PERHAM, MN (KDLM) – The 2022 Class AA State Boys Basketball Tournament kicks off tonight at the Target Center and Williams Arena, and the 8AA Champion Perham Yellowjackets are set to face Caledonia in the quarterfinals at 6:00 at the Target Center.
The Yellowjackets started the season 7-2 but wouldn’t win back-to-back games from January 13th thru February 28th, finishing four games above .500 at 14-10. Perham hadn’t lost double-digit games in a season since 2008-09.
“I think the turning point was our game against Bemidji,” says head coach Dave Cresap. “It was our last regular-season game. Bemidji is an AAAA school and was playing really well. They have great size and great athletes, and we went into their building and beat them by seven points. That game was definitely a springboard for our guys. I could see the fire and the drive coming back. I told them earlier in the week to stick to the game plan and good things will happen. Good things happened that night, and since then we’ve been playing some pretty good basketball.”
After beating Bemidji, Perham was given the three-seed in the Section 8AA tournament, where they beat a Pelican Rapids team that had beaten them twice in the regular season, and the top-seeded Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels team in the section championship game, holding the Rebels to 40 points in the game after they had averaged 70 ppg for the season.
And tonight, in the opening round of the State Boys Basketball Tournament, another tough test against arguably the best team in Class AA in the Caledonia Warriors. The Warriors feature 6’2″ guard Eli King, who is one of five finalists for the Mr. Minnesota Basketball award.
“We haven’t seen a player like Eli King this season,” says Cresap. “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeves to try and contain him. We have to make the most of our offensive opportunities, be patient and limit our mistakes to stand a chance. These guys like to really speed up the game. They come at you for 36 minutes with hard pressure, and if you start going fast they’ll start going faster and their athletes have the advantage there. But if we can do the little things, I like our chances of staying in the game.”
One of the ways that Coach Cresap has kept his players motivated this season is by handing out postgame awards, recognizing his players for doing the little things.
“The recognition inspires kids to work even harder by doing the things that the fans in the stands might not give a second thought to that can help change the outcome of the game. We have the Hard Hat Award, which we give to a player who will take a big charge or dive on the floor after a loose ball. We have the Lunchbox Award, which is a combination of a bunch of things…it could be a nice pass that leads to points in transition. We have the Windex Award, which is given to the team’s top rebounder, and we have the Charge Chain where if a kid takes a charge, they get to wear the Charge Chain on the bench. The players winning these awards has varied throughout the year, it can be anybody on any given night. And they take pride in winning these. And they all want to win that award, which leads to some added friendly competition and motivation to the games with their teammates to try and be the one to make that game-changing play.”
Jacket Award winners in the Section Championship win over DGF. Soren Anderson gets the Hard Hat Award. Jacob Daniels gets the Lunch Box Award. Micah Thompson gets the Windex Award. Very well done! So proud of your efforts! pic.twitter.com/lPkkIZxtVW
— Coach Cresap (@dcresap05) March 19, 2022
You can listen to tonight’s Perham Yellowjackets State quarterfinal game against Caledonia at 6:00 on The Lakes 99.5-FM and on the Lakes Area Radio app.
CLASS AA STATE QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS:
Glencoe-Silver Lake vs #1 Minneapolis North – 6:00 @ Williams Arena
#5 Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta vs #4 Minnehaha Academy – 8:00 @ Williams Arena
Perham vs #2 Caledonia – 6:00 @ Target Center
Pequot Lakes vs #3 Annandale – 8:00 @ Target Center
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