Pack is back to state: Austin outlasts Northfield in Section 1AAA title game

Published 9:11 pm Friday, March 16, 2018

ROCHESTER – Strange things sometimes happen when the Northfield and Austin boys basketball teams get together. Luckily for the Packers, Austin grad Oman Oman wasn’t playing for the Raiders as top-seeded Austin hung on 74-72 in the Section 1AAA title game in Mayo Civic Center Friday night.

The Austin Packers boys basketball team celebrate their return to state after defeating Northfield Friday night in the Section 1AAA championship in Rochester.

A little over a year after Oman hit a game-winning full court shot off two missed free throws in a regular season game at Northfield, the Raiders nearly returned the favor as Medi Obang, who had 15 points, missed two free throws with 1.1 seconds left. Northfield’s Mason Zick was able to fire off a full court heave, but the shot glanced off the backboard and the Packers survived, clinching their second straight trip to the Minnesota Class AAA State Boys Basketball Tournament, which begins next week.

Austin senior Moses Issa, who finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, said he could hear rumblings from the Raiders about the Oman shot before the final free throws.

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“They were talking about it,” Issa said. “I could hear Northfield people saying ‘here comes the Oman shot. I was like ‘not on us.'”

The Raiders (20-9 overall) cut a 66-52 Austin lead to just 70-69 after Alex Rasmussen hit a three-pointer with 1:40 left in the game. Austin senior Nyagoa Obany responded with the best one-minute spurt of his career as he pulled down two big rebounds and went three-of-four from the free throw line down the stretch.

“I knew I had to put [the free throws] in,” Obany said. “It was a big moment. I just shook off the noise and I knew I could make those free throws.”

Obany finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“Nyagoa Obany was huge for us tonight and if there was an MVP of the game, it would probably be him,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “He was physical down there.”

Austin (26-2 overall) had led by as many as 24 and it held a 55-40 lead with 12:40 left in the game. A combination of a technical foul on Duoth Gach, who finished with 16 points and four rebounds and a fourth foul on Tate Hebrink, who had 14 points, with 11 minutes left in the game opened the door for the Raiders. Then a flurry of hurried shots, turnovers and strong Northfield offense led to the Raider comeback.

“I know I should be extremely happy, but I’m disapointed with our lack of discipline in the second half mentally and we were flying all over the place on defense,” Fadness said. “I’m happy we won, but we got pretty lucky. Playing like that doesn’t get it done with me. I’m not happy with the technical foul and I’m not happy with some of the body language out there. I spent the whole second half trying to keep our guys under control. Give their kids credit. Rasmussen was great, Zik kept getting to the basket and [Mason] Otterdahl was tough for them.”

The Packers opened the game on fire as they connected on six three-pointers in the game’s first 10 minutes en route to a 34-10 lead. The Raiders closed the half on a 15-4 run to close the gap to 13 points.

Northfield 25 47 – 72

Austin 38 34 – 74

Austin scoring: Duoth Gach, 16; Medi Obang, 15; Tate Hebrink, 14; Nyagoa Obany, 11; Dongrin Deng, 5; Gavin Owens, 2; free throws: 62 percent (8-for-13); rebounds: 28 (Obany, 11); turnovers: 12