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Class 3A state quarterfinal: Top-seeded Totino-Grace rolls past Hermantown

By David La Vaque, 03/22/22, 11:15AM CDT

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The Eagles' height and athletic ability too much for Hawks


Taison Chatman

By halftime, the Hawks felt at ease in the larger, louder Williams Arena environment. A comfort zone against Totino-Grace proved tougher to find.

Taller, more physical and accustomed to tough competition, the top-seeded Eagles (24-6) rolled to victory over the Hawks (21-9).

“We don’t get to see many teams that have players like that,” Hermantown junior Keaton Christianson said, “so it’s hard to adjust on the fly. But we tried to do our best.”

The Hawks’ lone senior, Michael Lau, hit his team’s third three-pointer in a row to start the game. Lau gave Hermantown a 9-4 lead with less than four minutes gone.

“Our biggest thing was going out and making sure that we played our game,” Hermantown coach Andy Fenske said. “We had opportunities there and we definitely capitalized on some of them. When you’re going against a team that has a lot of high-caliber talent, it’s competition that we unfortunately don’t get to see.”

A few minutes later, Totino-Grace junior guard Taison Chatman broke open a tie score with his own nine-point run. The Eagles led 21-12 and never looked back.

Totino-Grace received 19 points from Chatman, a Star Tribune All-Metro second-team selection, plus scoring from Patrick Bath (16 points), All-Metro first-team pick Demarion Watson (12) and Jayden Livingston (10).

“We prepared for this moment and this team overall,” Watson said. “We stuck to our principles and played hard defense.”

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