Packers win! Boys to play for Class AAA title
Published 1:58 pm Thursday, March 23, 2017
- The Austin Packers are playing Marshall in the Minnesota Class AAA Boys State Basketball Tournament semifinals at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Austin Packers are heading to the title game of the Class AAA Minnesota Boys State Basketball Tournament.
Duoth Gach led the No. 2-seed Packers with 29 points as the boys beat No. 3 Marshall 73-53 in the semifinals Thursday at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
The Packers jumped out to an early 10-1 lead, but the Tigers battled back to tie the game at 16 before Austin claimed the lead and started pulling away. Austin was up 33-20 at halftime.
It was all Austin from there.
Along with his 29 points, Duoth added three rebounds and an assist on 12 of 22 shooting with four three-pointers. Oman Oman added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists, while Kyle Oberbroeckling scored eight, and Both Gach and Tate Hebrink each added six points.
Austin committed only nine turnovers to Marshall’s 24.
The Packers (29-2 overall) will now face a tough DeLaSalle team, which beat Columbia Heights 85-60, at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Target Center. No. 1 DeLaSalle has won five straight state titles, and the Packers finished second to DeLaSalle in 2013 and 2014.
Austin head coach Kris Fadness talks to the Austin boys basketball team in the locker room before the team’s semifinal matchup against Marshall Thursday at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of @HoopsAhs on Twitter.
This will be Austin’s 11th appearance in a boys basketball championship game. The first came in 1923 when the Packers were the single-class runner-up. Championships followed in 1935, ’46 and ’58.
Austin’s only losses this season were to Rochester John Marshall, Class AAAA team, during the Big Nine Conference play.
Marshall will play Columbia Heights for third place at 2 p.m. Saturday at Concordia University in St. Paul against Columbia Heights.