WEEKLY ROUNDUP *RJM’s Matthew Hurt named Mr. Basketball *NW guard strikes again *A friend remembered *State hoops snapshots Volume 25 Issue No. 17 March 29 2018-2019 Boys champions: Hopkins, DLS, Minnehaha, Henning Above, Henning celebrates their Class 1A state title. Right, 7-0 Chet Holmgren scores for Minnehaha Academy in the 2A finals against Mpls. North. Below right, Jamison Battle holds DeLa- Salle’s Class 3A trophy. Below, Zeke Nnaji blocks a shot by Lakeville North’s Tyler Wahl during Hopkins’ 4A win. Photos by Bruce Strand, MN BB News Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News March 29 Page 2 RJM’s Hurt is Mr. Basketball By Bruce Strand Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Matthew Hurt of Rochester John Marshall is the 2019 Minnesota. He’s ex- Mr. Basketball pick, the first ever from the state’s third- pected to announce largest city, and the first from outside the metro area his college decision since 2006. in mid-April after the conclusion of The decision was announced during the Minnesota the Final Four. Timberwolves game Tuesday evening. With Hurt in At- lanta for the McDonald’s All-America game, the award The other finalists was accepted by his brother Michael Hurt, a current were Zeke Nnaji of Gophers who was a Mr. Basketball finalist 2016. Hopkins, Tyrell Ter- ry of DeLaSalle, Ty- The 6-9 Hurt averaged 37.1 points and 12.4 rebounds ler Wahl of Lakev- as a senior. In five seasons with the Rockets, he scored ille North, and Isaac 3,819 points, most of any big school player in state his- Fink of Springfield. tory and No. 4 overall. The last non-metro Hurt, also named Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Mr. Basketball was Year last week, is considered one of the top 10 se- Isaiah Dahlman of nior recruits in the nation. He has offers from Duke, Braham in 2006. Matthew Hurt Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News March 29 Page 3 Hopkins: back on top By Bruce Strand Class 4A: Hopkins 55, Stillwater 40 The Hopkins Royals returned with a vengeance this very physical game. To win championships, you’ve got year. After missing two state tournaments, the state’s to be able to gut it out,” he said about the conquest of dominant big-school program rumbled to its 10th cham- Lakeville North. “We were kind of a free-flowing prima pionship without a close call along with way. donna team at the beginning of the year, and I thought, as the season went on, we just started to get tougher and The Royals shut down Lakeville North 55-40 in the tougher and tougher, to the point where defense became Class 4A finals Saturday at Target Center, putting an- a little bit of our identity.” other trophy in the case alongside the one the girls team captured a Hopkins’ ferocity led to horrible week earlier. shooting by Lakeville North, 3-for-27 on 3-pointers and 17-for- “It shows how dominant Hopkins 60 overall. The Royals ruled the basketball is,” said Zeke Nnaji, rebounds 47-31. By committing the Royals’ 6-10 senior Mr. Bas- just eight fouls while the Panthers ketball finalist, whose sister Maya were whistled 25 times, they had was a pillar of the girls team. a 20-3 edge in free throw points. “There’s a great history and cul- ture at Hopkins.” Kerwin Walton tallied 17 points, Nnaji 14 points and Andy Staf- Yet Nnaji and his class watched the ford 10, as the Royals won com- last two tournaments after losing fortably despite taking just 45 to Wayzata in sectionals, finish- shots, making 14, seven of them ing 23-6 and 26-2, which marked Kerwin Walton, who had 53 points at 3-pointers. Most impressive the first time since 2007 and 2008 state, drives past Lakeville North’s stat was Dane Zimmer pulling they missed two straight. Start- Tommy Jensen to score in the finals. down 21 rebounds while notch- ing in 2009, Hopkins went seven ing seven points, three steals and times in eight years, with four championships. two blocks. “That’s my job, to get rebounds and keep people off the boards,” said the rugged 6-8 senior, who This year, the No. 3 ranked Royals (29-4) beat No. joined Nnaji and Walton on the all-tournament team. 8 Wayzata 82-71 in the Section 6AAAA finals, then rolled through state, beating Cambridge-Isanti 86- Lakeville North (27-5), in its eighth straight state trip, 53 and No. 2 East Ridge 71-47 before holding No. 4 reached finals for the fourth time. They won in 2014. Lakeville North 31 points under their season average. Tyler Wahl, Lakeville North’s Mr. Basketball finalist, “It’s nice to be able to leave your mark and hang a ban- had a strong game with 19 points (shooting 8-for-17) ner,” acknowledged Nnaji, who logged 62 points and and 17 rebounds, along with five steals and four blocked 31 rebounds at state, “and to be one of the people who shots. But Hopkins held five Panthers to a single field did that.” goal, and Jack Rusch was next with 10 points. Hopkins, making its 23rd state appearance, is now 10-3 “This was a grinder kind of game, which is not our kind in championship games, with eight of those titles under of game. We like games to be free-flowing,” said Panther Ken Novak, who was inducted into the Minnesota High coach John Oxton about Hopkins’ ability to set the tone. School Basketball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Hopkins led 24-17 at halftime. Lakeville North scored Novak was especially impressed with the nasty de- the first nine points of the second half and took a 26-24 fense exhibited by his latest state champion. “It was a Hopkins: Continued on Page 10 Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News March 29 Page 4 Gone, but always in their hearts By Bruce Strand The Henning Hornets lost a teammate and friend two years ago, and have made sure ever since that Jacob Quam is always with them in spirit. Even while celebrating their school’s first state cham- pionship last Saturday (see Page 7), the Hornets promi- nently displayed Quam’s No. 33 jersey, held aloft by his close friend Dylan Trana. A gold medal was hung on the hanger holding the jersey. “Showing everybody that he’s still with us, and that we were playing 6-on-5 the whole time,” Trana explained. Henning keeps a chair for Jacob Quam’s jersey Quam, a sophomore at Henning, died after a head-on the only player over 6-1, coach Randy Misegades said. crash while driving to the weight room April 13, 2017. The driver of the semi that crossed the center line was Quam’s mother has kept in touch with her son’s friends. found guilty of criminal vehicular homicide. “I know at times it’s a struggle for her,” Misegades The team has left open a chair on the bench with his said. “She’s so happy for these kids and she loves them, jersey draped over it every game. Quam, who was 6-3, but at the same time, I know she can’t help but think would’ve been a starter and a captain as a senior, and what if he was out there. We keep telling her he was.” VARSITY BOYS & GIRLS 2019 PACESETTER $290/team Register online: MINNESOTA INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT www.pacesettersports.net MIT Saturday - Sunday, July 27-28 College of St. Benedict FOR STRONG TEAMS ONLY! St. Joseph, MN (4 miles west of St. Cloud) Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News March 29 Page 5 Pacesetter Newsletter Minnesota Basketball News March 29 Page 6 DeLaSalle reclaims crown By Bruce Strand Class 3A: DeLaSalle 63, Waseca 56 “Redemption!” exclaimed Tyrell Terry, beaming. DeLaSalle finished 27-5, against a brutal schedule that included 14 games against top-ten ranked teams in Min- It’s not often that DeLaSalle seeks redemption, since nesota and other states. They were 5-1 against other state they basically win state championships every season, entrants and beat an Alabama state champion that was but 2019 was the rare instance where the Islanders were ranked No. 11 in the country. They won 18 of their last not the defending champion. 19, including a win over Class 4A champion Hopkins and a loss to Class 2A champion Minnehaha Academy. Well, they’re the reigning champion again. The No. 1 ranked Islanders turned back a stern challenge from Terry, senior guard and Mr. Basketball finalist, scored 19 No. 2 Waseca 63-56 in the Class 3A points, made 10 assist and snagged championship game Saturday. seven rebounds in the finals. The Stanford recruit is the team rudder, “This is for all the alums, and all committing just five turnovers in the past state champs, and the play- three state games. Senior forward ers who didn’t win a championship,” Jamison Battle pumped in 26 points. said coach Travis Bledsoe, one of Senior post Jalen Travis notched 10 the few Islander luminaries who had points and seven rebounds. never won one before. “This is the greatest thing for DeLaSalle, after “DeLaSalle has unbelievable ath- the tough loss last year, to come back letes, Division I players,” Waseca and win it like we did.” coach Seth Anderson said, “so we had to play real well, and we did. The Islanders had won six titles in We defended well, won some loose a row, under coach Dave Thorson, balls, and made some tough shots, before being upset by Columbia but we did not make quite enough Heights in last year’s semifinals, plays to get over the top.