Host Minnehaha Academy (13-12) stopped Park’s winning streak at two games with a 74-66 victory Monday evening in a non-conference boys basketball contest.
After playing four games in seven days, Park (11-6, 13-12) has just a single outing this week, hosting Mounds View (10-7, 17-8) Friday, March 1, to close out the regular season. A win by the Wolfpack would give them undisputed third place in the conference. A loss to Mounds View would leave both teams tied for third.
Park 63, Forest Lake 57
Park rallied from a 24-21 halftime deficit to take a 63-57 road triumph over host Forst Lake in Suburban East Conference boys basketball Friday night.
The Wolfpack won the second half 42-33 and remained third in the SEC, improving to 11-6 in the conference and 13-11 on the season.
Kaeden Callais and Tayvion Stewart led Park in scoring for the second straight game, Callais dropping in 20 points and Stewart 18. AJ Kennedy scored 11.
Park swept the series with the Rangers (9-8, 14-10) this season, winning 68-67 in Cottage Grove on Jan. 19.
Park 57, Woodbury 48
An evening after giving up a season high 94 points to St. Thomas Academy, Park found its defense again in a 57-48 conference win at Woodbury Wednesday.
The Wolfpack led 34-29 at the half, then held the Royals to just 19 second-half points in the much-needed win.
Tayvion Stewart and Kaeden Callais each scored 14 points to lead Park offensively. Miskir Esayas added 10 points and Anthony Giadyu nine.
Park swept the series with the Royals, winning 53-51 in the first meeting.
The Wolfpack improved to 10-6 in the Suburban East Conference and 12-11 overall. Woodbury dropped to 5-111 in the SEC and 9-15 on the season.
St. Thomas Academy 94, Park 84
The Park offense was there, but the defense was AWOL as the host Wolfpack dropped a 94-84 decision to visiting St. Thomas Academy Tuesday.
It was the most points given up by the Wolfpack this season as they simply couldn’t get many stops against a sharp-shooting Cadets team. St. Thomas Academy buried long shot after long shot, while also going inside the paint for points.
The Cadets led 50-40 at the half and the Wolfpack could never make up the deficit in a free flowing second half.
Anthony Giadyu pumped in a season high 32 points and Tayvion Stewart scored 23 points to lead the Park offense. Kaeden Callais scored 13 and AJ Kennedy had 10.
St. Thomas Academy went to 14-9 with the win. The Cadets came in averaging 62.5 points per game and their 94 scored was a season high.
“Our biggest thing is 94 points is way too many points,” said Park assistant coach Charlie Koch. “We understand why that happened, where out letdowns are. I told the guys the coaches will go watch those bad stretches that we had, and we’ll be able to communicate that with them tomorrow. But we’re in a situation where we’re lucky we get to play again tomorrow. We need to get this bad taste out of our mouth and flush this. We’re proud of our fight offensively, 84 points should win almost any high school basketball game. And I reiterated that I appreciate them playing all the way through to the end.”
