DAYBA Border Battle To Take Place On Friday

Mar 29

By: Louie St. George

While state tournaments in Minneapolis and Madison the past few weekends announced the end of the prep basketball season, there’s still a high-profile game to be played locally.
The Third Annual Border Battle returns to Romano Gymnasium on the Minnesota Duluth campus this coming Friday, April 1.

Hosted by the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association (DAYBA), the Border Battle pits the best high school seniors from Northeastern Minnesota against the best from North Central Wisconsin. Hence the “border battle” theme.

The girls game tips off at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow.

“This is DAYBA’s continued effort to further promote basketball in the area, and the Border Battle will be a showcase event which will do just that,” DAYBA chairman Mike Gerber said.

The event provides a college-like atmosphere for the games’ participants, many of whom already have committed to playing at the next level. College coaches lead each of the four squads, while the games are played in two 20-minute halves. Utilizing a shot clock ensures an up-tempo pace and plenty of scoring.

And, much like other all-star basketball get-togethers, defense morphs into an afterthought.

After two years and four games, Team Minnesota is still searching for its first win. A year ago, the Wisconsin boys posted a 115-88 victory, while the Wisconsin girls won 80-72. In 2009, the scores were 103-102 in overtime (boys) and 105-62 (girls).

Perhaps some bulletin-board material, then, for this year’s Minnesota coaches, John Bauer and Tom Stackpool? Wait, do all-star teams use bulletin-board material? Doubtful.

Bauer, the women’s coach at Itasca Community College, will guide the Minnesota girls. Stackpool, in charge of the Minnesota boys, is the men’s coach at Mesabi Range College. They will match wits with Paul McDonald (Wisconsin boys) and Dan Zbosnik (Wisconsin girls).

McDonald is the men’s coach at Vermillion Community College, and Zbosnik is the women’s coach at Mesabi Range.

Each coach will have a bevy of talent at their disposal.

“We put a huge effort into evaluating these players,” event spokesperson Jim Schwarzbauer said. “I feel we selected the best of the best. If you like basketball, these will be true all-star games, the top seniors from Northeastern Minnesota playing against the top seniors from North Central Wisconsin.”

Joining the Minnesota girls squad will be a pair of standouts from Braham’s state title-winning club, Liz Anderson and Hannah Dahlman. They will team with Northeastern Minnesota’s all-time scoring leader, Mountain Iron-Buhl’s Charlotte Overbye, as well as Duluth East’s Macie Dorow.

The Minnesota boys include Duluth Central’s CJ Ham and 6-7 center Tomas Parker of Pequot Lakes. Virginia’s Cavan Stackpool, a multi-sport star, will play for his father during the run-and-gun event that has attracted better than 1,000 spectators each of the past two years.

Three players from Superior’s ultra-successful boys team will participate: Josh Kimmes, Rob Kraft and Joel Lindberg.

Click Here For the Complete rosters and latest information information at DAYBA.org.

Tickets for the Border Battle are $6 for students and seniors and $8 for adults. Tickets are good for both games.