The Sacred Heart Eagles boy’s basketball team won their first-ever State Tournament game on Thursday afternoon with a 69-53 victory over the Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights, in a game inside of the Gangelhoff Center on the University of Concordia in St. Paul.
FIRST HALF –
The first few minutes of the half were highlighted by lights out shooting from Sacred Heart. After a couple of baskets from Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s to take a 4-3 lead, Sacred Heart would rattle off a 12-2 run to take a 15-6 lead with 12:44 to go in the half. The run was highlighted by three-pointers from Sam Gapp, Kobe Tomkinson, Ethan Arntson, and was capped off by an and-one from Arntson. Sacred Heart would build their lead to 19-8 but, the Knights would settle in and score five of the next seven points making it 21-13 Sacred Heart. It didn’t seem to bother the Eagles, as they continued to shoot the three-pointer well, and knocked down back-to-back threes from Tomkinson and Josiah Sundby to extend the lead to 27-13. After a Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s layup, Ethan Arntson would knock down another three-pointer giving Sacred Heart their largest lead of the half at 30-15 with 5:19 until halftime. After another Knights timeout, they regrouped and changed things up defensively to slow down the Eagles. While the Eagles struggled to score, the Knights would end the first half on a 14-6 run to get back into the basketball game, only down 36-29. Sacred Heart was led by Kobe Tomkinson, Ethan Arntson, and Sam Gapp, as they combined for 33 of the team’s 36 first-half points. Josiah Sundby had the other lone three, and the Eagles shot 7-13 from three-point range in the first eighteen minutes. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s was led by Carson Domeier with 13 first-half points and three three-pointers.
SECOND HALF –
Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s would score five of the first seven points to start the second half and cut the Sacred Heart lead all the way down to four points at 38-34, the closest it had been since early in the first half. Kobe Tomkinson would continue his strong day and score four straight to extend the Eagles lead to 42-34. The teams would trade a couple of baskets from there until a 5-0 Sacred Heart scoring run would give the Eagles a comfortable lead once again at 49-38 with 10:40 remaining in the game. The Knights would continue to fight and claw back, and after a couple of scores, would be back within single digits at 51-43 with 7:41 remaining in the game. It would never get closer from there, and Sacred Heart would burst for a 7-0 scoring run capped off by a Tomkinson three giving them a 58-43 lead with just 4:51 remaining in the game. The Knights would get it back down to thirteen points, but another Tomkinson three would seal the game for good, and Sacred Heart would knock down their free throws and take control of the basketball to secure a 69-53 win. The win is the program’s first State Tournament victory ever recorded. The Eagles were led all day by Kobe Tomkinson who poured in 33 points but also got big performances from Sam Gapp, and Ethan Arntson. Those three combined for 64 of the teams 69 points, with Josiah Sundby scoring the other 5. Sacred Heart also shot 52% from the field as a team and was 10-11 at the free-throw line to help secure the win.
The win is the first-ever boy’s basketball State Tournament victory for the Eagles! Sacred Heart now improves to 29-4 and will play in the Class A State Tournament Consolation Championship on Saturday morning against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. The tip-off is set for 8:00 a.m. back inside the Gangelhoff Center, and the game can be heard on KROX starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 7:30 a.m. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s ends their season with a final record of 28-4.
FOR SACRED HEART HEAD COACH DESTRY STERKEL’S POSTGAME COMMENTS, CLICK HERE
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Sacred Heart | 36 | 33 | 69 |
| Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s | 29 | 24 | 53 |
| Sacred Heart | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Kobe Tomkinson | 33 | 4 | 2 assists/1 steal |
| Ethan Arntson | 17 | 1 | 1 assist/4 blocks |
| Sam Gapp | 14 | 6 | 9 assists/3 steals |
| Josiah Sundby | 5 | 1 | 4 assists/3 steals |
| Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s | Points |
| Carson Domeier | 19 |
| Trenton Steffensmeier | 11 |
| Kaleb Wait | 8 |
| William Walter | 6 |
| Jonathan Petermann | 2 |
| Mark Anderson | 2 |
| Cole Schroepfer | 2 |
