Saturday, March 23, 2019

It's a Minnehaha Academy Threepeat

Two Minneapolis schools battled for the Class AA championship Saturday afternoon as Jalen Suggs and Prince Aligbe scored 20 points apiece and Chet Holmgen had a triple double of 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots to lead the Minnehaha Academy Redhawks to a 69-52 defeat of the Minneapolis North Polars at Target Center in Minneapolis.  

It was the fourth state title in seven trips to state for the south Minneapolis school.  Minnehaha Academy became the first school since Braham from 2004-06 to win three straight Class AA titles.  

The Redhawks began the scoring when Aligbe scored on a rebound :19 into the game.  Nasir El-Amin would tally for the Polars to tie the game at two.  Minnehaha Academy would go on an 11-0 run as Aligbe scored four straight points and Holmgren would go 4-4 from the free throw line.  Davon Townley, Jr. would end the run for Mpls. North and start a 6-0 run that would end on a steal and a score from Suggs, the first of six straight points for the junior guard.  The Redhawks would also get outstanding passing from Kaden Johnson who made an inside pass to Siegel Howard and he would score.  Minnehaha Academy led 30-15 at halftime.  

Both teams took awhile to open the second half scoring as the Polars played a 2-2-1 defense.  Foul trouble would plague Mpls. North as Omar Brown picked up his fourth foul with 16:34 to go.  The Polars would finally score on a free throw from Willie Wilson 1:59 into the second half.  Aligbe would go on another four point run for Minnehaha Academy.  Wilson would score four points in a row for the Polars.  Suggs would make a great inside pass to Holmgren and the seven footer would jam it home.  The Redhawks would also get some bench scoring from Craig McDonald, who scored on a pass from Holmgren.  Both teams would utilize their reserves with :49.4 left.  

El-Amin would lead Mpls. North with 17 points, the only Polar in double figures.  

The Redhawks ended the season 29-2 and the Polars finished with a record of 23-10.  

In the third place game that was played at Ganglehoff Center on the Concordia University campus in St. Paul, Nathan Heise scored 23 points to lead the Lake City Tigers to a 51-47 win over the Perham Yellowjackets.  

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