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.