Two top-50 national prospects went head-to-head

The Prescott High School hosted the 16th Annual Minnesota vs. Wisconsin Border Battle basketball tournament on Saturday, Jan. 21, which featured 14 of the top teams from Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as two prospects ranked in the top 50 nationally in the class of 2023.

The day-long tournament at Prescott High School on Saturday featured seven marquee games to determine the 16th Border Battle winner. Minnesota claimed wins in the first two contests before Wisconsin won three of the final four games to secure the 2023 Border Battle title.

Approximately 900 high school basketball fans came through Prescott’s doors to watch one or many of the highly-anticipated games. Prescott also had 82 dedicated workers that spent more than 12 hours on Saturday working to ensure the event ran as smoothly as possible, according to Prescott Athletic Director Andrew Caudill. He spoke about hosting the 16th Border Battle.

“First, none of this would be possible without Nick Johnson and his coaches for building such a successful program,” Caudill said. “We had 82 workers for the event, which was amazing. I couldn’t do this alone and it was very cool to have this event with the caliber of teams coming to Prescott. There are quite a few people from many communities that would never come to Prescott on their own and I hope they left with positive comments about our school and community.”

Prescott bests Concordia Academy

To start the day Lyle-Austin Pacelli and Lake City, two Minnesota schools, claimed victories over Eau Claire Regis and La Crosse Aquinas in the first two contests. It was up to the Prescott Cardinals to get Wisconsin on the board with a win in the third game, and that’s exactly what they did with an 81-72 victory over Concordia Academy.

The Cardinals squared off with the Concordia Academy Beacons, a private school based out of Roseville, Minn., in the 1:45 p.m. game. Prescott came ready to play, as the Cardinals built a 10-point advantage, 199, just eight minutes into the game.

Prescott got early contributions from several players including senior point guard Jordan Malmlov who hit a couple of jumpers early, junior forward Dallas Wallin got downhill and made multiple layups and senior forward Brandon Stuart even buried a wing three-pointer.

However, the Beacons didn’t fold easily. They strung together a scoring run in the final minutes of the half that cut Prescott’s lead to three points, 35-32, going into the break.

With 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Prescott had a four-point lead, 50-46. That’s when the Cardinals went on a scoring run that included multiple three-pointers by senior forward Brady Block which helped stretch the lead to nine points, 55-46.

Despite Concordia Academy’s best efforts, Prescott held on in the closing minutes to secure the 81-72 victory. With the win, Prescott improved to 12-3 overall and won its second consecutive game after losing three straight to ranked opponents. Prescott head coach Nick Johnson spoke about the win.

“This feels great, and last night (victory over Somerset) feels great too. It was two good ways to bounce back after the stretch we had,” Johnson said. “We played hard man-to-man defense and did it against a very good team. That’s exactly what we needed to do after those three games of taking lumps. They showed me that we’re just fine.”

It was a team effort for Prescott against Concordia Academy, as four of the five starters scored in double figures. Malmlov led the scoring with 21 points while also dishing out seven assists, Wallin tallied 20 and grabbed 13 rebounds, Stuart had 15 points and seven boards while Block had 14 points and nine rebounds in the win. Of Block’s 14 points, 12 came via three-pointers.

“Brady (Block) doesn’t get enough credit because he’s playing with high-profile guys,” Johnson said. “He’s been great all year. He’s had a couple of hiccups against Osceola, but besides that, he’s giving us exactly what we need every night.”

For coach Johnson, the victory over a highly-ranked Concordia Academy team from Minnesota is instantly one of the best wins of the season.

“I thought that was a very good team. They’ve got three guys that can score and they can beat you from inside and outside,” Johnson said. “That’s one of the top teams that we’ve played this year and I thought we played really well.”

After Prescott took care of business against Concordia Academy, Mahtomedi defeated La Crosse Central 72-59 to give Minnesota a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series. Just as the Golden State Warriors did in the 2016 NBA Finals, Minnesota blew that 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Wisconsin won the final three games, as Onalaska earned a 94-64 victory over Minneapolis North, Pewaukee won 93-63 over Totino- Grace and Middleton secured a 51-47 win over Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the final game of the night. With those victories, Wisconsin claimed the 4-3 series win.

Minneapolis North incident

After Onalaksa built a 30-point lead against Minneapolis North, the Huskies felt like the refs weren’t calling a good game and began complaining and exhibiting extremely unprofessional behavior that included jawing at officials.

Minneapolis North head coach Ricky Davis received two technical fouls for his comments and was ejected from the game. Shortly thereafter, one of the players mouthed off to the officials and received a technical foul. That’s when he picked up the ball and threw it at an Onalaska player and then punted it into the stands.

The player was immediately ejected from the contest and Caudill called the game off. The game had long been decided, as it happened with less than a minute left in regulation. Caudill spoke about Minneapolis North’s actions during the Border Battle.

“I was very disappointed in how Minneapolis North handled themselves. Once North’s head coach got ejected, the situation only deteriorated from there,” Caudill said. “We had damaged equipment, two ejections, and once the ball was thrown at an Onalaska player and then kicked towards spectators I had enough. I chose not to consult with anyone and made the call to end the game in the best interest of the safety of all involved. We focused on making sure our officials were safe and that the players and coaches from Onalaska were not impacted.”

While Minneapolis North lost composure and looked for a scapegoat for poor play, turnovers and missed shots, Onalaksa remained professional. Caudill spoke about how the Hilltoppers responded to the Polars’ actions.

“I made sure to share with the head coach and athletic director at Onalaska how impressed I was by their team’s composure,” Caudill said. “None of those guys reacted. They stayed disciplined and I was really happy about that because if they had not done so the situation could have been really bad. I hope Minneapolis North uses this situation to teach their players how to deal with adversity and grow from this situation and I hope everyone involved will give them grace while they learn from this.”

Pewaukee routs Totino-Grace

While the Minneapolis North game got attention for all the wrong reasons, the Pewaukee vs. Totino-Grace game gained notoriety for all the right reasons. The contest featured two of the top 50 high school prospects in the country for the class of 2023.

Totino-Grace senior guard Taison Chatman is ranked as the No. 29 prospect in the country and Pewaukee senior forward Milan Momcilovic is currently the No. 31 prospect in America. Chatman has committed to play at Ohio State next year and Momcilovic at Iowa State.

The two players went toe-to-toe in Prescott on Saturday night and Momcilovic played Chatman off the court.

Momcilovic finished with 33 points, seven rebounds and a block in the blowout win. He shot 13-21 from the floor including 3-6 from beyond the three-point line. Chatman recorded just six points and never got into a rhythm, as he went to the bench early with foul trouble.

Pewaukee cruised to a 93-63 victory and helped secure Wisconsin’s 4-3 victory in the 16th Annual Border Battle at Prescott High School on Saturday, Jan. 21.