MSHSL State Boys Class 3A Semifinals Review

Good defensive teams in basketball always make their opponents feel uncomfortable.

That's exactly how the Northfield Raiders looked in the first half against top seed Totino- Grace in a Class 3A Semifinal contest at Williams Arena Thursday.

The Eagles flew out to a 43-25 halftime lead and never looked back in an impressive 89-61 victory.

I remember saying with a couple minutes left until halftime if the Raiders could cut the lead to 12 or 14 points they would probably be fortunate, but it ballooned to the 18 point deficit.

Totino-Grace seriously looked like they were playing 10 guys against Northfield's 5 with their quickness and leaping ability on full display.

It was 10-0 less than four minutes into the game.  At approximately the halfway point of the first half the speedy, quick leaping Eagles held a 15 point lead.

They play ten players regularly and many coming into the game would be starting for other teams.

Their top scorer coming into the game Dothan Ijadimbola, senior, 6'5, scored 22 points with 11 rebounds in their quarterfinal round win over Minneapolis South 90-56.

Against the Raiders he finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in just over 20 minutes of action,

Talk about balance, Tian Chatman, senior, 6'4, tallied 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists in approximately 18 minutes, Daniel Zoa, sophomore,had 11 points, 7 rebounds in 21 minutes, Malachi Hill, junior, 5'11, added 10 poimts, 3 rebounds, 3 assists in 22 minutes.

Coming off the bench Jaylan Hynes, junior, 6'3, was 5 of 8 from three point range to collect 15 points in 14:29.

Every player got in for both teams with some running time in the second half.

Northfield's leader Kayden Oakland got into foul trouble and the Raiders just are not the same team without him on the floor.  He finished the game with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assists and came into the game with averages of 21 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game to lead the team in all those categories.

The only Raiders player to reach double digits was a sophomore, Liam Oakland, 6'2 with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists in just over 28 minutes.

The final telling statistic was points in the paint, 44 for Totino-Grace, 18 for Northfield.

The Eagles also scored 23 points off turnovers, Raiders 12.

Totino-Grace is in Fridley, and led the game from start to finish.  the Eagles only two losses this season came back to back against Class 4A Wayzata and East Ridge, just before Christmas break and right after the holidays

They scored over 100 points 5 times during the regular season and average 88.8 points per game on the way to their Northwest Suburban Conference title.

The top seed is also #1 in QRF (Quality Results Formula).

Northfield will play Noon Saturday for third place against a Richfield Spartans team that plays a similar style but lost a thriller to their Tri-Metro Conference foes DeLaSalle from Minneapolis.

The Raiders contest will be on POWER 96 Radio, 95.9 FM, worldwide on FREE POWER 96 app with myself on the call from St. Paul.

The Spartans were ahead 36-35 at the half, fell behind by double digits in the second half and made a valiant comeback with a chance to tie or win with under 10 seconds to go but couldn't get a layup to go in the basket.

This was an up and down defensive affair with skilled players all over the floor.

The Islanders won 73-70 with the two biggest statistics being points off turnovers 20 to 8 and fast break points were 14 to 6..

There were a total of 40 fouls called in the very physical affair, so the free throw line was also significant in the contest.  Islanders scoring 20 points at the stripe in 29 attempts.

Richfield was 11 of 15.

The Spartans had 7 threes compared to DeLaSalle's 3.

The title game will be Saturday March 28, 2026 at The Barn and I'll have the call in what could be a very entertaining game with a lot of young athletes showing their incredible talents to the whole state.

Tip time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on KDHL AM, 920, 97.9 FM, worldwide on the FREE to download KDHL app.