Champlin Park boys' basketball state-bound

Champlin Park’s Jasper Duberry raised his hand in victory as his teammates cheered after Duberry sank a basket right before the halftime buzzer during Friday night’s Class 4A,Section 5 final against Cooper. Duberry and the Rebels beat the Hawks 77-70.

The Rebels are going to state for the second time in school history after holding off top-seeded Cooper.

Star Tribune

Last update: March 20, 2010 - 1:37 AM

Champlin Park has preached a complete team effort for the entire boys' basketball season, and it wasn't about to end minutes after the Rebels knocked off No. 1-seeded Cooper 77-70 in the Class 4A, Section 5 championship game Friday night.

As coach Mark Tuchscherer praised several seniors, he was interrupted by many of those very players. Everyone had taken a turn cutting down the net inside the nearly full gym at Rogers High School; the last snip, though, was saved for the coach.

It was that kind of night for the Rebels (24-5), and it's been that kind of season. They built a 44-33 halftime lead, stretched it to 66-48 midway through the half, withstood a barrage by Cooper (25-4) that got the Hawks within 73-70, got a huge hoop from Josh Pella (22 points) with a minute left and hung on for their second state boys' basketball tournament berth in school history.

All 77 points came from five senior starters, and key moments were distributed almost equally. Brandon Davis led the way with 25 and exchanged a couple of memorable hard fouls with 6-8 Cooper center Calvin Godfrey.
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"He thought I was going to back down," Davis said. "But our whole team is tough. Nobody is going to make us back down."
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Godfrey, who averages 19 points a game, was held to 11 thanks to swarming double- and triple-teams in the post. The player most often charged with guarding him man-to-man was 6-3 Kyle Zimmermann, who chipped in 15 points and even brought the ball up the court on several occasions.
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"He's just a phenomenal defender because he's so smart," Tuchscherer said, seconds before the final piece of the net beckoned.