Eden Prairie, Hopkins will play for section crown

Eden Prairie boys' basketball coach David Flom came into Saturday's Class 4A, Section 6 semifinal against Minnetonka knowing he would be without his most prolific scorer, Grantham Gillard. The transfer from Maranatha averages more than 19 points per game, so Flom needed to figure out a way to find those missing points somewhere among the depleted roster.

The answer came in the form of senior captain Andre Wallace.

Wallace scored a season-high 36 points, earning the Eagles a ticket to the section championship game with a 71-68 victory over the Skippers at Chaska High School.

"The concern now is everybody slides into roles, so other guys need to step up and make plays and that's what we talked about," Flom said. "The reality is that Andre needed to step up double and he did."

Said Wallace: "This whole game I was just saying, give me the ball to try to get to the basket, draw a foul or score and that's what happened. Coaches told me I need to step up and be a leader for the team and get them involved. Basically do anything I can to get the win."

Down 57-50 with 6 minutes, 7 seconds to play, Minnetonka rallied after Seth Coatta and Amar Miller each hit a three-pointer. On the inbounds pass, Eden Prairie's Zach Hovey was called for a technical foul that turned into two points for the Skippers and also gave them back the ball.

But on Eden Prairie's next possession, Wallace drove the lane and scored, giving the Eagles the lead for good.

Like so many times this season, Hopkins used physical defense and a strong second half to slowly dismantle its opponent. This time it was Armstrong's turn.

The Falcons matched the Royals in the first half defensively and kept Hopkins standout Jacob Wright scoreless, and in turn were able to take a one-point lead into the locker room.

But right on cue, Hopkins opened the second half with a 17-3 run on the back of sophomore forward Amir Coffey, whose 15 second-half points sparked the Royals victory and secured a spot in the section final against Eden Prairie.

"In the first half it was a low-down game. We're much better when we're getting up and down the court," said Coffey, who finished with a game-high 27 points. "Defensively, we start counting the stops. When you get to four, five stops in a row you start getting on a run, that's when it goes [from] a one-point game, to a 15-, 16-point game."

After the first half, the Falcons never seemed to get into a rhythm. Despite four players finishing in double figures, Armstrong never got closer than 12 points. Junior forward Sean Burns led the Falcons with 19 points while Ryan Casperson added 18.