2011 Class AAAA Championship

Its a rubber match between Lake Conference rivals for the 2011 Class AAAA state championship as Eden Prairie takes on Hopkins.  Eden Prairie shot the lights out in the 1st meeting to pull the upset, while Hopkins won the 2nd meeting.  Hopkins let teams hang around in their first 2 games at Target Center until late before double digit wins.

A steal by Joe Coleman and then he charges on the other end.  4-2 Hopkins at the 14:27 mark and Coleman has 2 fouls. Coleman then steps in and draws a charge.  Coleman bailed out on a short jumper and he steps up and makes both freebies.  4 of the first 6 and Hopkins leads 6-4 at the 12:55 mark.  That's Dylan Stewart's 2nd foul for EP which is a big loss.  Siyani Chambers great quickness to jump around a post feed and take it the other way for a Marvin Singleton layup.  10-4 Hopkins at the 11:37 mark and Eden Prairie takes timeout after giving up 6 in a row.  Coleman takes a breather and Grant Soderberg makes back to back 3s to tie the game at 14 inside of 9 minutes.  Connor Nord with his 2nd nice assist of the night to Derek Dedeker and Soderberg leaks out for a free throw.  17 all at 8:04.  He's strong to the rim and EP leads 19-17 at the 6:50 mark.  Coleman slips a ball screen and Chambers with the perfect feed for the Coleman 2 handed flush.  21-19 Hopkins at the 5:29 mark.  The lead stretches to 7 before a Sander Mohn 3 with 2:30 left in the half.  That counters a Chambers 3 and steal for 2 more.  32-28 Hopkins at half.  EP has the recipe going again with 11-17 shooting, 4-4 from 3 but Hopkins is shooting 13-24 on their end.  Eden Prairie with 10 turnovers for 12 Hopkins points is the difference.

After fine halftime entertainment by the Alexandria Aces, there's the Let's Go Nick sign in the crowd held up by a youngster to catch my eye.  That's for Nick Jorgensen of Hopkins.  Demetrius Martin for 3 on a skip as the close out wasn't far enough.  Joe Coleman with a tough turnaround inside and Singleton on the post.  An EP turnover and a Zach Stahl FT pullup and its 46-30 Hopkins at the 11:20 mark when Eden Prairie takes the much needed timeout.  14-2 run this half for Hopkins.  EP shooting 1-11 and that just won't do it.  Dylan Stewart replies with 2 free throws and a bucket followed by a Soderberg 3 and Stewart puts back a FT miss to cut the lead to 8 with 8:49 to play.  Dedeker scores with 5:33 left and the lead is cut to 6.  Hopkins nicely spacing the floor with 2 guard slots filled up high, the lane open and taking the time on their possessions.  Its a possession over a minute and a half long for 2 Coleman FTs.  3:55 left and Hopkins up 54-46.  Hopkins turns it over and Nord with a nice drive to the rim for 2 with 2:45 left, 54-48 Hopkins.  Zach Stahl for 2 and Singleton steps up and makes 2 FTs iwth 2:10 left and the lead is double digits again.  Coleman a nice cut and better pass from Chambers for the layup as we're distracted by 4 beach balls going in the Hopkins student section.  Repeat that as Coleman finishes again and puts back his missed free throw with 1:15 left.  Bench empties with 29.2 left with Hopkins stars holding up 3 fingers for the third consecutive title.  Andre McDonald with a huge block as the exclamation point.  Hopkins wins 64-52.

Joe Coleman leads Hopkins with 22 point and 8 rebounds.  Zach Stahl 10 points and 8 boards.  Siyani Chambers 12 and 5 assists.  Marvin Singleton 15 points.  Hopkins shoots 56.8% for the game.  Grant Soderberg 16 points to lead Eden Prairie.   They shoot 44.2% for the game with 16 turnovers that turned into 18 Hopkins points.  

My Class AAAA All-Tournament Ballot
Joe Coleman - Hopkins (MVP)
Marvin Singleton - Hopkins
Siyani Chambers - Hopkins
Dylan Stewart - Eden Prairie
Connor Nord - Eden Prairie
Joey Sonnenfeld - Osseo
Terez Van Pelt - Osseo
Raijon Kelly - CDH (replaced by Zach Stahl of Hopkins)
Cortez Tillman - CDH
Taylor Montero - CDH (replaced by Grant Soderberg of Eden Prairie)

Total tournament attendance once again shows a dramatic decline.  This year's attendance was 48,274 down from 55,731 last year.