Rebels hold off Orioles in section boys' basketball

by Bob San

(Created: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 4:35 PM CDT)

Champlin Park defeated Osseo for the third time this season in a 69-62 Section 5 semifinal thriller March 16 at Rogers.

The Orioles played a strong first half and built a seven-point lead midway through the half. But the Rebels put on a late run to cut Osseo's lead to 29-28 at halftime.

The Rebels began to exert their physical style of play and carried the momentum into the second half. They began dominating the boards, took over the lead and the Orioles could not rally.

"We played very well in the first half but in the second half Champlin Park exploited our weak post defense," Osseo coach Tim Theisen said.

Osseo did not have an answer for the Rebels' senior center Kyle Zimmerman, who dominated the second half.

"Zimmerman did a really good job at taking our post players outside and posting them strong inside," Theisen said. "He scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half."


Osseo senior John Rowland (right) drives to the basket against Champlin Park. (Photo by Nick Clark)

The Orioles never quit and hung within five, six points most of the half, but on this night they could not rally because their shots were not falling.

"Every time we played them this year, Champlin Park slowly built up five, six point leads with five, six minutes to go," Theisen said. " It was exactly the same in the section semifinal. Unfortunately, we didn't step up and hit shots when we needed to."

Theisen had said when the season began that his team is one of the best shooting team in school history and would depend on outside shooting to win games. But the Orioles could not find their shooting touch against the Rebels and shot just 29 percent from two-point range and 25 percent from beyond the three-point arch.

Senior Chris McMorris led Osseo with 15 points, junior Joey Sonnenfeld had 10, senior Aaron Anderson and eighth grader Ian Theisen each had 9, senior John Rowland had 7, and seniors John Bailey and Dalton Graff each had 6.

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