SE cagers prove competitive against State’s top teams
August 7th, 2008Sibley East’s boys’ basketball team has proved it can play with some of the top high school teams in Minnesota. The Wolverines placed sixth this past weekend in the Pacesetter “Sweet Sixteen” basketball championship at St. Joseph.
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.
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. The Wolverines play in Class AA.
Sibley East opened play Saturday with a 65-53 win over Rocori, a Class AAA team.
That victory set up a showdown with highly-touted Hopkins. The Wolverines were bounced by one of the nation’s top high school teams 95-66. Hopkins, a class AAAA team, has several division one players on its roster. Many basketball publications have Hopkins as the 10th ranked team in the nation.
Sibley East bounced back Sunday with a 76-70 win over Pierz. This could have been a preview of a future matchup as these two teams are in the same section.
The Wolverines then concluded tournament play with an 83-76 loss to St. Cloud Tech in the fifth place game. St. Cloud Tech finished third last year in the Class AAAA state tournament.
St. Paul Johnson won the “Sweet Sixteen” championship, defeating Hopkins 88-86 in the finals on Sunday.
Robbinsdale Cooper finished third followed by Henry Sibley, St. Cloud Tech., Sibley East and Mankato West.
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.
Teams were limited to 12 players for the “Sweet Sixteen” tournament. Sibley East’s roster, as chosen by coach Warzecha, included: seniors - Tyler Agre, Sean Dietz, Lincoln Bjorklund, Erik Goetsch, Josh Shollenbarger and Michael Schultz; juniors - Bjorklund, Tony Haefs, Max Eckberg, Justin Rettmann, Eric Schultz and Ian Berg.
Sibley East was coached by Andy Walden who directed 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.
“All of our guys played great,” Walden said. “We faced the cream of the crop in the state and competed in every game. This was a great learning experience for the team and will only help this group of players for the upcoming season.”
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