The coaches have made their decisions in each class and the match-ups in the quarterfinals of the four Minnesota High School Boys Basketball Tournament classes were released today.  In Class A Section 1 representative Rushford-Peterson (23-7) will play Thursday at 5:00 p.m. against  #4 rated and #3 seed Cass Lake-Bena (29-1).

The Panthers only loss came January 13th against the top seed in the tournament Mayer Lutheran.   The Trojans rolled over #14 ranked Spring Grove in Saturday's Section Championship game 66-30.  They defeated the Lions January 8th 64-57.  Spring Grove was the only Section 1A school ranked in the top 20 in the final Minnesota Basketball News ratings.

Rushford-Peterson was run over by Section 1AA Champion Caledonia December 5th 63-36 and defeated the Warriors February 2nd 53-50.  I've said all season R-P should be rated and this is a very tough draw for them, but I'd be very surprised if it wasn't a competitive game.  Head Coach Tom Vix's teams are always disciplined and physical.

The Mayer Lutheran Crusaders defeated #1 rated Springfield in their section final and have not lost to a Class A team this season.  So you can see why they received the top seed from their peers.  Their losses were to Minnehaha Academy, Jordan and St. Paul Johnson.  The Crusaders open with Mahnomen-Waubun (18-11) at 11:00 a.m. Thursday.

The 1:00 p.m. game features #5 seed and #12 ranked Hinckley-Finlayson (26-4) and #4 seed and #3 ranked Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (30-1).  The R-T-R Knights only loss was to the #9 rated Minneota Vikings 61-59.  They beat Minneota earlier in the year 60-52 and won the Section Title game 71-69 over the Vikings.

At 3:00 p.m. the #2 seed and #2 ranked North Woods Grizzlies (29-1) play unranked Heritage Christian Academy (13-17).  The Grizzlies have also not lost to a Class A school either.  Their only loss was to Virginia.

The Heritage Christian Academy Eagles were the number 6 seed in Section 4A and beat top seed Christ Household of Faith 57-47 in the semi-finals.  The Eagles then downed the #5 seed Mound Park Academy in the championship game 64-56. Heritage Christian is in Maple Grove.

All Class A games Thursday are in Williams Arena.

For the 70th year KDHL Radio will be providing baseline to baseline coverage of the tournament with 16 games total, four featured each day including all the title games on Championship Saturday.

state tournament
2017 State Tournament Action in The Barn. Photo by Roy Koenig/TSM
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