Eagles Late Comeback Give Totino First Title

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

Ahjany Lee’s three baskets inside, the area a taller Totino-Grace boys’ basketball team had to dominate, were the key offensive plays late in the Eagles’ 50-44 victory in Saturday’s Class 3A championship game.

The victory gave Totino-Grace, a private school located in Fridley, its first boys’ basketball state title. The top seeded Eagles (26-6) survived a spirited effort from No. 3 seed DeLaSalle (22-8).

Lee, a 6-10 senior forward who transferred from Byron, finished with 14 points, the last two coming on a two-handed dunk. He scored six consecutive points after DeLaSalle took a 44-41 lead with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining.

Game statistics showed Totino-Grace blocking six shots to DeLaSalle’s zero and outscoring the Islanders both in the paint (22-6) and in second-chance points (11-0).

The Eagles started and closed the second half with the stout play inside. In between, their presence near the basket sputtered.

DeLaSalle led 29-26 at halftime. The game’s mojo swung throughout most second half possessions. Skill and emotion with a dash of desperation both ways made for a compelling title game.

The resulting raucous atmosphere belied the quiet moment DeLaSalle coach Travis Bledsoe enjoyed an hour before tipoff, when he sat on a stool alone on the raised floor, playing out game scenarios.

A jumper from the Eagles’ Taison Chatman knotted the score with a little less than four minutes remaining.

His Islanders’ counterpart and fellow junior guard Nasir Whitlock drained a three-pointer for a 44-41 lead with 3:39 left on the clock. Both Chatman (15 points) and Whitlock (18) led their respective teams in scoring. But DeLaSalle would not score again after Whitlock’s big shot.