Party crashing underdogs.
That's the role the Central Lakes College Raiders and head coach Jim Russell will take into this weekend's Minnesota College Athletic Conference state tournament.
The North No. 2 seeded Raiders (19-7 overall) will open against South No. 3 St. Cloud Technical College (20-5) 6 p.m. Friday at Anoka-Ramsey
The Raiders played through early adversity looking for an identity. That included losses to St. Cloud and Anoka-Ramsey, two teams standing in CLC's way this weekend.
The Raiders started to click during Northern Division play and finished with 11-3 in division play
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"We went through a lot of adversity and I hope that made us grow as men and basketball players," said Russell. "I really believe that the kids start thinking about the team as opposed to the result. If you put team first, the results will always be positive somewhere down the road."
The winner of Friday's quarterfinal matchup will face the Anoka-Ramsey/Rainy River winner in Saturday's semifinals. The Anoka-Ramsey Rams are ranked No. 2 in the nation. CLC and St. Cloud Tech are the only other MCAC teams to receive votes.
In November, the Raiders lost to St. Cloud Tech 75-59. Lamontrell Fuller led the Raiders with 15 points. Thomas Kornbaum and Timothy Boyd also reached double figures, but struggled from the outside.
The Rams topped CLC 77-69 Dec. 3. Kornbaum scored 16 points with TrayVon Lackey scoring 13 points.
Following the holiday break, guard Keonte' Jenkins joined the team and CCL rattled off a 6-1 start to the North division season.
"Adding Keonte' the second half of the season has made us a whole different team as well," Russell said. "With all the little things changing and the roster changing, the X's and O's stay the same. My expectation tends to be the same. Change doesn't happen overnight and I believe we are still scratching the surface with this team."
On Feb. 18, CLC fell to Northland 68-66 after having beat them 92-68 Feb. 1. That loss vaulted Northland to No. 1 in the North and CLC to No. 2.
The Raiders rebounded with a 98-73 win over Fond du Lac and a 126-48 win over Hibbing to close out the regular season.
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"The team is starting to value each other and to value the opportunity that they have and we used those last two games as a chance to get better for the tournament and they took that opportunity," Russell said.
Jenkins led the North with 22.5 points per game and CLC was No. 3 in scoring in the division. The Raiders averaged 84.5 points per game, while shooting 47.0 from the field, 34.2 percent from 3-point and 71.8 percent from the line.
"It is probably the first time for me in years that I am not expecting anything," Russell said. "The thing I like is that we have a lot of weapons and that if we show up as a team and compete and take care of the basketball, I think it will come down to who will make the last basket and I am comfortable in the role of being the underdog."
A win Friday would give Russell his 400th career win and his players are aware of it. They are also embracing their role of underdog.
"With all of the adversity that the team has faced this year I think they like being in the underdog role and I think their mindset is 'thanks for inviting us to the party', and hopefully we make a statement."
Opening round matchups
North No. 1 Northland vs. South No. 4 Rochester
North No. 3 Vermilion vs. South No. 2 Riverland
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North No. 2 Central Lakes vs. South No. 3 St. Cloud Tech
North No. 4 Rainy River vs. South No. 1 Anoka-Ramsey
