Minneapolis North crushes Springfield in Class 1A semifinals

Fans who watched Minneapolis North's Tayler Johnson throw down a powerful first half dunk likely missed teammate Isaac Johnson's advance celebration some 60 feet behind the play.

Seeing Tayler on a clear runway to the basket meant show time, so Isaac threw up both hands in triumph and waited for the inevitable.

Minneapolis North's 100-56 victory over Springfield in the Class 1A semifinals at Target Center on Friday went much the same way. The defending champion Polars, who have blown out their past seven opponents by an average 51 points, controlled play from the opening tap and left little doubt about the outcome.

No. 1 seed North (31-2) advances to the title game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Target Center seeking its seventh state championship since 1980.

Tayler Johnson's one-handed slam, another example of the athletic disparity in the two teams, also provided one of the game's few surprises.

"I thought he was going with the usual two-hand," Isaac said jokingly.

"Every fast break we get, we try to throw one down because that brings energy to our team," Tayler Johnson said. "Bench gets loud, crowd gets loud."

Senior guard Isaac Johnson led North with 29 points, followed by junior forward ODell Wilson IV (22), junior guard Tayler Johnson (19) and senior guard JaQuan Sanders-Smith (16, including career point 1,000).

For its part, No. 5 seed Springfield (29-3) did not concede. A trio of three-pointers helped the Tigers rally from an early 8-0 hole. During the first half sophomore guard Isaac Fink yelled "We're attacking" to teammates and backed up his words. Fink tried sparking the offense with quick passes into the lane and taking a charge on the defensive end.

"We can't back down," said Fink, who led the Tigers with 18 points. "If we go into a game thinking we're going to lose or we're going to get killed, it's going to happen. So we went in with the mind-set that we're going to attack them and not let their game dictate the pace. I'm proud of our effort."

But Springfield couldn't match North's turbocharged bursts of eight, five and seven points.

"When we get those runs like that, it means that our defense is clicking," North coach Larry McKenzie said.

"We'd get a couple shots to go down or finally get a stop on defense — I don't think we had very many of those — and then they'd come back and get another offensive rebound, layup or kick out three," Springfield coach Lance Larson said. "It wears on you."