The Austin boys are playing in the Saturday Fall League at Kennedy High School in Bloomington, Minn. In today’s action, they faced Woodbury, a Class AAAA team from the suburbs of St. Paul.
The Packers tied the game at 38 with 90 seconds remaining and then played tough defense to get the ball back. Here are the last 30 seconds of the contest:
The 2011-12 Packers saw their first action together this past weekend as they participated in a team camp at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. They played well against some top competition, beating a very good Waverly team that won the Iowa Class AAA championship last year and has several returning starters. They also made strong showings against an Evanston, Ill. team and Iowa City West – which made the large-school state semifinals last year in Iowa, and had all of its starters returning.
One of the top games was a contest against the Howard Pulley 16 and under AAU team, one of the top all-star AAU programs in Minnesota. The Pulley team also had a couple of members of its 17U team participating, including Hopkins point guard Siyani Chambers, a member of last year’s Minnesota state champions in class AAAA. The Austin boys battled until the end, when Chambers hit two free throws with six seconds left for the 86-84 Pulley win. Here are some video highlights of that contest:
The Packers head to Ames, Iowa Saturday for the Iowa State team camp, and will be playing together for much of June.
Several Packers are also playing AAU ball, including Brett Lukes who is playing on a strong 15U team, and Joe Aase, Tom Aase and Zach Wessels, who are playing for the Minnesota Fury Gold 16U team that is currently 35-4 on the year. AAU action resumes in July.
Austin has two members of the Big Nine All-Conference Teams. Joe Aase was named to the first team, while Tom Aase made the second team. Both are sophomores. Senior Zach Fadness received honorable mention.
Here is the complete list:
First team
Austin: Joe Aase, so. Century: Ater Manyang, jr. Faribault: Michael Emge, sr. Mankato East: Brody Ziegler, jr. Mankato West: Des Spann, sr. Owatonna: Vaughn Thada, sr.; Drew Osmundson, jr. Winona: Mark Blacklock, sr.; Martin Feddersen, sr.
Second team
Albert Lea: Kyle Ooms, jr. Austin: Tom Aase, so. Century: Nate Kruisselbrink, sr. Faribault: Chad Hansen, sr. Mankato East: Martin Stevens-Frederick, sr. Mayo: Ian Reid Hathaway, jr.; Nate Penz, jr. Owatonna: Tyler Supalla, sr.; Mike Sebring, sr.
The Packer boys nearly pulled off the upset Saturday night in the Section 1AAA semifinals, leading 32-24 at one point in the second half against Winona, ranked third in the state. The Winhawks rallied for a 45-40 win and will now face New Prague in the finals.
Here are the highlights of an exciting game:
Joe Aase had 18 points, Zach Fadness 9, Zach Wessels 7 and Tom Aase 6. Here is the Austin Daily Herald.
The Austin Packer boys pulled out a close game against visting Faribault Wednesday night in the Minnesota Section 1AAA high school basketball tournament. Trailing by five with about five minutes to go, the Packers rallied to pull out a seven-point win.
Joe Aase scored 17 points, while Tom Aase added 12, Zach Wessels 11, Jay Ettinger and Zach Fadness 6 and Collin Weisert 3. Here is the Herald story.
Next up for the Packers is top-seeded Winona on Saturday night.
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