Crosby-Ironton Headed To Sixth Title Game

The Crosby-Ironton Rangers boys basketball team entered the 2017 state tournament as the #3 seed and after winning its first game on Wednesday night over Breckendale, the Rangers had a shot to head to the Class AA state title game when they faced St. Cloud Cathedral on Friday night at the Target Center. The Rangers will have that shot after defeating the Crusaders 53-42.

This will be the Rangers’ sixth appearance in the title game, with the last one occurring in 2010. The Rangers finished as runner-up in all five appearances.

Noah Gindorff led the way for the Rangers with a double-double, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Fellow Senior Jack Silgen contributed 13 points and eight rebounds for Crosby-Ironton.

All five Ranger starters (Gindorff, Silgen, Evan Edmundson, Trey Jacobs, and Jonathan Jacobson) played 35 minutes of the game before coming out when the game was out of reach in the final minute of the game. Rangers Head Coach David Galovich says this isn’t unusual for his team.

“We don’t have a lot of juniors out,” Galovich said. “We only have one junior then we go down to the freshman and sophomore classes. We’ve played six guys, sometimes five, all year.”

In addition to the win, another milestone was set when senior Trey Jacobs recorded his 1,000th career point in the second half. Jacobs joins his teammates Gindorff and Silgen, who are also in the 1,000 point club.

“It feels pretty amazing, it doesn’t feel real,” Jacobs said. “I’m just glad I have amazing teammates that got me there and an amazing coach.”

Galovich says he’s never seen three 1,000-point scorers on one team in his Hall of Fame coaching career.

“Well, in 39 years of doing that, this is the first time that that has occurred,” Galovich said. “What it says is a couple things: that we have great players and also that we play pretty good team basketball.”

In addition to Jacobs, St. Cloud Cathedral’s Michael Schaefer also recorded his 1,000th point in the contest, as he also led the Crusaders in scoring with 15 points on the night.

The Crosby-Ironton Rangers will advance to take on top-seeded Minnehaha Academy, who defeated Annandale 76-44 earlier on Friday night. The Class AA state title game will tip-off at 1:00 P.M. at the Target Center in Minneapolis.