Talk about a couple of good days of Minnesota high school basketball. I followed up Monday's Henry-North game with another great one Tuesday night: Chaska at Burnsville. While these two teams aren't quite as highly regarded or as talented as the two Minneapolis schools, this was quite a game. And the quality of play (especially the shooting) was a definite notch above that on display at Target Center.

Of course I would have been nearly as happy if this were a blowout, because I was there primarily to see two players and one match-up: Spencer Tollackson vs. Ryan Amoroso. Tollackson, Chaska's 6'9" junior power forward who committed to the Gophers last summer, is just getting back to full speed after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear back in late December. Amoroso, Burnsville's 6'8" junior power forward, has been absolutely lighting up the Lake Conference and has also been a frequent guest of the Gophers at Williams Arena.

The two went head-to-head for most of the game, and the match-up was as good as expected. Spencer scored 25 points despite battling some foul trouble and shot a solid 11 for 16 from the floor. Ryan didn't shoot the ball quite as well, but he was still above 50% (15 for 29) and had double-digit rebounds to go along with his game-high 34 points.

As for the game, it was tight throughout. Chaska led 18-14 after the first quarter, and the two teams went into the locker room for halftime (during which former Gopher and current Viking Jack Brewer was a special guest) tied at 36. Amoroso outscored Tollackson 17-8 in the first half and shot an excellent 8 for 11 from the field. Spencer got off to a bit of a slow start and was forced to sit some when he picked up his 2nd foul a few minutes before halftime.

The 3rd quarter is where Spencer, and Chaska, really got going. Spencer scored 13 points and missed just one shot from the field, and Chaska outscored Burnsville 25-17. Chaska was also propelled by sharp-shooting guards Nick Burns and Andy Stark.

Chaska maintained that ~10-point lead throughout much of the 4th quarter, but Burnsville came charging back late behind the play of junior point guard Adam Chandler (a heck of a player). Chandler hit three 3-pointers in the closing minutes including one with 10 seconds left that tied the game at 80 and sent it into overtime.

In the extra session, it was all Burnsville. Tollackson eventually fouled out, and Amoroso capped a 95-88 victory with a big tomahawk dunk - much to the home crowd's delight.

Burnsville had 4 players in double figures. In addition to Amoroso's 34, Chandler scored 24, forward Eric Heisler scored 14, and guard Floyd Daniels scored 13.

Chaska's Nick Burns matched Tollackson's 25 points before fouling out. Andy Stark scored 17, and guard Jason Theis and center Lee Issaacson (before suffering what appeared to be an ankle sprain) both scored 8.

Yep, another night, another great high school basketball game. The only bad thing about going to this game was that it meant missing another great game: Tartan's 53-52 upset of St. Thomas Academy.