Josh Lanasa said he knew Eden Prairie's playoff game against Robbinsdale Armstrong would be a battle, especially between himself and Falcons' leading scorer Sean Burns.

While Burns won the individual matchup by scoring a game-high 21 points, Lanasa and the Eagles were victorious in the team tussle as they edged Robbinsdale Armstrong 64-62 in Saturday's Class 4A, Section 6 semifinal game at Eden Prairie High School.

"(Burns) is an amazing player," Lanasa said. "We did everything we could to stop him, and I guess we did just enough."

Trailing 37-36 at halftime, the top-seeded Eagles outscored the fifth-seeded Falcons 28-25 in the second half and escaped with a win thanks to senior Blake Cashman's game-winning basket with 4.6 seconds to play.

Lanasa, who ended the afternoon with 18 points, said the win only could have happened with a total team effort.

"What worked is when we stopped playing one-on-one and we started playing team defense and offense," Lanasa said. "That's what won the game for us, when we worked together."

Sophomore guard Owen Chose echoed the comments of his teammate and added that the Eagles have been focused on team play all year.

"We really played well as a team today," Chose said. "We always talk about ‘one team, one dream' ... and doing anything you can do to win."

Eden Prairie was held Saturday to it's lowest point total in a win this season, but coach David Flom said his Eagles aren't scared to play at any pace.

"We're good enough to play fast, and we're good enough to play slow," Flom said. "To win a state championship, you have to be able to play both and we're comfortable doing either."

Flom said the Eagles' main offensive goal is to play fast to get easy buckets, but they're also not afraid to grind out a win with long possessions. 

One player making all buckets look easy lately is sophomore guard Chose.

Chose finished with 13 points Saturday afternoon and has scored in double digits in three of his last four games, including a season-high 23 against Hopkins on Feb. 20.

Flom said Chose is up at 6 a.m. every day to practice shooting before school and has been a great example of how hard work results in more playing time.

Chose said he knew he'd have to improve his play after earning a spot on the varsity roster at the start of the season.

"That told me to get my mindset ready for whatever I need to do to help my team win, and that's what I'm going to do," Chose said. 

The Eagles have a date with the winner of the other section semifinal game - either Hopkins or Minneapolis South - in the championship at Robbinsdale Cooper on March 4. But the Eagles will enjoy this victory with an off day on Sunday before practicing Monday and Tuesday.

After Saturday's win, Lanasa said he wouldn't have wanted his last career home game to end any other way.

"We trusted each other and we knew we were gonna pull through," Lanasa said. "We've been here before. We just trusted each other, and we love each other and believed we could do it."


Eden Prairie guard Owen Close looks inside for an open teammate in a 64-62 victory over Robbinsdale Armstrong in the Class 4A, Section 6 semifinals. Photo by Rick Orndorf

First Report

Senior Blake Cashman made the game-winning basket with 4.6 seconds remaining as Eden Prairie defeated Robbinsdale Armstrong 64-62 in a Class 4A, Section 6 semifinal matchup at Eden Prairie High School on Saturday.

Cashman finished with eight points while senior Josh Lanasa led the Eagles with 18. 

Sophomore Owen Chose posted 13 points and junior Ryan Jacobus added 10 for No. 1 seed Eden Prairie (24-4), which faces the winner of the semifinal game between No. 2 seed Hopkins and No. 6 seed Minneapolis South in the section championship on March 4.

No. 5 seed Robbinsdale Armstrong (21-7) got a game-high 21 points from senior Sean Burns and 12 from junior True Thompson.


Falcons forward Race Thompson drives the lane in a 64-62 loss at Eden Prairie. Photo by Rick Orndorf

Spotlight Game Coverage