Boys’ state tournament highlights

It was quite the show at the boys’ basketball state tournament last weekend. Here are a few of the highlights:

Saturday, March 15

REID TRAVIS, JARVIS JOHNSON, GENO CRANDALL, SCAR ANIM and JAMES LAWSON led DeLaSalle to a 60-40 win over Austin to capture its third consecutive Class 3A championship.

Travis, a McDonald’s All-American selection, led the way with 16 points, and Anim scored 13, including an alley-oop dunk to start.

AJUDA NYWESH led Austin with 24 points.

JP MACURA scored 43 points in a variety of ways, BRONSON BRUNEAU added 16, and DREW STEWART chipped in 10 to lead Lakeville North to an 84-82 victory over Hopkins for the Class 4A title.

KAMALI CHAMBERS led Hopkins with 24 points, NOBLE FAHNBULLAH added 16, JACOB WRIGHT chipped in 15, and JOHN WARREN had 11.

Thursday, March 13

Sophomore AMIR COFFY hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to lift Hopkins to a 49-46 victory (which took four overtimes) to defeat Shakopee in the Class 4A semifinals.

Macura scored 31 points, including a buzzer beater, to defeat Cretin Derham Hall 55-52 in the Class 4A semifinals.

Wednesday, March 12

St. Paul Central’s “iron seven” of FELIX JAMES JR., SAM GUBBRUD, JAKOBI JACKSON, SAM GUBBRUD, RAYEON WILLIAMS, GARRET GARDNER and KALU ABOSI led the Minutemen to their first Class 3A state tournament appearance since 2000 — after upsetting No. 1-ranked St. Paul Johnson in the section final — before losing 81-48 to eventual state champion DeLaSalle in the quarterfinals.

Williams and Gubbrud led Central with 11 and 10 points respectively.

For Central, their appearance in the state tournament allowed an older generation of high school boys’ basketball fans to recall when the Minutemen boasted one of the state’s premier programs during the 1980s.

Between 1978 and 1989, Central won 10 City championships and seven state tournament appearances.

Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.