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With late heroics, Caledonia hustles past St. Cloud Cathedral

By Trevor Squire, SportsEngine, 12/09/17, 1:30AM CST

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Caledonia senior Owen King draws a foul against St. Cloud Cathedral during the Breakdown Tip Off Classic at Hopkins High School on Dec. 9. King had 36 points in the Warriors' 94-80 victory over the Crusaders. Photo by Jeff Lawler, SportsEngine

Owen and Noah King combined for six points in the opening minute of play, putting Caledonia in the driver’s seat early in Saturday afternoon’s meeting with St. Cloud Cathedral in the Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classic at the Lindbergh Center in Hopkins.

But behind precise shooting and opportune conversions at the free-throw line, St. Cloud Cathedral took the lead at halftime and stretched it to 10 points early in the second half. Across the floor, Caledonia had struggled shooting as many members of the team that also play football had just started practicing a week ago after their three-peat as Class 2A football champions.

Then the King family reclaimed their basketball prowess.

Owen, committed to South Dakota State, and his brother Noah, combined for 11 points during a 17-2 run the Warriors used to oust the Crusaders 94-80, accounting for part of their team’s 54 second-half points.

Owen posted a game-high 36 points for Caledonia, which is ranked third in the Class 2A Minnesota Basketball News poll, while Noah followed with 17.

No. 5-2A St. Cloud Cathedral hit 15 three-pointers and shot 17 for 19 from the free-throw line without star forward Mitchell Plombon who was out with mononucleosis.

Sophomore Jacob Stoltzenberg filled the scoring void by nearly surpassing his career high of 17 points in the first half, tallying 16 in the opening 18 minutes. He quickly put that mark to rest by draining his fifth three-pointer of the game in the first 30 seconds on the second half, pushing the Crusaders to a seven-point lead. He finished the game with 26 points while Michael Schaefer posted a 21 points and 11 rebounds.

But St. Cloud Cathedral (2-1) lost its shooting stroke in the waning minutes of the game as Owen, who returned to practice Monday, channeled his first-half frustrations into 21 second-half points. He knocked down a three-pointer with four minutes remaining to push the Warriors (2-0, 1-0) ahead by seven.

“A lot of us football guys just got back to practice on Monday — so it was a quick turnaround — we were just frustrated with not just that (shooting) but our defensive effort too,” Owen said. “Michael (Schaefer) was doing a lot against us — he’s really good — then we just cranked it up another notch.”

From there, his team ran the floor and played stout defensively to close the game on a 14-7 run. Beating the Crusaders, who took fourth at state last year, was a challenge the Warriors welcomed as a team with state tournament aspirations

“This is what we want our nonconference schedule to do is to challenge us,” Owen said. “It stinks Plombon couldn’t play — we were looking forward to that — but they’re a really good team even without him.”


St. Cloud Cathedral guard Jacob Stoltzenberg drives the baseline during the Breakdown Tip Off Classic at Hopkins High School on Dec. 9. The Crusaders fell to the Warriors 84-80. Photo by Jeff Lawler, SportsEngine

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