It was an interesting week, to say the least, for the Minneapolis South boys’ basketball team.
Despite the dismissal of one key player and the benching of two more for disciplinary reasons, the Tigers, led by do-it-all senior point guard KENLEY FARROW, sophomore sensation PAYTON BOWDRY, and sharpshooting junior TARON MYER, played four games in seven days, winning three of them (including two important conference wins) to open up a City Conference race that has five teams in contention for top honors.
Washburn (4-1) is alone in first place. South, Southwest and North are tied for second place with 4-2 records. Third place Henry is 3-3.
Check out the week South had:
Photo by Mitchell Palmer McDonald
Minneapolis South @ Robbinsdale Armstrong: Sat., Jan. 18
Armstrong, led by SEAN BURNS’ 17 points — MELVIN NEWBURN (13), JUBIE ALADE (13) and EVAN NOLAN (12) also chipped in — defeated the Tigers 92-55, who got 16 points from Bowdry and 14 from Myers.
“We just got flat outplayed,” South Coach JOE HYSER said. “It was just one of those games.”
Minneapolis South @ Minneapolis Henry: Wed., Jan. 22
With two key players benched for disciplinary reasons and trailing 38-36 at halftime, the Tigers, led by Bowdry’s 30 point-performance — Myers and Farrow chipped in 18 each —outscored the Patriots 50-33 en route to an 86-71 victory.
IBRAHIM MOHAMMED scored 23 points to lead Henry while teammates JERMAL DAVIS and JOVAHN JEFFERSON chipped in 15 and 12 respectively.
The players really stepped up,” Hyser said after the game. “They really stepped up as a team.”
Minneapolis North @ Minneapolis South: Fri., Jan. 24
The Tigers, who lost to North (78-75) in the first meeting, took the lead right before halftime and never looked back in an 89-73 victory.
Farrow’s and Bowdry’s 18 points apiece led a balanced South attack, the rest of which DARIUS CLINTON (12), Myers (11) and SAKARIYA YUSUF (10) accounted for.
TYLER JOHNSON had a game-high 26 for North, while backcourt mate JAMIL JACKSON chipped in 21.
“We were up quite a bit and they (North) cut it to two,” Hyser said. “But we held our composure and made plays.”
Minneapolis South @ Benilde St. Margaret’s: Sat., Jan. 25
Farrow scored 22 points and Myers put on a three-point shooting clinic, leading the Tigers to a 72-55 win.
SAM LYNCH had 20 points to lead Benilde St. Margaret’s, while point guard JAYSON EDWARDS added 13.
“We [coaching staff] wondered how they would respond after the North game and within 24 hours,” Hyser said. “To be able to play at that level within 24 hours and against teams with two different styles is quite an accomplishment.”
The City Conference race in Minneapolis has just gotten a little more interesting.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.