Richfield enters section play off pair of close losses

Jefferson wins pair to close out regular season on a high note

Despite closing the regular season with consecutive losses, the Richfield boys basketball team (15-11 overall, 12-4 Tri-Metro) enters section play coming off a third-place finish in the competitive Tri-Metro Conference.

Richfield won 12-of-16 games since Jan. 5 and over the last five games averaged just over 89 points per contest including a 95-92 loss at second-place Columbia Heights (16-6, 13-3) on Feb. 22 and a 97-94 loss to Minneapolis South (18-5) on Feb. 29 to close out the regular season.

Spartans junior guard CJ Armstrong continues to provide a consistent scoring threat after a game-high 39 points against South while senior Zavier Hayes and freshman Dre Collins followed with 25 and 20 points, respectively. South standout Poet Davis had 38 points as the visitors overcame a three-point halftime deficit with a 52-46 second-half run.

Richfield also led at halftime against Columbia Heights 52-49 as the Highlanders used a 46-40 second half to pull out the intense Tri-Metro win.

Armstrong once again led the way with a game-high 44 points while Hayes and senior David Lee each had 16 points. Columbia Heights countered with 32 points from standout guard Randy McClendon and 21 points from Jency Davis.

Section 6AAA

Richfield received the No. 4 seed in the section and hosted No. 5 Mound Westonka in Wednesday’s opening-round game after this edition went to press.

No. 8 Kennedy is at defending champion and No. 1 seed Benilde-St. Margaret’s with the winners of the BSM/Kennedy and Richfield/Mound Westonka game meeting at the better seed with a 2 p.m. tip-off set for Saturday.

The other half of the bracket features quarterfinal pairs of No. 7 Holy Angels at No. 2 Delano and No. 6 Robbinsdale Cooper at No. 3 Orono. The winners will meet on Saturday afternoon.

The semifinal winners will play for the section crown at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14 at the better seed.

Kennedy

Looking for a fifth victory of the season, Kennedy wrapped up the home and regular season schedule with a nail-bitting 87-84 loss to Robbinsdale Armstrong on Feb. 29.

The Falcons, of the Northwest Suburban Conference, built a 50-36 halftime lead before the Pat Buchanan-led Kennedy Eagles came roaring back to make it close at the end with a 48-37 run over the second half in search of stopping a seven-game losing streak going back to a 68-67 loss at Columbia Heights on Feb. 6.

Kennedy junior Malik Johnson led the way against Armstrong with 29 points while Ryan Sheehan and Sonte Lajeunesse-Wood added 19 and 16 points, respectively. Sophomore standout guard Marlon Seahorn Jr. finished with 11 points. Armstrong countered with 27 points from Seth Newbern who nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds, six assists, four steals and one block. Desmond Ware and Lucas Priem added 22 and 12 points, respectively to help the Falcons.

Since a 51-40 Tri-Metro Conference win over Brooklyn Center at home on Feb. 1, Kennedy lost three games by three points or less including a pair of one-point defeats.

In addition to the 68-67 loss to Columbia Heights, Kennedy comes up short against Mound Westonka 66-65 on Feb. 26, clawing back from a slim 34-30 halftime hole with a 35-32 second-half run.

Johnson and Seahorn led the Eagles with 23 and 20 points, respectively.

Jefferson

Jefferson (5-21) wrapped up the regular season with a 90-79 win over Chanhassen on Friday for the first winning streak of the season for the Jaguars.

The win capped off the 2-0 work week after Jefferson escaped New Prague with a 63-61 victory on Feb. 26.

Led by junior guard Marcus Horton’s season-high 43 points and Isaac Feller’s 15 points against Chan, Jefferson jumped out to a 47-39 halftime lead that the Storm could not match for Jefferson’s second Metro West Conference win of the season.

The first conference victory came against 5-21 New Prague which only won once in league play.

Horton’s 14 points led the Jags while Feller and Thomas Rowland each had 13 points as the visitors made up for a 29-27 deficit with a 36-32 second-half run for the win.

Jefferson received the No. 8 seed in Section 3AAAA and traveled to No. 1 Eagan on Wednesday.

Holy Angels

Holy Angels (6-20) closed out the regular season with a 63-49 loss to St. Paul Academy on March 1 in Richfield.

Blake Nixon led the Stars with 15 points while Damian Devine and Daniel Devine each had eight points.

Three days earlier the Stars topped Providence Academy 61-55 behind a team-high 19 points from Jamison Rowe and 13 points from Adam Akerson. Providence’s Charlie Willihnganz had 21 points.

Follow Jason Olson on Twitter @Jason0lson or @SunSportsJason.

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(Sun photo by Jason Olson)

Richfield senior Zavier Hayes, left, had 25 points in a 97-94 loss to Minneapolis South in the regular season finale on Feb. 29. The Spartans enter section play averaging 89.8 points over the last five games going 3-2.