Experienced Hayfield rolls to victory in Class A state quarterfinals

Mar. 23—MINNEAPOLIS — Just because teams are gunning for you doesn't mean they are going to succeed.

Hayfield is the defending Class A boys basketball state champion and teams have circled their calendars all season long in hopes of knocking off the Vikings. That has rarely happened, however. The Vikings reached the 30-win mark for the season on Wednesday, and on the big stage, as they opened Class A state tournament play by knocking off unseeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 66-49 in a state quarterfinal.

"We've had a target on our backs all year," Hayfield coach Chris Pack said.

The Vikings (30-2) also have a wealth of big-game experience with four starters back from a year ago. That experience and talent paid off for Hayfield, the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (23-8) didn't have an answer to contain Hayfield's high-powered offense as the Vikings jumped out to a 16-2 lead and led 37-20 at the half.

"We have four guys with experience," Hayfield senior forward Easton Fritcher said. "That goes a long way. Tough crowd, new atmosphere, it's a huge arena. Experience is everything in anything you do so we definitely had the upper hand in that. But you still have to perform."

RELATED:

Minnesota state boys basketball tournament pairings

Pack said that Hayfield's experience played a big factor in helping the Vikings jump out to a big lead in the early stages of the game.

"That just settled us all down," Pack said. "We settled in and played a great half of basketball."

And while the Vikings were cruising to a big lead, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton struggled to get shots to fall.

"It's honestly not the start we wanted," Knights coach Daren Gravley said. "You have to take your hat off to that team, they knocked a bunch of shots down."

A pair of junior guards led the Vikings early on. Ethan Pack had 14 points in the first half and Isaac Matti had 11, and the two guards combined for four 3-pointers with Pack hitting three, including one at the buzzer.

Pack, the coach's son, continued his stellar shooting in the second half as Hayfield feasted on the Knights' man-to-man defense. He finished with a season-high seven 3-pointers and had 25 points. Pack was 7-for-11 from 3-point range.

"Playing against man is much easier than zone because we have such great players," Ethan Pack said.

Matti chipped in with 15 points , 10 rebounds and eight assists while Fritcher had 12 rebounds and eight points. Zander Jacobson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward and the lone newcomer to the starting lineup this season, had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Coach Pack said Jacobson's presence gives the Vikings a big player on the inside that they lacked a year ago. And even though 20-point plus scorer Ethan Slaathaug graduated, the Vikings have flourished and made more 3-pointers this season.

"People thought we'd take a big step back just because of losing Ethan, but I think right now we might even be playing better than we did last year at this time," Chris Pack said.

The Vikings had their lead trimmed to 52-39 in the second half. But a short time later Kobe Foster and Pack had steals on back-to-back possessions and the Vikings went on a 9-3 run to pull away again.

"Kobe's just a spark plug, he's an unbelievable defender," Chris Pack said. "I feel like we can cause pretty good havoc defensively."

Hayfield entered allowing just 49.1 points per game and it held Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, the Section 3 champion, to 19 points fewer than its season scoring average.

And with three players pulling down eight or more rebounds, Hayfield controlled the boards 45-28.

"I thought he played great post defense and rebounded well," Chris Pack said of Jacobson.

The Vikings also held R-T-R to 30.5% shooting from the field (18-for-59). Hayfield on the other hand knocked down a stellar 10-for-21 from 3-point range and shot 47.1% overall (24-for-51) despite playing at Williams Arena for the first time with this group of players. Hayfield played its state tournament games at Target Center a year ago.

Up next: Hayfield advances to the state semifinals at noon Friday at Williams Arena against the No. 4 Cherry (27-4).

Complete boxscore:

https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/2022%20BBB%20A%20QF%201.pdf