Minnehaha Academy boys basketball coach Lance Johnson calls it chameleon basketball, the ability to "change colors" in a state tournament setting.
"Until tonight, I wouldn't have been able to say that we won a game on the defensive end," Johnson said.
A bend-don't-break Redhawks defense came through in a 53-48 victory against Maple River on Tuesday in the Class 2A state tournament quarterfinals at Target Center.
Minnehaha outscored the Eagles 16-7 in points off turnovers. But two signature sequences stood out. No. 4 seed Maple River (29-3) cut its deficit to 42-40 with 7:13 remaining in the second half. Then the score read 48-46 in the Redhawks' favor with 1:47 to play. But No. 5 seed Redhawks (22-8) held strong in both cases.
"We stayed disciplined on defense and made smart decisions with the basketball," junior guard Lorenzo Levy said.
Minnehaha junior guard Jerome Williams was outscoring Maple River 15-14 all by himself with a little more than three minutes to play in the first half. He finished with 26 points.
Maple River expected a large helping of Williams, who dropped 30 points in a 68-63 Redhawks loss Dec. 3 in the Eagles' gym.
"He's so quick," Maple River senior Mason Schirmer said. "He's hard to guard, I'll give him that."
