Excitement Builds As Sabres Chase State Title Dreams

The Sartell-St. Stephen boys basketball team is headed to the Minnesota State High School League State Tournament for the first time since 2013. The sixth-seeded Sabres will battle #3 seed Richfield at Williams Arena at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

The game can be heard on AM 1390 and FM 93.9 Granite City Sports and on the Granite City Sports mobile app.

SABRES FIRST TRIP SINCE 2013 

Sabres head coach Marcus Oistad was an assistant coach when the team made its only other state tourney appearance in 2013. Sartell faced a tough task going up against a stacked De La Salle team and ended up losing 70-55.

"I remember the size and athleticism of De La Salle, but our guys battled and played actually pretty well," Oistad said. "We were within 10-12 points the entire game, we came up a little short but a great effort by our guys.

"We are looking forward to going down there this time and trying to get a win," Oistad said.

EXTENDED BREAK BETWEEN GAMES 

The boys basketball tournament was pushed back a week due to the University of Minnesota needing Williams Arena for its women's basketball team and their NCAA Tournament home games. Coach Oistad says they have stayed busy with practices and team bonding during the extended break.

"It's been kind of weird with 13 days between the section final and (our first state tournament game)," Oistad said. "Last Friday we scrimmaged Pequot Lakes to try to get some live run in against someone else and we've given the guys a couple days off.

"We did a team bonding dinner and watched March Madness, then we practiced at St. Cloud State to practice on a bigger court that is similar in size to Williams Arena," Oistad said.

The Sabres have also worked on focus and conditioning during the extended break.

RICHFIELD A TOUGH OPPONENT 

Richfield checks in at 27-2 on the season, with their only two losses this season coming against the tournament's top two seeds in De La Salle and Totino-Grace.

(Richfield) is going to try to speed up the game, they are really good in transition and very athletic," Oistad said. "We will have to take care of the basketball and handle their press, we have to defend well and make them make tough outside shots."

Oistad says the Sabres' size inside the paint could be an advantage for his team.

"Our advantage will be our size inside, which should help combat some of their athleticism," Oistad said. "Some of our big guys being able to score should be an advantage for us, but we have to take care of the basketball."