Mar. 21—MINNEAPOLIS — Red Lake County’s Connor Duden had never played at Williams Arena, the Minnesota Gophers’ basketball arena in Minneapolis.
He’s never attended a game there.
But he led Red Lake County’s offense, dropping 30 points in the No. 3 Rebels’ Minnesota Class A state semifinal game against No. 2 Dawson-Boyd.
Duden’s night wasn’t enough, though, as the Blackjacks pulled away late to beat Red Lake County 80-66 Friday afternoon.
“We knew we had a shot,” Red Lake County coach Steve Philion said. “I’m gifted with these three guys (Will Gieseke, Owen Chervestad and Duden). These guys are tremendous athletes and basketball players. They’re just so fun to coach. … These guys play hard all the time, and when the game’s on the line, Connor just gives it all he’s got.”
Duden ended with 30 points, with 17 coming in the first half. A late 3-pointer gave Duden 30 points in the game, but Dawson-Boyd’s 12-point lead with 48 seconds left was too much to overcome.
The junior, who went 6-for-12 from 3-point range Friday, also hit a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut Dawson-Boyd’s lead to 38-35 at halftime.
Gieseke ended with 15 points. Chervestad added 10 points, and Luke Peterson ended with eight points.
Three minutes into the second half, Duden and Ethan Johnson missed back-to-back 3-point attempts. Dawson-Boyd responded with two easy buckets inside, so Philion called a timeout with 14:56 left in the game.
Duden connected on a 3-pointer out of the timeout to cut the Blackjacks’ lead to 44-42. Dawson-Boyd pulled away after that, though.
The Blackjacks’ student section started chanting “MVP” near the end of the game as Brayson Boike stood at the free-throw line.
Boike, a 6-foot-8 guard, led Dawson-Boyd with 28 points. Six-foot-7 Drew Hjelmeland ended with a double-double (17 points, 13 rebounds) in the win, with 14 of his points and nine rebounds coming in the first half.
“We have guys who are 6-foot-1 across the board,” Gieseke said. “It’s hard to match up against guys who are 6-7, 6-8. Their size definitely wore us out. It’s tough to beat a team like that.”
Jaxton Hastad added 15 points for the Blackjacks, who will face No. 1 Cherry for the Class A title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.
The Rebels will play Nevis in the third-place game at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Concordia University Gangelhoff Center.
“This run — it’s been incredible,” Chervestad said. “Some of the best times of my life, I’m not going to lie. So grateful that we could come down here and play in a state tournament. Hopefully we can have some juice left in the tank and go get a win tomorrow.”
