Class 3A: Benilde coach knew seniors could handle more freedom

Benilde-St. Margaret's boys' basketball coach John Moore knew he had a special group the day he gave up total control.

Moore always has considered himself a typical coach, aka a control freak. Yet here he was letting his seniors change the rules. You don't want to wear the traditional shirts and ties for road games? Put it down on paper -- typed, double-spaced -- and tell me why we should change.

Not long after, the Red Knights were traveling in their warmups.

Trust the players? Empower them to have input on some of his key decisions? Matt Thomas, Max Carlson, Jordan Taylor, Spencer Bata, Stuart Neville, Chet Paulson and Armond Battle made the near-impossible happen.

Saturday night at Target Center they helped make a little history, too, leading Benilde to its first state championship with a 58-52 victory over St. Thomas Academy.

Thomas said he knew he was part of a special group as far back as third grade, when four of the Red Knights began playing together. When Taylor joined them -- after beating them while playing for Bloomington -- in seventh grade, and Battle came along in ninth grade, the seeds of a championship team had been planted.

"When I came in from Maple Grove, they were the big dogs," Battle said. "They always beat us in seventh and eighth grade. Now I knew I was part of something special."

The memories came flooding back for the Red Knights on Saturday as they held off the Cadets.

"As I was standing at the free-throw line at the end, I was thinking, 'I've been doing this since third grade,'" Taylor said. "I missed a lot of those and made a few. Luckily I made a few tonight."

Taylor, who led the Red Knights with 20 points, preferred to talk afterward about his teammates and the bond that took hold so many years ago.

"The strenuous drills that no one wanted to do," Taylor said. "The complaining, the crying, the moaning. Playing 4-on-4 when the coaches didn't show up for practice, playing the littles against the bigs.

"So many great memories. To have it end like this with these guys is so great I can't even explain it."

Taylor will play for Wisconsin next season, Battle for Tulsa. Plans soon will be made among all the seniors regarding visiting each others' campuses and attending games. The final hours of Saturday night were all about celebrating together.

"We broke a lot of barriers this year," Taylor said. "We beat Henry this year for the first time in Benilde history. We knew from Day 1 we had something special. We have 18 hard workers."

It shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with the Benilde-St. Margaret's program to know who the leader has been in that category.

"Taylor is the hardest worker I've ever seen in a basketball player," Thomas said. "He's always pushing everyone to play hard. He's always in the gym."

Moore saw it, too, which made it easier to cede some of that everloving control.

"This is my 13th year, and I'm a firm believer that senior leadership is very important," Moore said. "So we stress that. When we don't have a good practice, I'm chewing out the seniors. Communication starts with the seniors, and my mantra from the start of the season has been that we'll go as far as the seniors will take us."

Dean Spiros • dspiros@startribune.com