Faribault Boys Basketball Still State Ranked

The Faribault Falcon boys basketball team is ranked 12th in Class 3A in the latest Minnesota Basketball News high school state rankings.

This is back a notch from the previous rankings and the Falcons did not lose since those rankings. In fact, they defeated Mankato East last Tuesday in overtime without the services of T.J. Hunt, who was lying in a hospital bed in Rochester.

Hunt had a collapsed lung and listened to the game on Power 96 Radio from his bed. Falcon head coach Lance Walsten told me after the broadcast Tuesday that T.J. texted him after the game and said I nearly gave him "a heart attack."

Mankato East is ranked 20th in Class 3A in the latest MBBN ratings. Austin is eighth, unbeaten Waseca 11th, Northfield 17th.

In Class A, Goodhue leaps several spots to the fourth position and Rushford-Peterson is completely out of the rankings. Believe me, when Noah Carlson is healthy the Trojans will be a force to deal with.

In Class 2A, Caledonia slips to No. 2, thanks I'm sure to Minnehaha Academy's win over perennial 4A power Hopkins. Minnehaha is young. Freshman Jalen Suggs had a triple-double against Hopkins. The 6-foot-3 point guard had 40 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. He was 23 of 28 from the free throw line.

Two other ninth graders for Minnehaha also scored in double figures: 5-foot-11 Terry Lockett had 15 points and 5-foot-11 Kaden Johnson added 10. Five-foot-10 junior Lorenzo Smith amassed 17 points.

Caledonia suffered their first loss of the season to unbeaten Austin 85-71.

I talked to one of the guys who officiated that Austin win and he said the Packers are fun to watch and are the best team he has seen in southern Minnesota. You can't argue with the double-digit win over Caledonia.

In Class 4A, Lakeville North is third and Apple Valley drops to sevnth while unbeaten New Prague is ranked ninth and Rochester John Marshall remains at 19th.

Below are the complete top 20 rankings for each class as determined by the Minnesota Basketball News.

Class 1A

1. Minneapolis North
2. Red Lake
3. Central Minnesota Christian
4. Goodhue
5. Cass Lake-Bena
6. Spring Grove
7. Hillcrest Lutheran
8. Heritage Christian
9. Lake Park-Audubon
10. Mountain Lake Area
11. Nevis
12. Springfield
13. Browerville-Eagle Valley
14. Cleveland
15. Ada-Borup
16. Parkers Prairie
17. Mountain Iron-Buhl
18. Minnesota Valley Lutheran
19. North Woods
20. Red Rock Central

Class 2A

1. Minnehaha Academy
2. Caledonia
3. Annandale
4. Melrose
5. St. Cloud Cathedral
6. Jackson County Central
7. Lake CIty
8. Esko
9. Crosby-Ironton
10. Eden Valley-Watkins
11. Watertown-Mayer
12. Brooklyn Center
13. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva
14. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown
15. Jordan
16. Sauk Centre
17. Virginia
18. Breckenridge
19. Perham
20. Hickley-Finlayson

Class 3A

1. DeLaSalle
2. Delano
3. Totino-Grace
4. Orono
5. Marshall
6. Big Lake
7. Mahtomedi
8. Austin
9. Alexandria
10. Fergus Falls
11. Waseca
12. Faribault
13. Minneapolis Henry
14. Benilde-St. Margaret's
15. St. Thomas Academy
16. St. Anthony Village
17. Northfield
18. Bemidji
19. Willmar
20. Mannkato East

Class 4A

1. Champlin Park
2. Maple Grove
3. Lakeville North
4. Wayzata
5. Park Center
6. Edina
7. Apple Valley
8. Hopkins
9. New Prague
10. Eden Prairie
11. Tartan
12. Osseo
13. Woodbury
14. St. Cloud Tech
15. Chaska
16. Cretin-Derham Hall
17. East Ridge
18. Robbinsdale Cooper
19. Rochester John Marshall
20. Bloomington Jefferson