Park defeated section opponent Southwest High School while playing away Feb. 15. With the State tournament in March getting closer every game, sectional wins are even more important. With some starters injured, more players had opportunities this game to come off the bench and prove themselves, and Park won with a score of 81-69.
Senior captain Noah Margolis said the team had been doing a lot in practice to prepare for this important matchup, and their idea was to understand their opponents as much as possible.
“We knew it was a big section opponent, so we had to play really hard,” Margolis said. “We went over some of their film, we watched them and we paid close attention to their plays and their personality on the court.”
Sophomore Finn Brooberg said the hardest part about playing Southwest was their intensity and energy level, so Park had to match that level to succeed.
“They fought, had a lot of grit and grind (and) they were a bunch of hustle players so it was really hard,” Brooberg said. “Every top ball that went on the floor, there were four guys going for it. You just had to outwork them.”
Coach Rob Griffin said even though Park secured the victory, their level of play was not up to the level that he knew was attainable.
“It’s not up to the standard that we want to be at, but we’ll always take a win, especially in the section,” Griffin said. “It’s definitely better to win ugly than to lose pretty, so we’ll definitely take the win, but being able to stay consistent is something that we’re still trying to work on.”
Margolis said he was impressed with Southwest’s teamwork, and that their style of play required Park to play very intense defense.
“To be honest, they’re all the same kind of the same player, so they all play really well with each other, and they all share the ball. When you play them, you get tired pretty quick,” Margolis said.
Griffin said he believes Park can win their section, and make it to the state tournament, but the journey there won’t be an easy one.
“If we play hard and together for 36 minutes, I truly believe we can beat anybody in the state. But at the same time, if we’re not, we could lose to anybody in the state,” Griffin said. “We’re in a unique position where we just have to do things almost perfectly to assure ourselves a chance to go where we want to go,” Griffin said.
Brooberg said with this win behind them, their next steps are preparing for more difficult matchups down the road.
“We’re just focused on sections, so we’re looking at the teams in front of us,” Brooberg said. “We have a bunch of hard opponents, we got Orono, Chanhassen, Chaska, so preparing for those matchups has been our goal throughout the season.”
Griffin said the whole season has been leading up to the state tournament in March, and the team has work to do before that point, but he said believes that they can get it done.
“We’re coming to the end, and we said everything that we do during our 26 games in a regular season is all about building up to be the best version of ourselves come March,” Griffin said. “March is right around the corner, so we (have) two weeks to figure it out.”
Park’s next game is against Chaska at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at Chaska High School.
