Central Lakes College and Raiders head coach Jim Russell will be in familiar territory when they meet Rochester Community College in the quarterfinals of the Region 13 tournament at 3 p.m. Friday at Anoka-Ramsey.
However, the Raiders enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Northern Division. They actually finished in the fourth spot in the division but co-champion Northland is not eligible for this year's tournament which bumped the Raiders up a spot.
The Raiders enter with an 8-6 division record and a 15-12 overall mark. They are not in a familiar spot as Russell's recent teams have been seeded either No. 1 or No. 2 in the division. However, Russell may have done one of his best coaching jobs this season as CLC faced constant adversity with a number of players leaving the team and others dealing with academic issues.
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Region 13 Tournament
- Who: North No. 3 Central Lakes vs. South No. 2 Rochester
- What: Quarterfinals of the Region 13 Tournament
- When: 3 p.m. Friday, March 2
- Where: At Anoka-Ramsey Community College
- CLC record: North Division 8-6, overall 15-12
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"I drew on the chalkboard that to get to state can we have a straight line to get there? That wasn't the case this year," Russell said. "We had a lot of adversity with kids quitting and eligibility issues. There was a lot of stuff going on. We did get better as the season went on but you need a little luck and you need to make sure that you are prepared and ready to go, but this team has come a long way."
The Raiders finished the regular season with wins against Fond du Lac and Hibbing. They will meet the Southern Division No. 2 seed-the Rochester Yellowjackets-in the quarterfinals.
Traditional playoff rivals, the teams met at Rochester in early December with the Yellowjackets winning 90-66.
As has been the case all season, CLC has a completely different starting five than in the earlier matchup against the Yellowjackets. One of the issues in the first game was shooting percentage-Rochester outshot CLC 57 percent to 37 percent.
Led by sophomores Keonte' Jenkins and Lowell Griggs the Raiders have the ability to produce a high-scoring offense. Jenkins leads the Minnesota College Athletic Conference in scoring at 22.2 points per game while Griggs averages 19.9. Rounding out the Raiders' leading scorers is Various Wilson at 12.6 points and Al-Jureau Ray at 12.5.
Griggs leads the team with 10.1 rebounds a game followed by Wilson at 9.2
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A win Friday and the Raiders would face the winner of North No. 1 Rainy River/South No. 4 Minnesota West in the semifinals Saturday.
The Raiders took the Voyageurs to overtime at Rainy River before losing 82-71, and rallied in the second half at CLC in January before falling 95-89. Rainy River shared the division championship with Northland.
Minnesota West traveled to CLC in early January with the Raiders winning 96-72.
Russell's team has faced a number of challenges but he likes the mood of his team heading into the region.
"We had a team meeting and talked about the adversity we have dealt with this year," Russell said. "You deal with adversity in sports and in life so in that sense we are prepared for a tournament where we will be dealing with adversity through the bracket. It is a good life lesson and when it comes down to it, it is just a game that we are talking about."
