Check out these four outstanding accomplishments from last week’s prep action!
One
Apple Valley senior Mark Hall completed his career as one of the top wrestlers in state history last weekend, becoming the first to win six individual championships by defeating Hasting’s Austin Eichman to claim the 3A 170-pound title before a capacity crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.
Hall, who will wrestle at Penn State University next year, is also part of six team titles with Apple Valley — finishing with a 277-4 career mark — including an undefeated mark in his six yearly visits to the Xcel Energy Center.
After the title match concluded, the crowd gave Hall a standing ovation.
He won his first 3A championship as a 130-pound seventh grader.
Two
Robbinsdale Cooper senior guard Melvin Newbern scored 28 points in leading his team to a surprising 70-67 win over top-seed Wayzata.
Wayzata, who defeated St. Croix Lutheran (No. 1, 2A), Minneapolis North (No. 1, 1A) and Hopkins (No. 1, 4A) during the regular season, seemed poised for a deep state tournament run.
But Newbern and first-year head coach Bo Powell — who had successful coaching stints at Minneapolis North and Park Center — had other ideas.
Damien Gordon added 23 points for Cooper.
Three
How about the Section 3A game between St. Paul Highland Park (No. 1 seed) and Bloomington Kennedy (No. 8)?
Highland won the game 101-91 but in crazy fashion.
The Scots were down 43-30 at halftime and scored 71 points after intermission in what was described as a track meet.
Senior point guard Mike Cornelious led the winners with 43 points. Josh Aune had 20. Amitirti Collis-Westlund added 19 and Khari Dennis chipped in 13.
To make the game even more interesting, Cornelious wasn’t even the game’s leading scorer.
Markel Aune scored 50 points to lead Kennedy.
Four
How about that Twin Cities girls’ basketball championship classic between St. Paul Como Park and Minneapolis Southwest?
Southwest gave the defending TC champs all they could handle before settling for a 91-89 defeat.
St. John’s University signee Andrayah Adams — who recently topped the 3000-point career mark — led the winners and all scorers with an eye-popping 43 points.
Khalilah Holloway led Southwest — who jumped out to a 13-0 lead to start the game — with 30 points. Sophia Holien had 29 and Kevia Parker added 15.
Adams sealed the victory with two free-throws in the closing seconds.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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