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Totino-Grace holds off pesky Brooklyn Center for two-point win

By Luke Hanlon, SportsEngine , 12/13/17, 10:00AM CST

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The Eagles squandered a double-digit lead but hung on to top the Centaurs.


Totino-Grace senior guard Nick Flottmeier (12) drives against a Brooklyn Center defender Wednesday en route to a 62-60 Eagles win over the Centaurs. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine

Before every basketball game, the starting lineup for each team is announced. Every player is introduced and it gives the home team a chance to properly greet the five players who are going to begin the upcoming battle.

On Wednesday, as the Brooklyn Center starting lineup was being announced, each cheer got louder for each player as they went down the line. The last player introduced was the Centaurs’ leading scorer, Lu’Cye Patterson.

The announcer introduced him as, “Number 25, the Star Tribune Player of the Week, Lu’Cye Patterson!”

The Centaurs (4-1) couldn’t beat Totino-Grace however, as the Eagles picked up their first win and handed the Centaurs their first loss of the season. But Patterson, who scored 25 points, including 18 in the second half, kept the Centaurs within striking distance while they fought back from a 12-point deficit late in the second half.

Patterson showed impressive resilience, weaving past Eagles’ defenders and fighting through contact over and over. A sophomore, Patterson will likely make plenty of headlines this year, and for years to come.

Totino-Grace (1-2), on the other hand, doesn’t have one player who is going to attract a lot of attention this season -- and that is perfectly fine with coach Nick Carroll.

“It’s that next man up mentality,” he said. “If we’re going to be good, it’s going to be because we have a bunch of guys at 10 to 12 points, not because we have one guy at 30 and the other guys at 2 or 3.”

Tyler Kittelson led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points. Nick Flottmeier added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Six different players had six or more points, which is exactly what Carroll believes will lead this team to success.

Coming into this game, Charlie Jacob led the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game, but was held to 8 points Wednesday. He now has 37 on the season.

Some of the Eagles’ biggest buckets came from the free-throw line. That’s where they were able to calmly ice the game away. Time after time, different players were able to come to the free-throw line and make both attempts while the Centaurs kept creeping back into the game.

That included Carter Weierke, who drained both attempts as his only two points, in the final minute of the game.

“It’s just a resilient group of kids,” Carroll said. “They genuinely support each other. I don’t think they feel a lot of stress when they go to the line because they know they have the support of their buddies behind them.”

This was the first win of the year for the Eagles after opening the season with two losses last week. Carroll said not much has changed since the start of the season as far as practice or preparation goes.

“Even the games that they’ve been losing, they’ve been having phenomenal practices,” he said. “It’s going to take time for them to implement some of the successes that they’re seeing in practice, but tonight was a small victory…I’m really optimistic for what’s to come.”

First report

Totino-Grace, ranked No. 8 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News, hung on Wednesday night to beat Brooklyn Center 62-60.

With a little over six minutes left to go, Totino-Grace (1-2) led Brooklyn Center 48-36. The Eagles significantly slowed down their offense, taking off as many precious seconds  as they could.

Everything was going according to plan for the Eagles, as they led 57-47 with 2:54 left.

Rudwan Tahir hit a corner three to cut the Centaur deficit to seven, setting off a crazy final two minutes of the game that saw quick-strike offense from the Centaurs, and clutch free-throw shooting from the Eagles.

Lu’Cye Patterson, who was named the Star Tribune Player of the Week last week, was quiet in the first half, scoring seven points. Once his team was down and needed quick buckets, he stepped up with 18 second-half points, keeping the Centaurs in the game.

The Centaurs (4-1) were able to force a few turnovers and stop treading water, but the game eventually came down to free throws. The Eagles weren’t going to give away the game at the stripe, as multiple players made big free throws near the end of the game. The biggest came from Carter Weierke, who made both his attempts, which were his only two points, in the final minute of the game.

With seven seconds left and the Eagles up 62-60, it looked like more free throws were on the way, but the Centaurs couldn’t foul in time and the Eagles escaped with a road win.

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