#1 Hopkins 76, St. Cloud Tech 56
Back-to-back it is.  Top-seeded Hopkins claimed its second consecutive Class AAAA state title with a 76-56 victory over St. Cloud Tech at Target Center.  Joe Coleman posted his third straight 20-plus point effort for Hopkins (30-2), scoring 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the title game.  Powerful Marvin Singleton added a double-double (19 points, 17 rebounds) and Siyani Chambers (12 points) and DJ Peterson (10) each scored in double figures.  Alex Hanks led Tech (27-5) with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but shot just 7-of-24 from the field and 5-of-12 from the free throw line against an aggressive Royals' defense.  As a team, the Tigers were just 35.5 percent from the field and 35 percent from the line.  Kellan Euerle added 10 points for Tech while Scott Nystrom had three points (on 1-of-10 shooting) and nine rebounds.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

#1 St. Paul Johnson 59, Grand Rapids 55
It was closer than most expected, but the end result was the same.  St. Paul Johnson capped off an unbeaten season by downing unseeded Grand Rapids in the Class AAA state championship game, 59-55 at Target Center.  Trailing 48-47 with 7:59 remaining, Johnson (32-0) went on a 9-0 run to take the lead and held it the rest of the way.  Estan Tyler (pictured at right) was the catalyst for the Governors, scoring a game-high 20 points and adding seven rebounds and four assists.  Roosevelt Scott (12 points) was the only other Johnson player in double figures.  Eric Stark (15) and Michael Johnson (13) led Grand Rapids (29-3), which upset two higher seeded teams to get to the state final -- and then lead Johnson in the second half Saturday night.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

New London-Spicer 62, Crosby-Ironton 52
New London-Spicer controlled the boards and in doing so, earned its second state title in three years with a 62-52 victory over Crosby-Ironton in the Class AA championship game at Target Center.  The Wildcats (32-2) held a 36-20 edge in rebounding, with Erik Tengwall (16 points) and Aaron "Moose" Johnson (11 points) each leading the team with eight boards.  Jayme Moten (pictured at right) paced New London-Spicer with 19 points, including 5-of-10 from three-point range.  His long trey with just over two minutes remaining put the game out of reach.  Crosby-Ironton (29-3) was just 1-of-12 from three-point range, that one made by leading scorer Mark Hoge (27 points, eight rebounds).  Sam Baker added 10 points.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

FoxPreps.com was at the game and caught up with New London-Spicer's soon-to-be-less-hairy Jayme Moten for a video interview.

MN Transitions 61, Sebeka 52
Kevin Noreen (pictured at right) put a big stamp on his Mr. Basketball candidacy, nearly recording a triple-double in leading Minnesota Transitions to its first Class A state title, 61-52 over Sebeka at Target Center.  Noreen, who was injured in the first half and fought through it, had a game-high 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots for the Wolves, who also got 22 points from Rodney Owens.  Sebeka actually led by two at the half, but Transitions outscored the Trojans 31-20 after intermission to earn the crown.  Sebeka had three scorers in double figures, led by Cody Pulju (16 points).  John Clark (13) and Joey Cuperus (10) also hit double digits for the Trojans.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

FoxPreps.com was at the game and caught up with Transitions' coach John Sherman for a video interview.

#4 Henry Sibley 62, #2 Eden Prairie 53
Henry Sibley broke out to an early 10-point lead and never let Eden Prairie recover in a 62-53 victory in the Class AAAA third-place game at Concordia University.  The Warriors (24-6) shot 40 free throws in the game, paced by Jordan Jackson (pictured at right), who was 14-of-16 on his way to a game-high 26 points.  Jake Kreuser (16) and Dante Grant (10) also had double-figure scoring while Brett Ervin led Eden Prairie (26-5) with 18 points.   The Eagles' Conner Nord also added 10 points.  Read the MSHSL recap here.

#4 Winona 48, #2 DeLaSalle 32
Alec Brown (pictured at right) and the Winona inside game proved too much for DeLaSalle to handle, as the Winhawks handed the Islanders a 48-32 defeat in the Class AAA third-place game at Concordia University.  The 7-foot Brown scored a game-high 20 points and Winona (29-2) held a 27-18 rebounding advantage over the smaller DeLaSalle (26-6).  Winona's defense also held the Islanders to just 29.7 percent shooting.  Erik Chapman (12) and Mark Blacklock (10) also scored in double-figures for Winona, while Jonah Travis (14) was the only Islander to hit double digits.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

Plainview-Elgin-Millville 83, Braham 51
Cole Olstad (pictured at right) poured in 32 points and Landon Flies had a double-double (11 poinds, 12 rebounds) as Plainview-Elgin-Millville cruised to an 83-51 victory over Braham in the Class A third-place game at Concordia University.  The Bulldogs led 44-19 at halftime, and held Braham to just 29.6 percent shooting in the game while they shot 58.6 percent.  Michael Pick and Clay Olstad each added 12 points for P-E-M, while Ben Thiry led Braham with 19 points and Bret Cuda had eight points and six rebounds.  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

Ellsworth 70, Rushford-Peterson 62
Senior post Trevor Gruis (pictured at right) made his final prep game a terrific one, scoring 17 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to lead Ellsworth to a 70-62 victory over Rushford-Peterson in the Class A third-place game at Concordia University.  Dalton Huisman added 18 points on 4-of-7 from three-point range and Casey Schilling had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Ellsworth (27-6).  Rushford-Peterson (16-16) was paced by Kasey Ollof (24 points) and Blake Lea (10).  Click to read the MSHSL recap here.

Staff predictions
The Breakdown staff takes a stab at predicting the winners in the boys' tournament.   Can you do better?  We'll update it throughout the tournament to see how close we came.

John's Journal
For those interested in former Star Tribune writer John Millea and his new gig with the MSHSL, he's blogging from the boys' state tournament this weekend.  Just go to the main MSHSL site and hit the tab for "John's Journal."