Summer Showcases

We are entered in two of the Minnesota Breakdown summer showcases. A varsity level team will be playing June 28 in Rogers, and a Varsity and Junior Varsity level is entered in the the showcase on Sunday, July 19. Please contact Coach Arzdorf if you are interest in playing. (mark@mrsprinkler.org)
Please keep in mind summer high school showcases are designed for high school players and coaches to work on team concepts to be used in the winter. Teams are generally selected by seniority and are in no way a reflection on early decisions for the winter high school season.
There is a good possiblility we will have 2 teams entered the last week of July in St. Cloud.

Open Gym Schedule for next 3 months.

Open Gyms are 6-8 PM in the main gym at Maple Grove Senior High.
Tuesday, May 5.
Tuesday, May 12.
Thursday, May 21.
Tuesday, May 26.
Tuesday, June 9.
Thursday, June 11.
Thursday, June 18.
Tuesday, June 23.
Thursday, June 25.
Tuesday, June 30.
Thursday, July 2.
Tuesday, July 7.
Thursday, July 9.
Tuesday, July 14.
Thursday, July 16.
Tuesday, July 28.
Thursday, July 30.

Spring Open Gyms Starting This Week!

Tuesday night 6-8 in the Senior High Main Gym. Spread the word! Next open gym will be next Tuesday, May 5. Entire spring and summer schedule will be posted on the website this week.

Season ends in St. Cloud

#2 seeded Buffalo Bison took down the Crimson in Overtime Saturday evening in the section semi-finals at St. Cloud State University. Maple Grove held a slim 24-20 first half lead in a very physically played first half.
The Crimson held their largest lead of 9 points at the 10 minute mark of the second half. Buffalo slowly clawed into the lead to tie the game with 2 minutes remaining. Each team converted 2 free throws in the last 2 minutes before a Bison last second shot rimmed off. Buffalo converted their first 3 shots in overtime, and the Crimson had no finishes on their end and the game slipped away.
Final score - Buffalo 63- Maple Grove 53.
Buffalo forced 7 more T.O.'s than the Crimson, and Maple Grove shot a dismal 9 -22 from the free throw line, while Buffalo converted 21-25.

It is certainly a shame that the season had to end that way, but The Crimson should be proud of their efforts on Saturday night. In a game like that, there will always be some 'what ifs'. The bottom line is Maple Grove played their guts out and came up on the short end to a very good team.
Coach Arzdorf would like to send out a special thank you to the 8 Seniors- Tyler Catania, Matt Christenson, Travis Enger, Alex Geisenhoff, Andrew Frost, Marcus Murtha, Josh Pedretti, and Brett Torrence. You played like champions all year, and the 'dream team' will surely be missed.

Next up - Buffalo

Varsity opens section play with a 62-50 win over a very pesky Moorhead squad. Maple Grove got solid contributions from 9 different players Thursday night to propel them to the section semifinals against Buffalo. The game is set for Saturday evening at 7:30 at Halenbeck Hall on the campus of St. Cloud State University. See you there!

Senior Night a Success - Moorhead Next

Maple Grove did a very good job shutting down the Cardinals transition game in route to a 57-50 win. The Crimson celebrated the great accomplishments of its 8 Senior players - Alex Geisenhoff, Matt Christenson, Travis Enger, Tyler Catania, Andrew Frost, Josh Pedretti, Brett Torrence, and Marcus Murtha.
The win secured the 3 seed in section 8AAAA and the Crimson will face the #6 seed Moorhead at 7 PM Thursday night.
Seeds for section 8AAAA - 1-St. Cloud Tech, 2-Buffalo, 3- Maple Grove, 4-Bemidji, 5- Elk River, 6-Moorhead, 7-Brainerd, 8-Alexandria

Blaine in OT on parents night

Maple Grove Varsity is making a habit of playing overtime games. For the second consecutive game the Crimson found themselves playing an extra session, unfortunately they came out on the short end in this one. Maple Grove squandered several opportunities throughout the game to put the Bengals away. Some cold shooting from the line, some missed layups, and mental mistakes eventually all came back to haunt the Crimson. The team will look to rebound Tuesday night against rival Osseo.

Special thanks again to all parents of the program!!

O.T. Win in Andover

After 2 Andrew Frost free throws, Huskie Senior Brett Tester went the length of the court with 5 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime Tuesday evening. Maple Grove came out aggressive in overtime and after a 3 point shot by Alex Geisenhoff, hit 7 free throws to close out the deal. Andover definately stiffled the Crimson at times with their physicality and changing of defenses, forcing 21 Crimson turnovers. The game was definately hard to watch at times, but wins in the NWSC are always hard to come by and the Crimson will take it. Maple Grove got some valuable minutes from junior Matt Hultgren in the first half as several players were in early foul trouble.
The Crimson look forward to celebrating parents night this Friday vs. Blaine.

Big road victory over the Cougars

The Crimson won a tightly contested varsity basketball game Friday night at Centennial 60-56. Maple Grove scored the first 11 points in this one, but the Cougars have several talented players and clawed their way back to eventually lead with 7 minutes to go. The Crimson then got key baskets from Josh Pedretti and Andrew Frost down the stretch, and Alex Geisenhoff, Travis Enger, Matt Christenson and Pedretti all knocked down big free throws to seal the deal. Pedretti pulled down a season high 17 rebounds, and Geisenhoff had 5 assist and 3 steals for the Crimson.
League play continues Tuesday at Andover vs. the surging Huskies.

Maple Grove 51- Park Center 36

Despite a dismal 27% shooting performance in the first half, the Crimson finished a season sweep of the Pirates Tuesday night. With some players fighting the flu, Maple Grove got valuable +/- minutes from Andrew Frost and Brett Torrence. Josh Pedretti had another solid night with 21 and 12 rebounds.
The Crimson travel to Centennial Friday night to face the second place Cougars at 7:00 PM.

Elks in O.T.

Elk River jumped out early, and then withstood a late 2nd half comeback from the Crimson to force overtime, to beat Maple Grove 58-55 Friday. Elk River definately played with more emotion and energy from the get go and earned their second conference win. Maple Grove drops to 8-4 in NWSC play, and 13-7 overall.
The Crimson look to rebound Tuesday at Park Center

Crimson over Champlin at the Buzzer!

Josh Pedretti hit Andrew Frost under the basket and Frost delivered the final 2 points as time ended to give Maple Grove a 54-52 victory over Champlin Park Tuesday evening. The Crimson played excellent 1st half defense to build a 27-17 lead. The Crimson never trailed and led by 11 with 5 minutes to play. Champlin Park clawed its way back to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining before Frost hit the game winner. Here is a link to a channel 12 story on the game - http://nwtv12.dayport.com/viewer/viewerpage.php?Art_ID=4841&tf=nwtv12player.tpl&Category_ID=3
Maple Grove avenges an early season loss to the Rebels and moves their overall record to 13-6 and 8-3 in NWSC play.

Friday night the Crimson return home for Youth night vs. Elk River

Big night for Pedretti lifts Crimson

Maple Grove Varsity starts the second half of the NWSC season by holding off Anoka 79-71 Friday night. Josh Pedretti had the big statistical night ( 31pts and 16 rebounds), but carefull eyes would see some outstanding screens to free Josh, and awareness from teammates to get the ball to the hot hand. Anoka was never out of reach in this one thanks to some excellent perimeter shooting from Bernie Ward - 30 points. Matt Christenson played a solid floor game grabbing 6 rebounds, and dishing out 6 assist.
League play continues Tuesday at Champlin Park.

Varsity hangs on over Cardinals

Maple Grove got back in the win column Tuesday evening in a foul fest at Coon Rapids. In a game that had more whistles then Field Goals, the Crimson held on for a 69-65 win. Seniors Alex Geisenhoff and Brett Torrence had to carry a large load as the majority of the Varsity players sat with foul trouble. Geisenhoff played a very solid 36 minutes, and Torrence was all over the glass on both ends to pace the Crimson.
Conference play resumes at home Friday vs. the Anoka Tornadoes.

Crimson over #5 Orioles!

Maple Grove got off to a quick start and held off a late Osseo rally to defeat the cross town rivals 63-61. The Crimson started off hot by hitting 6 of 7 early from behind the arc and led 33-28 at half. The Crimson inspired play continued in the second half as they were continually tested by the excellent defensive pressure that the highly ranked Orioles bring. The lead stretched to 11 at one point, but the Orioles cut the lead to 2 late until Senior Josh Pedretti put back a huge offensive rebound and finished the free throw to finish off Osseo.
An excellent crowd witnessed a very exciting high school basketball game Tuesday.
Maple Grove overall record improves to 10-5, and 5-2 in NWSC.
The Crimson face a very talented Blaine team on the road this Friday.

Crimson get road win over Elks

Maple Grove got much needed bench contributions from Tyler Catania, Marcus Murtha, Matt Hultgren and Jordan Harrell, as the Crimson got into early foul trouble Thursday night at Elk River. All 9 players that hit the floor contributed to the Crimson 5th straight conference win. After a shaky start, Crimson guards Matt Christenson and Alex Geissenhoff played very steady and were a large factor in the team achieving a season low in turnovers.
The Crimson return to the court this evening at home vs. Centennial.

Big second half for Crimson

Maple Grove varsity shoots a blazing 72% Tuesday night in the second half vs. Andover to overcome a 2 point halftime deficit en route to a 76-55 win. Senior Travis Enger had an excellent all around game highlighted by a solid second half defensive effort against Andovers top player, Brett Tester. The Crimson had a season high in assist and low in turnovers.
Maple Grove improves to 8-4 overall, and 4-1 in conference play.

Crimson with second straight sweep

Maple Grove got a 3 level sweep over the visitors from Duluth East Saturday evening. This follows a very good 5 level night Tuesday against conference rival Park Center.
The Maple Grove Varsity got its 3rd straight with a 71-47 victory Saturday night. The Crimson opened things up early in the second half with some quality transition baskets, and an enhanced effort on the defensive end. Maple Grove has a busy week ahead with 3 conference games starting Tuesday at home vs. Andover.

The postponed game vs. Elk River will be made up this Thursday, January 22 at Elk River.

Game this evening postponed!!

Due to the cancellation of school for the Elk River district. No makeup date set yet.

Champlin Park 77, Maple Grove 55

Champlin Parks Scott Theisen went 7 for 7 from the 3 point line on Tuesday en route to 27 points to lead the Rebels over the Crimson in the NWSC opener. Champlin Park forced the Crimson into 23 turnovers on the evening. Maple Grove will need to have a short memory as the conference season continues Thursday night against a surging Anoka team.

Bethel Tourney Recap

The Holiday tournament at Bethel is arguably the best top to bottom tournament in the state with 6 teams that are currently ranked in the top 10 in their classes.
In the opener the Crimson jumped on St. Anthony early and didnt look back leading 47-21 at halftime. Excellent unselfish play stood out as Maple Grove got several open looks making the extra pass. Senior Brett Torrence pulled down a season high 9 dfensive rebounds for the Crimson.

The semifinals provided an opportunity to compete against a highly rated and talented Henry Sibley team. The team played very well throughout but ended up on the short end 81-75. Sibleys Mike Bruesewitz was a force scoring 35 points. The Crimson did an excellent job in limiting Sibleys top scorer coming in - Maurice Hernandez to his season low, but gave up too many fastbreak points to a very athletic team. Tyler Catania and Andrew Frost brought excellent energy off the bench and provided some key buckets and defensive stops.

In the 3rd place game, Maple Grove was defeated by St. Paul Johnson 57-51. The Crimson did not play with the same energy and enthusiasm they displayed the night before against Henry Sibley. St. Paul Johnson, ranked #1 in class 3A, pressured Maple Grove into several turnovers in the backcourt, and ended up winning the rebounding battle.

For the tournament the Crimson played inspired and entertaining basketball at times. The next task will be to sustain that level of play on a consistent basis to be considered a threat to the elite teams in the state of Minnesota. Senior Josh Pedretti was named to the all-tournament team.

Maple Grove opens the Northwest Suburban Conference season Tuesday with their home opener against Champlin Park.

Maple Grove 52, Buffalo 41

The Crimson picked up their 3rd straight road win over a solid Buffalo team Tuesday evening. The home team had a tough shooting night (35%), and the Crimson controlled the boards led by Josh Pedrettis 13. Travis Enger and Alex Geisenhoff also had 8 rebounds for the Crimson.
Maple Grove Varsity resumes game play Saturday, December 27 vs. St. Anthony Village at 1:00 PM.

Bemidji Trip Summary

Both Varsity and Junior Varsity teams go 2-0 on a weekend road trip to Bemidji.
The Junior Varsity jump to a big lead early against Grand Rapids in the opener and didnt look back. Jordan Harrel pulled down 11 rebounds. The team followed up that performance with a 20 point victory over Bemidji on Saturday highlighted by a 6 for 7 3 point shooting performance from A.J. Litwinchuk. JV record improves to 3-0.
Varsity 64, Grand Rapids 59 - a solid second half helped Maple Grove pull away from section 3AAA favorite Grand Rapids. Josh Pedretti, Matt Christenson, Tyler Catania and Travis Enger all went for double figures in the opener.
Maple Grove 77, Bemidji 59 - The Crimson needed a deep bench Saturday and finished on a 18-6 run to seal a victory over the Lumberjacks. Travis Enger led the way playing all 5 positions at some point during the game. The Crimson got solid bench minutes from Mark Murtha, Matt Hultgren, and Andrew Frost as 4 starters spent the majority of the game in foul trouble. Tyler Catania joined Travis Enger on the all-tournament team.
The Crimson continue non-conference play Tuesday evening at Buffalo. Box scores should be updated soon.

More: Junior Varsity News / Sophomore News / Freshman News