MINNEAPOLIS - If there's one North Woods player you'd least expect to make mistakes late in a tight game, it'd almost certainly be Cade Goggleye.
The senior point guard is always so cool and collected with the ball in his hands. And yet, there he was Friday afternoon at Target Center, throwing an unnecessarily dangerous pass that was picked off by Ada-Borup, which raced the other way and took a 55-54 lead on Jared Brainard's three-point play with 32 seconds showing on the clock.
Goggleye also missed a couple rushed 3-pointers in the final minute.
But he stuck the biggie, making a corner 3 with Brainard draped all over him and four-tenths of a second remaining that sealed a 57-55 win and a spot in Saturday's Class A championship. The veteran admitted he wanted to redeem himself for the uncharacteristic miscues.
"Yeah, I definitely felt that," Goggleye said. "I don't like letting my team down. I'm not known for choking under pressure."
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North Woods coach Will Kleppe initially designed the play so that Goggleye would receive the ball at the top of the key, following a swing pass. But when Cougars coach Trevor Stewart called timeout, Kleppe reconsidered. He didn't know if there was enough time (3.7 seconds) for the extra pass, and instead opted for Goggleye to get it directly off the inbounds.
Redemption ensued.
"I think it was fitting that if Cade had a turnover in the last minute, that he gets the 3 to win the game," Kleppe said.
The Grizzlies fully expected Goggleye's shot to drop. At separate times after the game, both Kleppe and one of his assistants, Jerry Chiabotti, said the exact same thing.
"It's what he does," they both said.
Mighty Morrison
North Woods' Trevor Morrison arrived in Minneapolis averaging 13.3 points and six rebounds. Naturally, then, the 6-foot-4 junior has recorded back-to-back 20-point, 10-rebound performances, which just happened to come against Westbrook-Walnut Grove's 6-7 center, Parker Freeburg, and Ada-Borup's 6-8 Mason Miller.
Morrison made 9 of 14 field-goal attempts against the Cougars.
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"Trevor doesn't really shy away from anybody," Kleppe said. "We've said all season that we've got a 6-3, 6-4 guy inside, but they play much bigger. Trev plays mugh bigger on offense. He's so smooth and his footwork is so good that he finds advantages that allow him to get shots off against bigger defenders."
The coach's son, Chase Kleppe, also had 10 rebounds Friday, while Miller finished with just five.
"We knew (Miller) was bigger than us, so we just wanted to try and keep him out of the lane," Morrison said.
Miller, a junior and highly regarded football recruit, was very complimentary of Morrison and Chase Kleppe, noting their physicality and athleticism.
Henning inspired
The Grizzlies' opponent today, Henning (30-1), plays its games with a No. 33 jersey draped over one of its sideline chairs.
It's a tribute to late teammate Jacob Quam, who was supposed to be a starter and senior captain on this Hornets team, which is at the program's first state tournament since 1966. Quam, though, was killed in an April 2017 car accident. According to online reports, a semi crossed over the center line and crashed into the car Quam was driving.
From a Fargo Forum story: The Hornets have said all season they are playing 6-on-5 because Quam is still with them.
