Perham scored the first basket of the night, however, Minneapolis North went on an 18 point run to take a sixteen point lead midway through the first half. They maintained that lead at the half, 31-15, and went on to post a 62-46 win over the Yellowjackets, snapping a 29 game winning streak for Perham and advancing into the championship game in Class AA on Saturday at 1:00pm at Target Center against top-seeded Minnehaha Academy. Perham will meet Lake City for third place at 12:00 noon at Concordia University in St. Paul.
North shot 47.5% (28-59) from the floor and held a 35-28 advantage on the boards. They also forced 14 Perham turnovers.
The Yellowjackets, who hit 44% of their 3’s during the season, made only 3-of-16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc and 40.4% (19-47) overall.
The Polars featured great balance as they were led by Nasir El-Amin with 13 points, Davon Townley, Jr. with 12, Willie Wilson with 11, Eli Campbell with 10 and Clifford Brown III with 9. Townley led them with 8 rebounds and Omar Brown added 7 points and 7 boards.
Josh Jeziorski scored 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead Perham. Finn Diggins contributed 14 points and 7 boards, and Jenson Beachy had 11 points and 3 assists.