These teams were young up-and-comers when they last met on Feb. 15, 2018. Champlin Park’s Bennett Otto scored 23 points in the Rebels' 86-83 victory.
While Josiah Strong, who scored 26 points in the victory over Eden Prairie and led Champlin Park in scoring last season, has graduated and gone on to play at Navy, the Rebels have another formidable team this season. Otto, now a senior, anchors the No. 9-4A Rebels (8-3, 4-0).
He leads Champlin Park in scoring (17.4 ppg), assists (4.6 per game) and steals (2.2 per game) and is second in rebounds (6.3 per game), and is one of the northwest metro's best all-around players.
Otto’s play is complimented by Jacob Johnson, who averages 15.4 points and 2.3 assists per game, and Francis Nwaokorie, a 6-5 sophomore, averaging 9.5 points and 6.4 rebounds.
The Rebels' victory over Eden Prairie last season came during a 14-game winning streak that stretched to the end of the regular season. However, Champlin Park's promising season ended with a loss to Osseo in second round of Class 4A, Section 5 playoffs.
Eden Prairie, meanwhile, rebounded from the loss to the Rebels to earn a berth in the Class 4A state tournament, where it finished fourth. Now juniors, Drake Dobbs (16.8 ppg), Austin Andrews (13.7 ppg), John Henry (13.2 ppg) and Conner Christensen (12.4 ppg) aim to take the No. 6-4A Eagles (7-5, 0-1) back to state.