The Road to State: Boys’ Varsity Basketball gains the lead over Central in second half

Breandan Gibbons, Staff Writer|January 17, 2015

Previous games
Junior Dalante Peyton makes a run for the basket against Breck. [The zone defense] really confused us and we lost our composure a little and they created turnovers, senior Sam Suzuki said.
The Road to State: Breck team confuses SPA offense with zone defense, Spartans lose 5 point lead in second half
Players reach for the rebound during the SPA vs. Providence game. The Spartans won 72-48 and will be playing Breck on Jan. 9 at Breck.
The Road to State: Boys Varsity Basketball bring in decisive win, Peyton leads with career high 32 points
Boys Varsity Basketball broke a 4 game losing streak with a win against Spectrum on Dec. 13. After the game Junior Ryan Peacock said, “We were aggressive today and that was good.
Spartan Varsity Boys end losing streak with win against Spectrum
The team meets during half time. “It’s good to beat a good team. Central made it to state last year and they are a good team. We’ve also had a bunch of close losses, so it is also good to get back winning," junior Kent Hanson said.
Breandan Gibbons
The team meets during half time. “It’s good to beat a good team. Central made it to state last year and they are a good team. We’ve also had a bunch of close losses, so it is also good to get back winning,” junior Kent Hanson said.

The Boys’ Varsity Basketball team beat the defending 4AAA champions, St. Paul Central, 65-52. The Spartans started the game off with two points already on the board, because a technical was called on Central junior Jack Beckman for dunking during warmups. The Spartans took this momentum that was gained before the game even started and went on a 14-0 run with about ten minutes to go in the first half. The run was stopped when Central started pressuring SPA and that was able to force turnovers and create opportunities for the Minutemen. The pressure defense continued throughout the entire second and it lead to Central outscoring SPA 28-30 in the second half. However, the Spartans’ defense was able to shut Central down and there was about a four minute period in the second half when no points were scored. In the last two minutes Coach Kevin McKenzie pulled out the starters and put in the role players. In the two possessions the Spartans had during that time senior Ben Petee broke a Minutemen’s ankle on each time.

Junior Dalante Peyton lead all scorers with 24 points, and also grabbed 6 rebounds, junior Kent Hanson also dropped in 21. Senior Abdulsalan Osam looked better after playing while ill last week, but was only able to put up 4 points. Junior Angel Smaller sprained his ankle for the third time so far this season a little bit into the second half, he did not return.

After the game Kent Hanson said, “It’s good to beat a good team. Central made it to state last year and they are a good team. We’ve also had a bunch of close losses, so it is also good to get back winning”. The Spartans were able to get back to .500 with the win and according to Hanson that is key, “We have a bunch of tough games coming up, so it is key getting back to .500”.

The Spartans play Caledonia, the team that beat SPA last year at state and the number 1 team in class 2AA, on Monday, 6:00 at Minneapolis Roosevelt.