM: Simley vs #6AA Holy Family 
Holy Family opened their season with a quality section win over Blake 82-80 on Tuesday.  Guard Lexyn Grof leads a higher powered Fire offense that features plenty of shooting.  Point guard Geno Ward along with wings Drew Coleman and Carson Kuchenbecker are also players to watch for Holy Family.  They'll be coming off a quick turnaround as they play at #10AA Minnehaha on Friday night.

Simley started off the season by winning the Randolph tournament but they've struggled recently losing their last 2.  That included a 72-53 loss at New Prague on Tuesday.  Spartans working with a young lineup as they look to get back on the right track.  The following games against St. Paul Harding and their Metro East Conference opener at Hill-Murray are a better opportunity for that.

Game 2  1:15 PM: #8AA Minneapolis North vs St. Cloud Tech
Minneapolis North is off to a strong start going 3-0 against city competition.  That includes a 91-69 win over section rival Hiawatha last week.  The guard duo of J'Marion Sanders and Cordae Williams leads the Polars.  Williams is having a breakout season averaging 18 points a night.  Sanders is pouring in 26.7 points per game with a season high of 35 in the opener at Minneapolis Edison.

St. Cloud Tech lost their opening 2 games last week.  That included a 14 point loss at #6AAAA Alexandria and a close 3 home loss to Marshall.  Going back to last season, the Tigers have lost 16 of their last 17 games.  6'4 junior Jiech Jiech has averaged 27 points in the 2 games.  6'4 Junior Nick Brakes averaged 17 points..  

Game 3 2:45 PM: Minneapolis South vs St. Paul Central 
South opened their season with a blowout win at Robbinsdale Cooper.  The perimeter play for the Tigers is their strength.  Sophomore Jamair Wright runs the show.  Senior Ridwan Ibrahim and junior Ramadan Ibrahim are top scorers on the wings.

St. Paul Central is 4-0 to start the season.  That included a 78-68 win over St. Thomas Academy in last week's Southside Showcase.  Then a quality 73-55 win at Minneapolis Camden on Monday.  Guard Eli Moseman is off to a strong start.  He scored 33 points in the season opener against Woodbury.  He added 23 more in the win at Camden.  His matchup against the South guards will be one to watch.

Game 4 4:15 PM: Minneapolis Camden vs Maranatha Christian Academy
Minneapolis Camden features a pair of talented freshman forwards.  Malik Martin is regarded as the top player in the state in the 2029 class.  The lefty moves smoothly, can handle and score it.  Lamar McBride was a starter for the Patriots last season.  He's a big body who grabs a ton of rebounds.  Both of them had double figure points and rebounds in the loss to St. Paul Central.  Also keep an eye on wing Trequan White as the perimeter option.

Maranatha is 1-1 to start the season.  The Mustangs are on the fringe of the state top 10 poll and a favorite to win the Skyline Conference.  They lost their opener by 2 points at #7AA Lake City.  They rebounded with a blowout win at New Life Academy on Tuesday.  Guard Marcus Marshall is one of the state's top scorers.  Teni Phillips and Eli Ahrends are the size options to counter the strong Camden front line.

Game 5 5:45 PM: Stewartville vs #9AAA Hibbing
Stewartville is 2-0 to start the year.  They have 2 single digit wins including a 3 point win at Hiawatha Valley League rival Lake City.   That start is despite having to replace a significant portion of the roster.  Guard Cayden Heydt leads the Tigers.  Freshman Dexter Simmons has also given Stewartville good minutes already this season.

Hibbing is 3-0 to start the season and the favorite to make state out of section 7AAA.  This is their first road trip of the season.  The Bluejackets feature a lineup of mostly juniors.  Forward Ray Brau and lefty guard Jack Bottoms are players to watch.  Brau is averaging over 23 points with 12 rebounds per game.  He's one of the top junior big men in the state.  Bottoms is a great complement as a shooter.  He had 31 points with 4 treys in the season opening win over Chisago Lakes.

Game 6 7:15 PM Anoka at Benilde-St. Margaret's
Anoka's defeated Stillwater by 4 points in last week's Southside Showcase.  The Tornadoes return this week after losing non-conference games against Northwest Suburban Conference foes Andover and Champlin Park.  The frontline duo of Bryce Gaustad and freshman Kolden Johnson (#2 freshman in Minnesota) has been outstanding.  Both averaging over 20 points per game.  Plus there's Dre Ellis on the perimeter where he can score 20+ on any given night.

The hosts have faced a very difficult schedule to start the season with road losses at #5AAAA Hopkins and #2AAA Richfield.  They recovered from that nicely by putting up 107 points in a blowout win over neighbor Breck on Tuesday.  All of this without their top player, Kobbe Willis, who's out due to injury.  While Anoka is big, the Red Knights are not so we have a classic size vs speed matchup.  The Benilde-St. Margaret's lineup is perimeter oriented with Milton Nuahn, Meech Williams, Jaidyn Girabaldi, Conner Watts, Cameron Best and Ford Nicholas all being important pieces.  Expect plenty of points to be scored in this one.

The best of 2025-26 Week 1

The first full week of games is in the book and the season is now underway for just about everybody.  Apologies to the Wright County East teams as I haven't seen anybody there yet.  But all other leagues and the independents have at least 1 box checked.  Here's a synopsis of the 24 games I saw during the week.

Class A
Impressive opening week for Heritage Christian.  They beat a good Hope Academy team.  Then late Friday they broke the game open in the second half to blow out St. Agnes.  All of this without arguably their best player, forward Aaron Palmer.  Hope Academy was coming off a quality blowout win over Math & Science.  

North Lakes survived a 30 point onslaught from Greg Hovey to hold off International School 57-53.

Class AA
Spectrum junior guard Cody Benson set a new school record with 41 points in the opener against Parnassus on Monday.

Now let's talk some east side hoops.  On Wednesday, Nova Classical held Hmong Academy to 3 2nd half field goals to run away with a win in 4AA.  Hmong Academy with a couple of bigs and a couple of guards for what looks like their best team in a long team. 

Friday night saw St. Paul Harding defeat neighbor Twin Cities Academy 69-62.  That game is a section game now too as Harding as dropped down into 4AA.  Now it wasn't pretty as the game featured 53 fouls, 69 free throws, 2 lunar landings and a showing of Gone With the Wind but a win is a win.  Soph guard Derek Green 22 points and Pierre Glass 12 of his 16 in the 2nd half to help the Knights hold on.  Jacob Stiele with 2nd half foul trouble but he almost carried TCA to a win with 10 of his 21 points in the final 5:13.

How about Mounds Park Academy winning the battle of East Larpenteur on Saturday.  They go into Hill-Murray and get a 53-48 win.  They held the Pioneers to 1 FG in the 1st 10 minutes on their way to a 15-2 start.  John Omoyeni fouling out with just under 4 minutes left was too much to overcome for Hill-Murray.  Pioneers were able to tie the game at 48 with 2 minutes left but never had the lead.  

Class AAA
Good start to the week for a trio of Mississippi 8 teams.  Monday saw Zimmerman blow out Pine City.  Though I was impressed with Pine City soph wing Grant Haverhals.  Zimmerman star wing Thomas McEachern 14 to lead the Thunder.  Monticello blew out a rebuilding St. Michael Albertville squad.  Carson Deibele 23 points and 3 treys for the Magic.  STMA difficulty scoring with a young roster and minimal experience.  Frosh Tanner Heinen with a very productive 11 points off the bench for STMA.

Tuesday saw Becker jump all over Legacy 46-15 to start.  Legacy would cut that lead all the way down to 13 mid second half before falling 85-60.  This had the makings of possibly the top non-con game on both teams schedules but didn't turn out that way.  Nathan Weiss 28 points and 6 treys to lead Becker.  Becker wing Sawyer Brown out due to injury.

Class AAAA
Tuesday saw Bloomington Jefferson upset Holy Angels.  The Jags doing what the Jags do as they're undermanned but run their stuff and don't beat themselves.  Wing Oliver McInerney with a late 3 and 2 late free throws to win it.  Staying in the Metro West, Owatonna beat New Prague 72-48.  Looks like another long year in New Prague.  Soph wing Jackson Holder 13 points and 3 triples for Owatonna.  Junior PG Willie Moore with 21 points to lead Owatonna.

Blaine wing Shiloh Ayitey is off to a nice start.  He had 18 points for the Bengals in a 22 point win over Andover on Tuesday.  Staying in the Northwest Suburban, for entertainment value, watching Coon Rapids guard Kirby Wymore is well worth it.  He had 30 points with 6 triples in a home loss to Apollo.  He followed that up with 26 more points and 6 more 3s in a loss at Cambridge-Isanti.  In that Apollo game, I can see why De'Anthony Sellis is a rising name in the 2027 class.  Big and athletic, he had 16 points in the game.  I also liked how Micah Mwachukwu ran the show for the Eagles including his 17 points.

Eagan's defense clamped down on St. Thomas Academy in their 75-48 opening win.  16 point lead going to the half as they held Lars Osteraas to 1 field goal.  Junior forward Donjae Knox 13 points with an expanded perimeter game.  Junior Ryan Miskowicz 17 points leads Eagan.

Minnetonka doesn't have size but they do pressure the ball well.  They are young with 2 starting freshmen too .  They won at Burnsville 64-54.  Beckham Nelson is one of those freshmen and he had 11 points with a pair of triples.  Anthony Ortiz is the veteran and he led the way with 5 3s and 28 points.  Forward Yannick Amoyi took advantage of the size issue on his way to 19 points.

Wing Blake Johnson 5 triples and 17 points for Farmington in a section win over Rochester Century.  The Tigers held Century scoreless for 7 minutes early in the 2nd half on their way to a 24-2 run.  That broke open their 66-38 win.  

Woodbury fell 56-49 to Hudson on Friday.  Wild first half of this one.  Hudson goes 1-3-1 to start and takes a 9-0 lead.  Woodbury takes their 2nd time out and Hudson goes man.  Junior forward Tyler Erickson is off the Woodbury bench and hits 6 3s in the half.  His streak gets them back within 14-13 and Hudson has to take timeout and go back to the 1-3-1.  Erickson with 7 3s and 23 points in the game.  Bouncy wing Jace Matacyyzski 21 points to lead Hudson.  He had a clutch 3 point play to break a late tie and then a late steal for a dunk to seal it.  He's committed to play baseball at Auburn.

How about Buffalo soph guard Eli Hegle.  After a productive summer playing up with the Buffalo Legacy 16s, he's averaging 30.5 PPG thru 2 Bison wins.  That includes 34 points in a win at Cambridge-Isanti. 

The Big Stage  
The opening 6 games were all blowouts.  But with injuries and the coaching changes after the schedule was made, this is understandable.  Think of this team that wasn't available.  Jayden Moore (Hopkins), Gavin Walter (Champlin Park), Justus Dayee (Tartan), Dane Skime (Orono) and then you had Mu Muhammad of Breck go down with an injury less than 2 minutes into their game.

Game 1: Park Center 77 St. Paul Como Park 58
Park Center no trouble with Como Park.  Joe Jacobs 32 points to lead the Pirates.  Plenty of talented youth on display for Park Center with 8th grade guard Paris Kyles, freshmen Liam Jensen and Tchidi Ejimadu and soph bigs Idris Alowonie and Yahya Soumahoro.  8th grade Landon Williams-Newi saw minutes for Como Park.

Game 2: Minneapolis Washburn 81 Waconia 61
Both teams played the night before.  Washburn rested guys in a blowout loss to Wayzata.  Waconia had a big comeback win against Shakopee.  Waconia got the first couple buckets but then it was all Washburn from there.  Waconia would cut a 18 point halftime lead down to 12 but get no closer.  Another impressive defensive performance for the Millers.  Michael Stevens finding his way around the basket for layup after layup on his way to 24 points.  Alex Young 5 triples and 19 points.  Brayden Gorton with a couple key 2nd half triples on his way to a productive 18 point day for Washburn.  Will Kirsch 25 points but most of that damage was from the foul line where he cashed in 12 times.  This was after 39 points in that Shakopee win.  Forward Luke Hill added 16 in a nice outing for the Wildcats.

Game 3: Orono 90 Breck 67
Orono with a ton of size that I wasn't aware of.  Spartans jump out to a 32-13 lead.  Alex Pilakowski 3 of his 5 triples in the 1st half to lead Orono.  Breck with some nice youth to watch in the future. Soph Max Munsell 14 points to lead Breck as the main replacement for Muhammad.  Frosh Peter Kiedrowski is a wing who can shoot it.  Frosh Cobe Blades can push the pace.

Game 4: Richfield 95 Champlin Park 70
Richfield jumped out to a 31-2 lead and coasted from there  Dre Collins 29 points to lead Richfield.  Tyrece Hagler 19 points off their bench.  Richfield is an explosive team on the offensive end that can really get out and go.  A couple of sophomores for Champlin Park to note.  Mo Dukuly with a poster dunk and 16 points in the game.  Charles Howe off the bench with solid minutes.  Kyler Pust 22 points to lead the Rebels.

Game 5: Totino-Grace 78 Apple Valley 52
The Totino-Grace defense is top notch right now.  They hold Apple Valley star Camare Young scoreless for the first half on their way to a 25 point lead.  Trey Parker 4 triples and 18 points to try to fill in the gap, but TG just too good.  Tian Chatman 16 points off the bench leading a very balanced attack for TG.

Game 6: Maple Grove 86 DeLaSalle 64
There are surprises and then there are surprises.  Maple Grove jumped out to a 24-2 lead in the 1st 6 minutes.  That shocked everybody.  Max Iversen leading that early barrage with triples.  DeLaSalle held to 1 FG in the 1st 8+ minutes also a major part of that.  Maple Grove hits 12 3s in the 1st half and 9 more in the 2nd half as they steamroll to victory.  21-39 from deep before garbage time.  The bench goes absolutely nuts shooting 11-15 from 3.  Max Iversen 26 points and 7 triples.  Kamar Thomas 14 points to lead DeLaSalle.  The end did give some of the DeLaSalle youngsters time to play and man are they loaded there.  That doesn't even count any of the top 8 guys and 7 of them are back next year.

Game 7: Tartan 60 Hopkins 50
Full house for the nightcap.  Definitely an intensity in the building.  Teams would trade first half runs as Tartan would take a 40-36 lead to the break.  Tartan small right now and that made it difficult against a big Hopkins front line.  Really fun to watch soph PG KJ Wilson.  He was fearless carrying the offense with 15 points in the first half.

There was a skirmish in the crowd coming out of halftime.  That seemed to be addressed and the second half started.  I departed at that point only to notice 15 police cars race to the game which was called off at the 9 min mark due to another fight breaking out.  Just a shame to see a terrific game be destroyed by senseless fans.  

Southside Showcase 2026 Preview

This weekend kicks off the long string of weekend events throughout the 2025-26 season.  Here's a look at this weekend's Southside Showcase at Minnehaha Academy.  Opening season events are a terrific chance to see some high quality matchups that wouldn't normally be scheduled.

1:15 PM Hermantown vs Caledonia
The showcase traditionally brings in quality programs from outside the metro and this is a prime example.  Caledonia is a traditional powerhouse in class AA playing out of traditionally tough section 1.  They have to replace 4 double-figure scorers after winning 29 games last year.  Junior Grant King is one of the top sophomores in the state.  He looks to continue the King tradition for the Warriors.

Hermantown features a roster building for next year with no senior starters.  Junior center Sawyer Senst looks like he's a prototype left tackle in football and has good touch inside.  He's a big body that's hard to move.  Point guard Ben Sundland runs the show for the inside out duo.  Sophomore forward Corbin Petcoff is a youngster to watch for the Hawks.

2:45 PM St. Paul Central vs St. Thomas Academy
St. Paul Central is looking to repeat as league champions in the St. Paul City Conference.  They feature one of the league's top players in guard Eli Moseman.  He scored 33 points in the season opening win over Woodbury.  Three other starters also return for the Minutemen.  Coach Cam Jones is in his first year after leading the Hill-Murray program.  He replaces long time coach Scott Howell who finished his coaching career second in conference wins and third in total wins all time amongst St. Paul City coaches.

St. Thomas Academy's new head coach is Pat Sjoberg.  He also has a star to turn to in guard Lars Osteraas.  The lefty can play on or off the ball and is their top option.  The rest of the starting lineup will be new.  Reserves like Dominic Baez will be stepping into bigger roles this season. Baez will likely be one of the guys tasked with slowing down Eli Moseman.  The Moseman vs Osteraas matchup is one of the premier matchups of the day.

4:15 PM Stillwater vs Anoka
Anoka should be one of the better teams in the NW Suburban Conference this season.  Guard Dre Ellis and freshman forward Keldon Johnson return to the lineup.  Ellis is dynamic with the ball in his hands attacking the basket.  Johnson is one of Minnesota's top prospects in the 2029 class.  Forward Bryce Gaustad is a top addition who can play away from the basket in their offense.  Those 2 big men carried the offense in the opener.  Gaustad with the gaudy stat line of 24 points and 21 boards in that game.

Stillwater's strength is their front line so that makes for an interesting matchup.  They may be down a critical piece from that group though.  Carter Zollar didn't play in the season opening loss to rival Mahtomedi.  That would cost them a top scoring option.  He's part of a talented junior class for the Ponies.  Henry Percic is the main option in the backcourt.

6:00 PM St. Louis Park vs Eden Prairie
St. Louis Park has to replace the high flying Curtis twins this season.  They're now playing at North Dakota.  They were part of a large senior class that graduated.  Forward Matthew Johnson and shooting guard Tanner Rose are the main scoring options.  Rose with 22 points and Johnson with 18 in an impressive opening win over Champlin Park.

Point guard Hamze Yusuf leads a high powered Eden Prairie attack.  He led the Eagles opening night win over Washburn with 22 points.  Eden Prairie features a bevy of shooters to go with him.  Guards Carter Pulrang and Grant Sprute are on top of that list.  Forward Cooper Fahning can also step out and shoot it.  The Eagles record might be very deceptive this year because they play in the super difficult and very top heavy Lake Conference.

7:30 PM Minneapolis Southwest at Minnehaha Academy
Minneapolis Southwest is a disciplined and experienced group.  They lost a number of seniors but also played a bunch of juniors who will now step into new roles.  Dashiell Erickson and Owen Boarmen are a couple of wings who can shoot it but have good size and can play inside.  Its a patient group that relies on execution and balance for success.  The Lakers look like a top half team in the Minneapolis City Conference.

Minnehaha has won 9 straight section titles in section 4AA.  They too have to replace a strong senior class.  They'll reload with a young and talented roster.  8th grader Carter Cupito runs the show and freshman Mekhi Abner is a top 2029 prospect.  If you recognize the name Cupito, you'd be right.  Carter's father, Bryan, was a 3 year starting quarterback for Minnesota in the early 2000s.  Junior forward Kellen Troup has a ton of upside with skill and size.  

Go big but avoid the long ride home

After spending opening night in Wisconsin, its time to come back for the Minnesota season.  I took in 3 Saturday games involving teams from section 7AAA.  Definitely needed that to cleanse the palate after the disaster that was Wisconsin vs Minnesota football.  Here's what stuck out to me from those games.

Game 1: Hibbing 78 Chisago Lakes 68
Hibbing's Ray Brau had his way inside in the 1st half, but it was a hot streak from outside to end the 1st half that took a 5 point game to 18 at the break.  14-0 Hibbing going into the half.  That lead was as many as 19 in the 2nd half but Joe Couwenhoven put up 20 of his 30 points in the 2nd half.  The Wildcats would get as close as 7 but a late 3 from Jack Bottoms would slam the door.  Bottoms with 31 points for a limited Hibbing rotation.  Brau did most of his damage in the first half.  I had him with 30 points and 16 rebounds on 10 of 19 shooting, 3 offensive fouls led to 6 turnovers though.  The Chisago Lakes offense very much looking to create off the bounce.

Game 2: Princeton 97 Hermantown 78
A young lineup for Hermantown starting 3 juniors and 2 sophs.  Big man Sawyer Senst is a big body inside that is really hard to deal with.  Hermantown's 1-2-2 press got them off to a nice start.  But then Princeton's run and jump took over and it was all Tigers from there.  Senst with 2 fouls midway thru the first half and then a 3rd at the 4:29 mark.  He would foul out on a charge early in the 2nd half.  But by that point the game was already out of reach.  Big day for Princeton wing Noah Stencel.  He put up 25 of his 37 points in the 1st half.  That included all 6 of his 3s.  Matthew Hallberg added on 15 points.  Guard Ben Sundland led the way for Hermantown with 24 points.  Princeton as usual will play fast and will be very reliant on their 3 point shooting.  Soph Corbin Petcoff for Hermantown scored 11 points and is a nice future piece for the Hawks to work with as they'll return everybody for next season.

Game 3: South St. Paul 87 Duluth Denfeld 54
The first 12 minutes of this one was tight before South St. Paul stretched it out to a 14 point game at the break.   Then the Packers ramped up their defense which led to a 27-4 run.  That blew open a 10 point game and took us to running time.  Donte Branch was the main beneficiary of all the turnovers with 20 points.  Marco London added 5 triples and 21 points.  The Packers with no size had no answer for the quality size of Denfeld.  Carter Brown and Antonio Brown combined for 33 points and had their way in the paint.  That makes the Tuesday matchup vs Minneapolis Camden and their 2 young big men very interesting.

Overall Thoughts 
Not a good day to make the long trips if you were a 7AAA team.  The section is in good hands with talented junior big guys though.  Ray Brau, Carter Brown and Sawyer Senst are good group.  Will Pearson for Chisago Lakes came off the bench and gave the Wildcats their best inside minutes too.  Since its only game 1 I won't play executioner on new coach Tom Terhaar (yet, lol).  Certainly looks like the Wildcats will be able to score though.  Denfeld had a ton to replace at the guard spots and they struggled against South St. Paul's traps and pressure.  Without Mustafa Muhammed, the Packers will be more perimeter oriented.  Addison Tereau with a couple of 3s in that game to show he's more than just a drop off guy in their offense.  Things snowball for better or worse with them.  Once they got rolling in the 2nd half, the game got out of hand very quickly.

2025-26 Opening Night

 

Prologue
Welcome to the 2025-2026 season opener.  Its a unique experience this year as I'll take in a brand new conference and gym to start the year.  This year we open with Minnesota Christian Athletic Conference action.  Its a doubleheader as the Cambridge Christian Boys JV and Girls along with the Owatonna Christian Boys visit Fourth Baptist Christian in Plymouth.  Nice weather, no other games to do, so why not?

Minnesota Christian Athletic Conference you ask?  Isn't that the MCAA?  No folks its not.  The league is in its 2nd year and is comprised of non-MSHSL schools.  That's why they could play tonight.  MSHSL schools can't even scrimmage yet and have to wait another 5 days to play.  The league formed due to the union of the old Christian Athletic League along with Minnesota Association of Christian Schools (MACS) teams.  For those of you who remember Christian Life out of Farmington before they merged with Bethany to form United Christian, they were once a CAL member so not unheard of for the schools to move up.  Like any small school league, teams sometimes move to just a JV level for a couple of years to make things work.

The league is spread out all over the place.  This year for boys basketball its 16 teams split into North and South Divisions as follows.

North:
Cambridge Christian Warriors
Chisago Lakes Baptist Patriots (Chisago City)
Faith Christian Saints (Foreston)
Good Shepherd Lutheran Rams (Elk River)
Lake Region Christian Hornets (Baxter)
St. Cloud Christian Warriors
St. Francis Christian Patriots
Woodcrest Baptist Academy Warriors (Fridley)

South:
First Baptist School Crusaders (Rosemount)
Community Christian Eagles (Willmar)
Fourth Baptist Christian Warriors (Plymouth)
Immanuel Lutheran Trojans (Mankato)
Liberty Christian Golden Eagles (Chippewa Falls, WI)
Owatonna Christian Sabers
Prior Lake Christian Royals
Rochester Area Homeschool Defenders 

Fourth Baptist is a fitting place to be introduced to the league.  For many years it has been the host of the MACS state tourney at the beginning of March.  The cafeteria/atrium area right outside the gym is super handy.  I love the irony of having a Pepsi beverage cooler but selling nothing but being a Coke shop.  No thank you, Dr Pepper please.  I can let that slide for a nice variety at the concession stand, including pizza.  They even had Chick-Fil-A on the menu at the state tourney.

Also a fun fact that I didn't know.  I looked up at the 1000 point scorer banners and there was the name Gresyn Rennie.  Hmmm, that name sounds familiar. He played his sophomore year at Armstrong and then finished his high school career for 2 years at Maranatha Christian.  Very productive high school player. But before that, he was a 3 year varsity player and 1000 point scorer for Fourth Baptist.

Game Time
Now to the games, the boys JV game ended up being the best game of the night.  The home squad came from about 10 down and hit a 3 with 15 seconds to go to win a low scoring affair 35-34. Beyond that its was all blowouts.  In the girls came, Cambridge Christian rolled 53-20.

The boys game had blowout written all over it.  Owatonna Christian didn't have a varsity team in the league last year and dressed 7 underclassmen for this one.  Fourth Baptist coming off a 18-8 league record last year.  They return league player of the year candidate Grant Vikander and 2nd teamer Elijah Forman. It was ugly and quickly.  11-0 Fourth Baptist jumped out just 3 minutes into the game.  They'd stretch that to 29-0 before Owatonna Christian finally got on the board almost 10 minutes in.  46-6 Warriors at half.  They put on the brakes in the 2nd half to keep the score down.  Only 2 field goals in each half for the Sabers.  Fourth Baptist rolls in the MCAC opener 67-13.

Too much size and experience for Fourth Baptist.  Their 3 bigs all dominate.  Senior Grant Vikander 10 points and 7 rebounds in limited minutes.  Senior Carlos Flodstrom 10 points.  Soph Lukyn Williams off the bench behind them with 14 points and 8 boards.  He looks like he'll be a major factor inside for the Warriors the next 2 seasons.  Tyler Stevens and Christian Hoffman each add 9 points.  Nice zone offense from Fourth Baptist vs the 2-3 zone.  For Owatonna Christian, Aidan Seagrist 8 points and a pair of 3s to lead the Sabers.

2025-26 Season In A Nutshell

The Czar's 2025-2026 Season Preview series concludes with the traditional Season In A Nutshell preview.  Its a higher level season overview for the casual fans who don't eat, sleep and breathe hoops like I do.  Its who and what you need to see and when and where to see it.  If you missed any of the conferences or the 156 teams covered in this preview series, the full list can be found here.

New Coaches

• Chisago Lakes - Tom Terhaar
• Cristo Rey Jesuit - Darrell Moffit
• Delano - Chance Veasey
• Eagle Ridge - Kalvin O'Neal
• Hill-Murray - Dustin Hayes
• Irondale - Travis Dedina
• Jordan - Matt Cordes
• Lakeville North - Mike Nolan
• Maranatha Christian - Al Harris
• Math & Science - Rich Berkley
• North Branch - Rob Johnson
• Park Center - Bo Powell
• Robbinsdale Cooper - Ron Howard
• Rosemount - Kevin Smith
• St. Agnes - Malique McCoy
• St. Paul Academy - Kevin Keto (returns from 1 year leave)
• St. Paul Central - Cam Jones
• St. Paul Como Park - Jake Sullivan
• St. Thomas Academy - Pat Sjoberg
• Spectrum - CJ Maternoski
• Trinity - Pat Buchanan
• United Christian - Roy Mould
• Waconia - Nick Perrin

Teams In New Conferences
Note on this section.  I only included City Conference and EMAC changes that I could verify so all updates to those leagues may not be reflected here.

• CHOF to MCAA (basketball only, was independent)
• Cristo Rey to EMAC from Skyline
• Legacy Christian to Skyline from MCAA
• Liberty Classical to MCAA from EMAC
• Maple Grove to Lake from NW Suburban
• Math & Science to MCAA from EMAC
  

Teams In New Sections

Class AAAA

• Alexandria to 8AAAA from 8AAA
• Buffalo to 6AAAA from 8AAAA
• Monticello to 8AAAA from 5AAA
• Two Rivers to 4AAAA from 3AAA
  

Class AAA

• Minneapolis Southwest to 6AAA from 6AAAA

Class AA

• Higher Ground Academy to 4AA from 4A
• Hmong Academy to 4AA from 4A
• New Life Academy to 4AA from 4A
• PACT to 6AA from 5A
• Parnassus Prep to 5AA from 4A
• St. Paul Harding to 4AA from 3AAA

Class A

• Aim Academy joins 4A (new school)
• Community School of Excellence joins 4A (new school)
• Metro Schools College Prep to 4A from 5AA

10 Notable Local Events

• Big Stage (Breakdown) - Dec 6th (Hopkins)
• Southside Showcase I - Dec 6th (Minnehaha)
• Tipoff Classic (Breakdown)- Dec 13th (Edina HS and Edina Community Center) 
  
• Southside Showcase II - Dec 13th (Benilde-St. Margaret's)
• Hutton Winter Classic - Dec 18-20 (Hamline)
• Concordia St. Paul Holiday Classic - Dec 26-27
• Capitol City Classic (Breakdown) - Dec 26-27 (Hamline, Bethel and UNW-SP)
• Southside Super Showcase - Jan 10th (Minnehaha)
• St. Paul Johnson MLK Event - Jan 19th (St. Paul Johnson)
• Border Battle- Feb 7th (Hamline)

10 Non-Conference Games to Watch (single game events only)

• Wayzata at Prior Lake - Dec 2nd
• Totino-Grace at Prior Lake - Dec 4th 
• Apple Valley at Hopkins - Dec 9th 
• Totino-Grace at Maple Grove - Dec 11th 
• Holy Family at Minnehaha - Dec 12th 
• Cretin-Derham Hall at Totino-Grace - Dec 19th 
• Totino-Grace at Wayzata - Dec 23rd
• Cretin-Derham Hall at DeLaSalle - Jan 31st 
• Wayzata at East Ridge - Feb 9th 
• Hopkins at DeLaSalle - Feb 24th 

10 Conference Games to Watch

• Hopkins at Maple Grove - Jan 30th
• Maranatha at Legacy - Feb 3rd 
• Richfield at DeLaSalle - Feb 4th 
• Maple Grove at Wayzata - Feb 6th
• Apple Valley at Prior Lake - Feb 10th 
• Totino-Grace at Spring Lake Park - Feb 10th 
• St. Paul Central at St. Paul Johnson - Feb 10th 
• Cretin-Derham Hall at East Ridge - Feb 13th 
• Wayzata at Hopkins - Feb 17th
• Prior Lake at Eagan - Feb 20th 

10 Impact Transfers

• Izayah Cook - Wayzata from Sauk Rapids-Rice
• Justus Dayee - Tartan from Simley
• DeAngelo Dungey - Totino-Grace from Breck
• Bryce Gaustad - Anoka from Spectrum
• Max Iversen - Maple Grove from Delano
• Marcus Marshall - Maranatha from Minneapolis North
• Jack Thelen - Maple Grove from St. Michael-Albertville
• Xavier Frelix - Hopkins from Park Center
• Kwa Silikpoh - Osseo from Champlin Park
• AJ Taban - Totino-Grace from Stillwater

10 Upperclassmen to Watch

• Baboucarr Ann - Maple Grove
• Nolen Anderson - Wayzata (Minnesota commit)
• Dothan Ijadimbola - Totino-Grace (Drake commit)
• Max Iversen - Maple Grove (North Dakota St commit)
• JoJo Mitchell - Cretin-Derham Hall (U of St. Thomas commit)
• Jayden Moore - Hopkins
• Ahmed Nur - Hopkins
• Ty Schlagel - Cretin-Derham Hall (Nebraska commit)
• Cedric Tomes - East Ridge (Minnesota commit)
• Christian Wiggins - Wayzata (Iowa St commit)

10 Underclassmen to Watch

• Justus Dayee - Tartan
• Jaylen Greer - Two Rivers
• Ichima Idoko - DeLaSalle
• Kolden Johnson - Anoka
• Malik Martin - Minneapolis Camden
• Lamar McBride - Minneapolis Camden
• Tre Moore - Hopkins
• Emmanuel Oyesanmi - Tartan
• Kevin Wilson - Tartan
• Daniel Zoa - Totino-Grace

10 Local Teams to Watch

• Cretin-Derham Hall
  
• DeLaSalle
• East Ridge
• Hopkins
• Maple Grove
• Richfield
• St. Paul Johnson
• Tartan
• Totino-Grace
• Wayzata

Active Streaks of 20 Games Or More In Conference Play
Nova Classical and Mounds Park Academy broke big losing streaks last season.  Most of this year's streaks are new.

• St. Paul Washington - 36 losses
• Last win was 3/4/22 at St. Paul Humboldt
• Mounds Park Academy - 27 home losses
• Last home win was 2/9/18 vs St. Paul Academy
• Benilde-St. Margaret's - 24 home wins
• Last home loss was 2/8/22 vs Orono
• Burnsville - 23 road losses
• Last road win was 1/24/23 at Rosemount 
• St. Croix Lutheran - 22 wins
• Last loss was 2/2/24 at Maranatha
• Tartan - 22 wins
• Last loss was 2/8/24 at St. Thomas Academy
• Simley - 21 home losses
• Last home win was 1/13/23 vs Hill-Murray

Section Winners

I gave thoughts on 16 conferences plus independents.  I'll match that here with predictions for the winners of 15 metro area sections.  That includes the 6 local A, AA and AAA sections and all 8 AAAA sections.

4A: Liberty Classical.  With Legacy moving up and Heritage graduating everybody, the Lions get the default nod here.

4AA: Minnehaha has won this section 9 straight years.  Hard to see it not being 10.

5AA: Holy Family is thefavorite here with a high powered roster.  Maranatha should be right there with them.  Then a strong list of dangerous teams behind that.  Minneapolis North, SW Christian, Blake and Hiawatha all have talented pieces to move deep in the section.

3AAA: This section has been the city Cinderella story the last 2 seasons.  Its a very weak and wide open section.  I'll take craziness and another city story here.  Give me Minneapolis Roosevelt.
4AAA: De La Salle moves on again from this section.  Johnson is the main threat here.

5AAA: Totino-Grace continues their run without a ton of resistance.

6AAA: Richfield loads up and should make a run thru this section.
1AAAA: I'll take Rochester Mayo here with everybody coming back and a down year for the South Suburban reps of the section.

2AAAA: Not quite the usual section of death but the top half all capable of winning it.  Rivalries galore here only add to the flavor.  Prior Lake is the pick.

3AAAA: The top of this section remains the same.  I like Apple Valley here with Camare Young.  Eagan more than capable of making here too.

4AAAA: The section is top heavy again with a loaded Tartan squad, U of M recruit Cedric Tomes at East Ridge and a very talented Cretin-Derham Hall squad.  Let's go with Tartan in a grudge match of last year's section final.

5AAAA:  Maple Grove.  Easy favorite here with a loaded roster.

6AAAA: Wayzata.  Can't bet against the loaded state champs here.  But Hopkins will not be an easy out.

7AAAA: Another down year in this section.  I see a battle between Anoka and Blaine here.  Anoka moves on.

8AAAA: This section doesn't disappoint and it won't this year either.  Moorhead will have their hands full returning to state with defending AAA champ Alexandria, Bemidji and Brainerd all looking to claim the crown.  I'll take Alexandria here.

Season Thoughts

Plenty to watch and we'll begin with the Lake Conference.  The Breakdown has the top 3 teams as the top 3 in AAAA.  Will be very surprised if Mr Basketball comes from outside these teams.  Can Wayzata repeat?  Will Ken Novak get 20 wins at Hopkins to break the all-time coaching wins record?  Does he stay if he gets the record?  James Ware leaves Park Center to become the coach in waiting at Hopkins.  Just as interesting is Bo Powell leaving Robbinsdale Cooper, going to St. Agnes very briefly and ending up returning to Park Center where he took a struggling program to a state runner up finish in 2014.  Can Tartan or East Ridge break Cretin-Derham Hall's hold on section 4AAAA?  How far does Alexandria go without Chase Thompson and moving up to AAAA?  

The top of AAA locally will be loaded with Totino-Grace and don't miss those Tri-Metro games between Richfield and DeLaSalle.  AA will be well represented  locally with Minnehaha, Holy Family and Maranatha all capable of making a run.  I'll be interested to see how Jordan does with Matt Cordes getting back into the coaching ranks.  He had a great run at New London-Spicer.  The state tournament moves back a week.  It will feel like football with that awkward extra week between making state and the state tourney games.  Time to #ShockTheCzar, let's go!