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Eden Prairie rallies in second half to defeat Minnehaha Academy in battle of No. 1 teams

By JIM PAULSEN, Star Tribune, 02/18/20, 8:45PM CST

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The Class 4A Eagles, trailing by six at halftime to the Class 3A Redhawks, finished the game with a 30-7 run for a 78-64 victory before an overflow crowd at Minnehaha Academy.


Eden Prairie's John Henry (left) and Drake Dobbs pressured Jalen Suggs of Minnehaha in the second half. Photo: Jerry Holt • Jerry.Holt@startribune.com

Trailing by six points at halftime to the team many have anointed the best in the state was right where Eden Prairie coach David Flom wanted his team to be.

Well, maybe not precisely, but Flom was far from unhappy.

His Eagles, showing the resilience and toughness developed from more than three years of playing together, rallied in the second half Tuesday to defeat host Minnehaha Academy 78-64 in a battle of No. 1-ranked teams.

Class 4A Eden Prairie (24-0), which starts four seniors who have been playing varsity basketball together for more than three years, trailed Class 3A Minnehaha 31-25 at intermission. 

“Their athleticism, length, strength and how engaged they were was something offensively we hadn’t seen all year,” Flom said. “We rushed a lot of shots. The fact that we were [only] down six? We felt like were in a really good spot.”

After settling down, Eden Prairie cut the Minnehaha Academy lead to one, 38-37, on the strength of an offensive flourish from sharpshooting guard John Henry. He scored 12 consecutive points on three three-pointers and a traditional three-point play, cutting the deficit to a single point.

First report

Eden Prairie, which trailed by nine points in the second half, rallied behind the long-range shooting guard John Henry and a relentless defense that forced Minnehaha Academy out of its offensive comfort zone to defeat the host Redhawks 78-64 Tuesday evening.

Henry, a 6-5 senior guard, made three three-pointers and a conventional three-point play in the opening minutes of the second half to help the Eagles erase a six-point halftime deficit. Henry made five three-pointers and scored 22 of his game-high 29 points in the second half. He finished with seven threes.

Eden Prairie finished the game on a 30-7 run.

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