Sports
BSM Boys Make It A Sweep Over Minnetonka
Benilde-St. Margaret's follows Friday's win over No. 1 Hopkins with a 71-68 triumph over previously undefeated Minnetonka.
The top-ranked boys made it a home sweep Tuesday night, as they followed the girls with a victory of their own in the second half of a basketball doubleheader.
Minnetonka (No. 9 in Class 4A) came into the game 6-0, but left 6-1 after losing a 71-68 match-up against the Red Knights, who are now 4-1 on the season and ranked No. 1 in Class 3A.
"I think we went out and made a statement, especially in that ," said senior guard Will Dunn. "I didn't think we played particularly well tonight. I thought we could have played a lot better. We didn't execute. We didn't do what we needed to do. But we came out with the win. It was ugly. We'll take it, but we've got to come back down to the ground some tomorrow and keep getting better."
Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
BSM started strong and led 8-2 and 17-6 before Minnetonka rallied to close to within 30-28 at the half.
The second half was a similar story. The Red Knights controlled the game and led 65-54 with 3:41 to play before the Skippers staged another rally to get back into it.
Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Mnnetonka closed to within two points twice in the final minute, at 68-66 and again at 70-68 on Malcom Moore's tip in of a miss with just six seconds left. BSM's Isaiah Zierdan made the first of two free throws, but missed the second to leave the door open. A last-second, long three by the Skippers couldn't quite find the mark at the buzzer.
"Benilde is a very good team," said Minnetonka head coach Tom Dasovich. "They beat Hopkins last Friday. I thought it was a winnable game for us. I thought we just made a ton of mistakes that we hadn't made. But give full credit to Benilde—that's a great team. They do great stuff. They have great players."
The Red Knights got a balanced, inside-outside offense going Tuesday. Sanjay Lumpkin and Isaiah Gray had 18 points each to lead BSM, while Dunn added 16 and Zierden had 12.
"We stepped up when we had to," Lumpkin said. "This game was more of a wake up call that we can't just live off the Hopkins game."
Defensively, however, Lumpkin thought the Red Knights did well.
"We're playing defense great," he said. "We're getting a lot of stops."
The Red Knights will host Holy Angels (3-0) Thursday in a game starting at 7:45 p.m.