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Area baseball playoffs are in full swing but basketball will be the primary focus for a group of Sibley East athletes this weekend.

The Wolverine boys’ basketball team has been invited to play in the Pacesetter “Sweet Sixteen” Basketball Championship. It will be held this weekend at Clemens Fieldhouse on the campus of St. Ben’s University in St. Joseph, MN.

Sibley East will play highly-touted Rocori, a Class AAA team, in the opening round of the tournament. That game is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Saturday. Hopkins, one of the top high school teams in the nation, is also in Sibley East’s bracket.

Pacesetter’s “Sweet 16” Championship is considered to be the most prestigious summer basketball tournament in Minnesota. It annually features a number of teams that go on to win Minnesota High School state championships.

“It is a great opportunity and will be a great experience for our players,” Sibley East head coach Todd Warzecha said. “We will face some tough competition but this event will only make our team better.”

Pacesetter invites the top 4 teams from each class for both boys and girls, and then mixes one from each class within each bracket of four games. Each team is guaranteed four regulation-length games as the teams play down to a single championship.

Sibley East is expected to make a run in Class AA this season. Last season, a young Wolverines squad posted a record of 17-9. They were nipped by Rockford 56-52 in sub-section semifinal play. Rockford went on to qualify for the class AA state tournament.

All starters and several reserves return for Sibley East this season including 6’-7” standout Marshall Bjorklund. The junior has been travelling the nation this summer playing on one of Minnesota’s top AAU basketball teams. Bjorklund is returning from Orlando this week and is expected to join his Sibley East teammates this weekend.

Teams are limited to 12 players for the “Sweet Sixteen” tournament. Sibley East’s roster this weekend, as chosen by coach Warzecha, will include six seniors and six juniors. The seniors will be Tyler Agre, Sean Dietz, Lincoln Bjorklund, Erik Goetsch, Josh Shollenbarger and Michael Schultz. Joining Marshall Bjorklund in the junior class will be Tony Haefs, Max Eckberg, Justin Rettmann, Eric Schultz and Ian Berg.

Many of these Sibley East cagers have been playing in a league this summer at Bethany Lutheran College. The Wolverines have posted a record of 9-3 so far this summer. League playoffs begin this week.

Sibley East will be coached this weekend by Andy Walden who coached the squad in AAU basketball last summer. Walden is a native of New Ulm, MN and a former assistant coach at Mankato East High School. State high school rules prohibit active coaches from having contact with their team after August 1st.

Seven of the eight 2008 Minnesota State High School champions had summer teams in last season’s “Sweet Sixteen” tournament.

Minnetonka defeated Hopkins 74-69 in the finals of the 2007 “Sweet Sixteen” championship. Crosby-Ironton finished third with a 60-53 win over Tartan.