The best of 2025-26 Week 3

We storm into the holiday break with another 19 games in the books.  Here's the best of what I saw in my 3rd week of the 2025-26 season.

Monday
It was a small school start to the week.  Parnassus Prep making the trip down I-35 to Medford.  An eventful night too.  Parnussus was down 20 at the half and 24 early in the 2nd half.  They cut the lead to 1 and actually had a couple of chances in the final minute to tie it.  Goggled Frosh Nic Taylor 26 points was entertaining for Medford.  But that wasn't even their story.  Wing Landon Seiler goes absolutely nuts with 47 points.  Tigers win 87-81 and break a 65 game losing streak dating back almost exactly 3 years.  

Tuesday
After hearing about a 55 point outing against Ogilvie, I had the chance to take in LILA and their guard Jackson Dowd.  This one was an old EMAC affair at Community of Peace.  LILA missing guys due to illness sweeping thru the team.  Then you had big guys committing a mess of fouls.  Didn't matter to Dowd though.  He goes for 39 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals on my sheet.  That was taking advantage of being at the top of the Dragons 1-2-2 zone.  Community of Peace had the ball down 1 twice in the final minute.  Dowd with a steal and layup on the final possession to seal the 68-65 win.

Another standout performance on Tuesday was from Bemidji's Jaxon Boschee.  He goes for 43 points with 7 3s.  A very efficient 12-20 FG shooting to do it too as he added a perfect 12-12 from the charity stripe.  STMA would hang around tied at 60, but Boschee all of a 10-0 run down the stretch.  Triple, assist for a 3, bonus free throws and a steal for 2 for a 70-60 lead with 2:30 left.  Bemidji wins that section game 76-63.  Rhys Sneide chips in with 16 points and 4 triples.  Braylon Bohm with 1st half foul trouble but he scores 13 of his 16 in the 2nd half to keep STMA close.

Thursday
Let's brave the elements for some EMAC action.  Usually its very cold when I make my trips to The Crash Pad to see Avail.  Would it be any different for their road game at Cristo Rey?  With the wind and blowing snow, it was even more miserable.  Lesson learned.  Avail with an 11-2 run including a triple and bucket from soph Ezra Aune.  That gave the Rhino a 6 point lead with 4:25 to play and they'd hang on from there.  Forward Carsten Bruin 22 points to lead Avail.  Guard Marnelle Moore with 5 3s and 19 points to keep Cristo Rey close late.  Their final attempts no good and Avail hangs on 68-65.

Friday
Had I remembered that I would see St. Paul Academy in the Saturday night late game (read below), I probably would have picked another game to watch.  But this was well worth it.  St. Paul Humboldt doing a great job getting in gaps and preventing drives, but SPA made them pay in a big way.  The Spartans knock down 18 3s and they would need all of them.  Humboldt within 4 before the last 3 from Ezra Cunningham with 1:53 left would put the game away.  SPA wins this 4AA battle over Humboldt 79-71.  Cunningham with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Ben Sieben 7 triples and 26 points to lead SPA.  Taurean Williams leading Humboldt with 28 points.

#8AAA St. Peter made the trip north to Moorhead.  They controlled the first half and held a 9 point half time lead.  They were up 10 with 9 minutes left.  Then all Moorhead after that.  Star PG (and football stud) David Mack triggers a 24-4 Spuds run.  Romeo Kromah with 14 of his 16 in the 2nd half.  Moorhead gets a quality win 75-69.

Tyler Forrest goes off for 38 points for Chaska.  He had 9 straight points to cut the margin to 4.  Hawks would get a chance at the buzzer but the shot rolls off.  Eden Prairie continues their run through section 2AAAA and remains undefeated with the 78-76 win.  Eagles point guard Hamze Yusuf continues to impress with 29 points.  Cooper Fahning adds 16 of his 22 in the first half.

Saturday
The in-person portion of the day was spent at Day 3 of the Hutton Winter Classic.  The longest day of the season requires a couple of slices of Domino's pizza and a 1L bottle of Pepsi to get thru but well worth it.

Game 1: Simley 71 Somerset (WI) 57
Somerset would cut a 19 point margin down to 8.  Connor Streiff 3 with 3 straight hoops for Simley to stop that bleeding.  Somerset would be as close as 6 but no more than that.  Streiff with 20 points to lead Simley.

Game 2: Hudson (WI) 63 Centennial 52
Too much Alex Healy and Jace Mataczynski in this one for Hudson.  Hard for Centennial to generate offense.  Soph Brady Anderson 15 points to lead Centennial as their only double figure scorer.

Game 3: Burnsville 62 Westonka 48
Speaking of difficulty scoring, Westonka playing without 2 top guys including top scorer Mika James.  They started 2 sophs and 2 freshmen.  Only 4 upperclassmen on a roster of mostly sophomores.  They dug a hole with only 2 FG in the first 12 minutes.  Mozes Garret speeding to the rim in the 2nd half for Burnsville for 12 of his 16 points to lead the Blaze.  Frosh Marcus Lessor 12 points to lead Mound-Westonka.

Game 4: Hiawatha 76 St. Croix Lutheran 68
Hiawatha with a big athletic lineup.  St. Croix Lutheran playing 4 undersized guards.  End of the day, too big too strong for Hiawatha.  Hiawatha wing Tim Holmes was a revelation with 32 points, 8-8 FTs.  King James much better at avoiding fouls.  He finishes with 25 points and 14 rebounds.  Colin Avery 19 points, Issac Garcia 16 with 4 3s for the Crusaders.

Game 5: Blake 78 Fridley 65
Blake Frosh wing Trameill White for Blake with a coming out party of 27 points.  Carson McMichael adds 24, Benji Dillon with 15.  Fridley was up 58-57 with 5:40 to play as nobody opened a lead in this one to this point.  Then a 17-0 Blake run finishes it off.  Guard Tyrone Washington 18 points to lead Fridley.  Tyler Osell adds 14 with 4 3s.

Game 6: SW Christian 81 Ellsworth (WI) 65
The third border war of the day goes to the home side to win 2-1.  Tie game at halftime then SW Christian opens the 2nd half with a 27-8 run.  Ellsworth only 2 FG in the first 9:30 of the half.  Stars wing Jed Streed was fantastic.  He scored 25 points and was very active on the defensive end too.  Jack Burke adds 15 points.

Game 7: St. Cloud Cathedral 90 St. Paul Academy 60
Cathedral would open a 9 point lead and then a couple of turnovers early in the 2nd half for SPA pushes the lead to 16.  Its all down hill from there.  Cathedral does to SPA was the Spartans did to Humboldt on Friday.  17 triples for Cathedral in the blowout win.  Hank Sand 17 points and 5 of those 3s to lead 6 players in double figures for the Crusaders.  Ezra Cunningham 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead St. Paul Academy.

Online Sunday
The online portion of the Saturday schedule was viewed on Sunday

Rosemount jumped out to a 16 point first half lead at Park.  Peyton Gholson 16 points in that half for the Irish.  The margin was only 7 at half and Park hung around but never really threatened.  Gholson finishes with 25.  Soph Brady Molenaar 17 points inside in a nice outing too.  Aaron Sandin 5 triples and 15 points to lead Park.  Weird moment early in the game where 9 bench guys were on the floor.  Park had subbed a full new 5.  Rosemount soon countered with 4 bench guys to play with Gholson.  Rosemount wins 75-67.

Elk River made the trek to Alexandria for a section 8AAAA game.  Alexandria still playing without Talan Witt.  No Levi Harris for Elk River.  Mason Witt 18 first half points with 4 triples.  Elk River though with the 1 point halftime lead.  Chase Sheldon 10 outside points, Dominic Webster 13 points inside.  Alexandria would take a 7 point lead with under 5 minutes left behind Gavin Roderick's offense.  Webster going 5 man inverted pick and roll.  Bucket and 2 FTs and we're tied at 62 late.  Elk River 2 late looks to win but no good and we have free basketball.  Webster fouls out with 1:42 left in the OT.  But Elk River still has the lead thanks to Sheldon making 2 free throws.  But its Witt from the volleyball line with 19 seconds left for the lead.  Oh my!  Elk River fouled but they need 2 FTs to tie it.  They make only 1.  Half court heave at the horn is no good.  Alexandria survives 70-68 in overtime.  Mason Witt with 32 points and 6 3s to lead the Cardinals.  Gavin Roderick 17 of his 19 in the 2nd half.  Dominic Webster 28 points, Chase Sheldon with 19 for the Elks.

Finally let's clean up the Tipoff Classic cancellations with #3AAAA Maple Grove visiting #8AAAA East Ridge.  Minnesota assistant Dave Thorson on hand to see signed and hopefully to sign Gophers recruits.  East Ridge wing Aidan Galvin with a pair of triples to open a 16-7 Raptors lead.  Is this Maple Grove vs De La Salle flipped?  Not so much.  Maple Grove would take a 22-21 lead.  Then Jack Thelen would sit with 2 fouls.  East Ridge stretches the lead to 7 at the half. 

Cedric Tomes with 15 points in the 1st half and adds 6 quick free throws.  Then Baboucarr Ann becomes a force of nature.  A great 2nd half performance.  Fouled on a 3 for all 3 FTs, an assist for 3, steal for a dunk and a triple and the Crimson go from 8 down to up 4 in just 4 minutes.  Ann had the task of guarding Tomes and held him to 0-10 to start the half.  On the other end he made 6 of his 7 2nd half attempts with 3 triples.  He scores 18 of his 24 in the 2nd half.  He also handled most of the point guard duties and had 8 assists.  Let's add 3 blocks just for fun.  Jack Thelen 15 points and close to a double double if he didn't have one.  Cedric Tomes 34 points, 11-29 FG, 2-12 from 3, 10-12 FTs with 4 assists on my stat line.  19 points in the 2nd half despite face guarding from Ann.  Aidan Galvin 6 triples and 20 points in a coming out performance for East Ridge.  Loved the strategy from East Ridge to face guard Max Iversen, why not after what he did against De La Salle.  That held him to 11 points on 2-9 FG on my sheet.