MN Boys State Basketball Tournament Coverage

KDHL Radio is pleased to once again provide baseline to baseline coverage of the MSHSL State Boys Basketball Tournament after a two year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.

Due to a change in the tournament schedule, the coverage has been spread out over an extra day meaning we will have Matchup Zone coverage Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a Full Court Press Thursday through Saturday.

All of the Semifinals in each class and all the Championship games will be broadcast on KDHL 920 AM, 97.9 FM and the FREE KDHL app.

Tuesday KDHL will feature coverage of the #2 seed Owatonna Huskies Class 4A Quarterfinal round game with the Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders.

OHS graduate Derek Thada and the Voice of OHS Roy Koenig will be on the call probably beginning 1:30 from the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.

Owatonna did something not many teams have been able to accomplish over the years going the entire season without a loss in the Big Nine Conference.

This season the Big Nine had more than one state-ranked team. In addition to Owatonna in Class 4A, Austin, Mankato East, Mankato West, and Winona spent some time in the Minnesota Basketball News state rankings.

Mankato East and Austin are in the Class 3A Tournament this week which indicates just how strong the Big Nine Conference was this season.

Owatonna (27-2) lost by 6 points 58-52 to top seed Park and 63-61 to a very good Robbinsdale Armstrong team.

Cretin-Derham Hall (19-10) is on a seven-game winning streak including a 52-51 win over East Ridge in the Section 4AAAA title game on March 17, 2022.

The Raiders are led by senior 6'3 point guard Tre Holloman who leads the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists.

Holloman is averaging 18.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 10.5 assists per game. He is shooting approximately 48% from the field with 108 three-point baskets and a shooting percentage from three-point range of 38 percent.

The Raiders have more firepower with senior 6'5 Donovhan Cain scoring 18.2 points per game, 7 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Senior 6'10 Brandon Melchior averages 10.1 points per contest while pulling down 5 rebounds each game.

The Huskies are led by senior 6'8 Evan Dushek averaging over 20 points per game and have some talented guards in senior 6'1 Tyler Creger and classmate 6'2 Brayden Williams.

Owatonna is riding a 21 game winning streak. They defeated Rochester Mayo (70-52), Lakeville North (83-66) and Farmington (69-61) on their way to the Section 1AAAA title.

The Huskies average 74.2 points per game and allow 53.2 while C-D-H allows 61.9 while scoring 67.2. The Raiders finished third in the Suburban East Conference which was loaded with good teams.

The winner of the Owatonna contest will play the winner of Moorhead (17-12) vs. #3 seed Wayzata (25-4).

The Spuds have a 31 QRF and were not rated by Minnesota Basketball News. The Trojans have the #1 QRF and were rated #3 in the final MBBN rankings.

Moorhead averages 67 points and gives up 64 points per game while Wayzata's averages are 69.9 scored and 56.6 given up.

Park Center (28-1) is the top seed in Class 4A with a 2 QRF and were ranked #1 by MBBN. The Pirates average 76.7 points per game and allow 52.5. Their opponent is the Andover Huskies (19-10) with a 18 QRF allowing 65.8 points per game while averaging 72.9 on offense.

#4 seed Eastview Lighning (22-6) with a 6 QRF plays #5 seed Eden Prairie (19-10) with a 11 QRF. The Lightning score 73.6 and give up 59.4 points per game. The Eagles allow 63.8 while averaging 71 on offense.

The Section 1AA Champion Caledonia Warriors will be our other game on KDHL Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. from the Target Center.

The Warriors pulled off a stunning three-overtime win over Plainview-Elgin-Millville to get back to state after finishing second to Waseca last year.

Caledonia is 27-1 with their only loss coming against a Wisconsin school. They are 2 in QRF behind Minneapolis North (25-6). The Warriors have defeated handily some very good Class 3A schools like Stewartville (79-61), Totino-Grace at their place 68-67, Class 2A highly rated Maple River 72-49, Class 3A Byron 80-64.

The road to state did not come easy for the Warriors. They had Triton give them a very good Section opening game. 70-53 was the final but the Cobras were down single digits with about 9 minutes to go.

The Perham Yellowjackets (18-10) have a 15 QRF while averaging 58.2 points per game and allowing 50.

The game will also be picked up by KFIL Radio, 103.1 FM, 1060 AM out of Preston on their airwaves and the FREE 103.1 KFIL app.

The winner will go up against the winner of the #3 seed Annandale vs. Pequot Lakes game. The Cardinals are 3 QRF and trhe Cougars are 7 QRF.

Annandale Cardinals average 65.3 and allows 45.8 points per game while the Pequot Lakes Tigers score 63.3 and gives up 51.4.

Top seed Minneapolis North (25-6) with #1 QRF opens with Section 2 Champions Glencoe -Silver Lake (20-9) who defeated Maple River to get to the State Tournament. The game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Williams Arena.

The Polars average 81 points per game and allow 56.1. The Panthers have a 23 QRF and score 69.2 points while giving up an average of 56.6 points per game.

The Minnehaha RedHawks (17-10) are the #4 seed and have the 4 QRF. They play at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night against #5 seed Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (27-2).

The Tigers have a 8 QRF, average 70 points while allowing 47.6. Minnehaha is 4 QRF with 69.8 points per game and 66 points scored on average by their opponents.

That game is also being played at Target Center.

Quarterfinal round Class 3A games Tuesday will all be played at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

Top seed is Totino-Grace (23-6), the Eagles are also the top rated team and open with Hermantown (21-8). The Hawks love an uptempo game averaging 80.4 points per contest while giving up 71.2.

#4 seed Mankato East (21-8) plays Noon Tuesday, March 22, 2022 in Williams Arena against #5 seed Mound Westonka White Hawks (21-8).

The White Hawks average 63.7 and allow 59.3 with a 10 QRF

The Cougars average 71.2 points per game and allow 56.3. They have a 9 QRF.

On the other side of the bracket #2 seed Princeton (26-1) is 4 QRF with a scoring average of 84 points and giving up 67.5.

The Tigers drew the Austin Packers (17-12) out of the Big Nine Conference. The 2:00 p.m. scheduled game in The Barn will feature the Packers who get after it on defense allowing 55 points while scoring 62.2 each game.

Austin's QRF is 15 in Class 3A

#3 seed DeLaSalle(20-7) has a 5 QRF averaging 77 points and giving up 59.5 each game. The Islanders play St. Cloud Tech (19-9) at 4:00 p.m. in Williams Arena.

The Tigers QRF is 11 while allowing 61.8 points per game and scoring 74.1 points per contest.