Class 4A: Missing man
Wayzata's ample student section showed its support of injured senior guard Spencer Hall with a chant of "We love Spencer" before Saturday's Class 4A boys basketball state tournament championship game.
Losing Hall in the second half of Thursday's semifinal against Lakeville North because of an apparent knee injury deprived the Trojans of their third-leading scorer (11.6 points per game) and defensive ace.
"We're all heartbroken for him," Wayzata coach Bryan Schnettler said. "But he's got a huge smile on his face like everybody does right now. We wanted to win for him; we wanted to win for each other. Spencer is a stud, and we did miss him. He's going to bounce back from this, but our guys are going to compete no matter what."
Schnettler then listed the committee of players used to offset Hall's loss.
Sophomore guard Wyatt McBeth earned his "first minutes ever in the state championship game," Schnettler said.
Junior guard Drew Nepstad "played more minutes tonight than he's played all year and goes on and just plays his butt off," Schnettler said. "Same with [senior guard] Jake Berkland. He's just as good on defense as anybody. He ain't backing down."
Berkland and Nepstad each posted three steals as the Trojans finished with 18 points off 20 Park Center turnovers.
Defense made the difference as the Trojans regrouped from a 2022 title game loss to Park Center and won in overtime. Wayzata was fortunate to reach the extra period. Hayden Tibbits failed to get off a shot on his team's final possession of regulation and the Pirates tried converting the miscue into a game-winning fast break.