basketball

The girls basketball teams from Irondale and Mounds View faced tall tasks heading into the Section 5AAAA playoffs last week. Both squads finished below .500 in the regular season and went up against opponents that combined to win 38 games. 

The St. Anthony Village High School girls basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a bit of momentum by winning seven of its final nine games.

Mounds View faced the top two teams from the Northwest Suburban Conference last week in the Section 5AAAA boys basketball playoffs. The Mustangs were able to take down one of them but the other proved to be too tough.

Tartan High School’s Justin Burg made the most of his final trip to the state high school wrestling tournament. The senior won his first three matches to advance the championship final.

North topples Tartan in section final

Despite having a turnaround season that saw it win 21 games, the North High School boys basketball team garnered only the No. 4 seed in Section 4, Class 4A playoffs. 

The three teams seeded ahead of the Polars had a combined 14 state-tournament appearances since the last time North made it, which was 1999.

For the second straight week, a Hill-Murray basketball team won a first-round playoff game on the road.

Raiders crush Irondale, 60-29

At the beginning of the season, a top-two seed in section playoffs might not have been on the Roseville Area High School girls basketball team’s radar but that’s where it ended up. 

Surprised or not, the Raiders made the most of their high ranking in the first round.

Roseville, seeded second in Section 5, Class 4A, rolled over seventh-seeded Irondale 60-29 at home on Feb. 2. The Raiders held the Knights to single digits in points in the first half and were on cruise control in the second.

Despite posting a losing record in the regular season, the Concordia Academy girls basketball team was seeded high enough to earn a home game in the first round of the playoffs. 

After suffering through a seven-game losing streak in late December and early January, the St. Anthony Village High School girls basketball team finished the season by winning 8 of its final 11 games.

Although it finished the regular season with eight more victories than Totino-Grace, the St. Anthony Village High School boys basketball team found itself opening the post-season at the Eagles’ gym.