Class AAAA Boys Basketball State Semifinal Park Center 54, Eastview 39

Park Center’s season of dominance has inched closer to a fitting conclusion.

The top-seeded Pirates, typically a free-wheeling, up-tempo attack that can score at will, adjusted to No. 4 Eastview’s harassing defense to record a 54-39 victory in the Class AAAA semifinals on Thursday, March 24, 2022 at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. Senior guard Braeden Carrington, playing in front of his future college coach, the University of Minnesota’s Ben Johnson who sat courtside, scored 13 points in sending Park Center (30-1) to a basketball championship game for the first time since 2013 when it finished runner-up to Apple Valley.

The Pirates await the winner between No. 3 Wayzata and unseeded Cretin-Derham Hall, which played in the second semifinal. That game was a rematch of the Class AAAA championship game from a year ago when Wayzata won to complete a season abbreviated because of the pandemic. Park Center did not face either team during the regular season.

Park Center broke from an 11-all tie in the first half with an 11-2 run that created the first major separation of the game. Sophomore Casmir Chavis ignited the run with a steal in the paint and a layup and Carrington followed with a three-pointer to send the Pirates on to a nine-point advantage at the break. Park Center’s lead grew to as many as 18 points in the second half with 6:11 remaining in regulation time. The Pirates spent more than 30 minutes of playing time with the lead.

Senior forward Jamal Ambrose paced the Lightning (23-7) with 13 points.