Park Center boys basketball earned a thrilling third-consecutive Section 5AAAA championship last week, beating Maple Grove 63-58 at Rogers High School on March 14.
It was the third straight year that Park Center won the title through a district rivalry, having won the 2022 and 2023 section championships against Osseo.
Park Center have played in the last five section finals, missing an opportunity at six due to the COVID-19 post-season cancellation in 2020.
The Pirates started the night with confidence as the likes of Casmir Chavis, Ari Gooch and Aidan Memene showed out against the Crimson to take an early lead. Maple Grove responded with a strong latter portion of the first half and closed the gap to just four points at halftime.
Park Center had looked the better side in the first half, but also had seen several big scoring chances fall short. Chavis led Park Center’s scoring at the break with 13 points against Maple Grove.
The game remained close as the second half kicked into action. After several minutes, it was the Crimson that led for some time as their confidence, boosted by the crowd, grew.
The challenging level of the Northwest Suburban Conference and Section 5AAAA was on full display in Thursday’s final as the tempo rose and the matchup became more physical and tense. Small mistakes that may have gone unnoticed in the opening minutes now became moments of theater for an ever-louder crowd of fans and both team’s bright moments were celebrated like buzzer-beaters as the two teams chased even a moment of a lead.
The Pirates rediscovered their momentum and pushed back into the lead with their own community of support on the scene. Jackson Fowlkes, who had missed the previous game, was back in the action against Maple Grove and provided an important boost of skill and experience as the clock ticked down.
With the game on the line and Maple Grove leading by one point with two minutes to go, Park Center turned on the engines, scoring four unanswered points, a Chiang Ring dunk the cherry on top, to secure the section championship.
Park Center head coach James Ware noted that the Pirates’ latest section championship win was a powerful moment for the program after narrowly missing a second state title last season.
“This one means a lot. Obviously last year, we were a two-on-one break away from winning the state title back-to-back. We’ve talked about getting here and just having this opportunity. There’s so many good teams that don’t make it to the tournament. We’re happy to just have a chance to be back.”
Ware added that the team’s ability to navigate through close post-season games has proven important throughout the section tournament and will be key to preparing for state.
“You’ve got to win close games. There are some games where the playoff intensity isn’t there, but that Maple Grove game and even the Mounds View game, they had everything. We had to win games where not everything went our way. It wasn’t really our offense that won us that game, it was really our defense. Playing close games this time of year and winning them is what it’s all about.”
Park Center boys basketball will now take part in the MSHSL Class AAAA state tournament as the second seed, starting with a quarterfinal matchup against Eagen at the Target Center on Mar. 20.
On the note of the state matchup, Ware noted that the Pirates will be prepared for a tough game against Eagan, who are led by fellow former University of Minnesota coach Kevin McKenzie.
“Kevin McKenzie and I worked together at the University of Minnesota under Dan Munson years ago, I was the director of basketball operations and he was the video coordinator,” he said. “He’s an excellent coach and he’s had his teams in the state tournament before, so we know it’ll be a tough game ahead.”
Following last week's results, University of Washington commit Casmir Chavis was named to the final five for the Mr. Basketball award alongside Cherry's Isaac Asuma, Breck's Daniel Freitag, Wayzata's Jackson Andrew, and Totino-Grace's Isaiah Johnson-Arigu. Chavis was also named to the all-metro first team, while Chiang Ring and Jackson Fowlkes were named to the all-metro honorable mentions list.
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