Somehow, Minnesota star Anders Broman scores 71 points … in a loss
Of all the strange statistical blips that come across the national radar, few can be more odd than this: On Saturday, a high school basketball player in Minnesota scored an astounding 71 points in a game … and his team still lost.
As reported by the Duluth News Tribune and a handful of other Minnesota sources, Lakeview (Minn.) Christian Academy junior standout Anders Broman scored 71 points in his team's 114-110 loss to Melrose (Minn.) High, a total that marked the second-highest single-game total by an individual player in state history. Equally incredibly, Broman's 71-point outburst was still 19 points shy of the state single-game record held by former Minneapolis (Minn.) Minnesota Transitions star Cash Eggleston, who racked up 90 points in a 2005 victory.
"It was a bittersweet game," Broman told the News Tribune of the loss. "I made a couple threes to start the half, so I started feeling it. It felt like everything I shot would go in. I love when those days happen."
How good was Broman? He shot an incredible 67 percent in the game and scored 47 of his points during his team's furious second-half comeback from a 16-point halftime deficit. He hit six of his eight 3-pointers in that stretch as well.
That enormous scoring outburst came after one overtime period, but no more, a stunning statistic in itself. It's not often that a team reaches 100 points after multiple overtimes, let alone both squads scoring 100 after just one extra period.
All that comes before one considers the other significant marks hit by players in the game. Broman's younger brother, freshman point guard Bjorn Broman, had 14 assists, most of them to his brother. The Minneapolis Star Tribune also reported that Melrose's leading scorer, Scottie Stone, set a school record with 39 points in his team's win as well.
That Broman would provide the strongest offensive push comes as no huge surprise. The junior phenom became the youngest player in Minnesota history to reach 3,000 career points earlier in the 2011-12 season, and the 6-foot-1 guard is reportedly being recruited by the likes of Virginia Tech, Northwestern and San Diego State, among other schools.
After news of his 71-point explosion gets more traction, it seems likely even more coaches may be giving Broman a ring, too.
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