One down, one to go
JCC boys top Redwood to start big weekend
Weston Rowe reached the 1,000-point scoring mark for his career as the Jackson County Central boys basketball team played the first of two huge games in a span of about 20 hours Friday night, winning 96-83 over Redwood Valley.
Waseca is due in for a 1:30 p.m. game on Saturday.
Rowe, a junior, finished with 20 points as one of four Huskies to score in double figures in the win over the Cardinals.
Grant Freking scored 25 points, Roman Voss scored 18 and Ben Gallagher 13.
Freking tallied a double double as he added 13 rebounds. He also had seven assists.
Aiven Farmer had eight rebounds while Gallagher had six assists and Voss five. Rowe had three steals.
Redwood had three players score in double figures, with Elway Berg scoring 33 points, Lukas Means 21 and Ethan Louwagie 19.
The win is the fifth straight for Class 2A fourth-ranked JCC puts their record at 19-2.
Waseca is next
Class 2A No. 2 Waseca (21-0) is scheduled to visit Saturday.
The last game for the Bluejays was an 88-58 win over Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Thursday in Truman.
Waseca is fifth among the state’s Class 2A boys basketball teams in points scored per game (81.4) and the Bluejays are seventh in points allowed (52.5).
Jackson County Central is scoring 74.9 points per game and allowing 59.3.
The teams are in different pods within the Big South Conference. JCC is 6-2 in the East Pod and Waseca is 8-0 in the Large School Pod.
Looking ahead about six weeks, the game may carry some weight for state tournament seeding.
JCC appears to control its own fate in earning the top seed for the Section 3AA South Sub-Section tournament and Waseca is in control in Section 2AA.
Windom No. 1 in scoring
Windom has moved into the top spot in points scored. The Eagles are averaging 85.2 points per game following their 109-107 win in regulation at Luverne Friday.
That 216-point total was close to cracking the top 10 on highest scoring games in state history.
Number 10 on the list is 220 in a 113-107 overtime win by Orono over Hutchinson in 2011.
The most points ever is 242 when St. Paul Johnson beat Minneapolis North 123-119 in two overtimes in 2015.
Here are the top 10 teams in the state offensively and defensively.
Points scored
Windom 85.2
Mora 84.5
Warroad 82.1
Legacy Christian 81.8
Waseca 81.4
Glencoe-Silver Lake 80.7
Blake 80.2
Caledonia 79.4
Holdingford 77.6
Jordan 76.1
Points allowed
Albany 42.9
Pequot Lakes 45.4
Mora 48.4
Montevideo 51.3
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 50.4
St. Croix Lutheran 51.4
Waseca 52.5
Warroad 53.9
Pillager 54.5
Maple River 54.7
Two or less
There are nine Class 2A boys basketball teams in the state that have two or fewer losses on the season through Friday.
Here’s that list:
Waseca 21-0
Albany 18-0
Blake 17-1
Mora 17-1
Caledonia 20-2
Jackson County Central 19-2
Montevideo 17-2
Holdingford 19-2
Warroad 19-2
Sub-section boys records
Here are the won-loss records of Section 3AA South Sub-Section boys basketball teams through Friday. The teams are listed in order of won-loss percentage.
Jackson County Central 19-2 .905
Luverne 14-6 .700
Redwood Valley 15-8 .652
Fairmont 13-8 .619
Windom 11-10 .524
St. James Area 10-10 .500
Pipestone 8-11 .421
Alumni Impact Award
Charlie Clarksean, a 1970 graduate of Jackson High School, is the latest recipient of an Alumni Impact Award.
Clarksean was a member of Jackson’s team that lost to Sherburn in the 1970 Region 2 championship game. The Raiders would go on to be the final one-class state champion.
He went on to play football at South Dakota State and was named to the school’s Hall of Fame for his play with the Jackrabbits as a safety.
He holds the SDSU single-season interception record with nine in 1972 and the career mark with 14.
Charlie has been a long-time coach in basketball and football at JCC, usually on a volunteer basis.
Here’s the list of Alumni Impact Award recipients:
2023-2024
Jack Brinkman
Jordan Hutzler
Rudy Voss
Jon Harmening
2024-2025
Ryan Christopher
Charlie Clarksean
Season results
JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL (19-2)
Friday, Dec. 6: at New Ulm, W 85-73
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Estherville Lincoln Central, W 79-46
Thursday, Dec. 12: at Blue Earth Area, W 76-60
Friday, Dec. 13: at Tri-City United, W 78-48
Tuesday, Dec. 17: at St. Peter, W 64-60
Friday, Dec. 20: at Fairmont, W 52-49
Monday, Dec. 30: Montevideo at SMSU, W 63-55
Tuesday, Dec. 31: Marshall at SMSU, W 71-67 (2 OT)
Friday, Jan. 3: at Belle Plaine, L 71-61
Tuesday, Jan. 7: at Redwood Valley, W 63-55
Friday, Jan. 10: at Windom, W 101-69
Monday, Jan. 13: Luverne. W 84-80
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Worthington, W 78-54
Thursday, Jan. 16: Blue Earth Area, W 70-52
Tuesday, Jan. 21: Tri-City United, W 91-34
Friday, Jan. 24: Fairmont, L 40-38
Monday, Jan. 27: at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 71-55
Tuesday, Jan. 28: at Pipestone, W 65-40
Friday, Jan. 31: Belle Plaine, W 84-69
Tuesday, Feb. 4: Windom, W 88-73
Friday, Feb. 7: Redwood Valley, W 96-83
Saturday, Feb. 8: Waseca, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 11: at Luverne, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 15: at Maple River, 7:15 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 17: St. James Area, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 18: at Pipestone, 7:30 p.m.
WASECA (21-0)
Saturday, Nov. 30: at Pine Island, W 68-54
Tuesday, Dec. 3: St. Peter, W 73-57
Friday, Dec. 6: at Tri-City United, W 86-16
Saturday, Dec. 7: at Minnesota Valley Lutheran, W 94-59
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Belle Plaine, W 85-56
Friday, Dec. 13: at New Ulm, W 80-64
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, W 87-45
Friday, Dec. 20: Worthington, W 81-34
Friday, Dec. 27: Randolph at Rochester, W 80-63
Saturday, Dec. 28: Mayer Lutheran at Rochester, W 97-55
Saturday, Jan. 4: at Marshall, W 71-52
Tuesday, Jan. 7: St. Clair, W 82-44
Friday, Jan. 10: Fairmont, W 78-40
Monday, Jan. 13: Glencoe-Silver Lake, W 85-56
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Sibley East, W 95-55
Friday, Jan. 17: at St. Peter, W 72-63
Monday, Jan. 20: New Ulm, W 74-59
Friday, Jan. 24: at Worthington, W 82-55
Monday, Jan. 27: at Blue Earth Area, W 64-44
Friday, Jan. 31`: Marshall, W 88-73
Thursday, Feb. 6: at GHECTML (Truman), W 88-58
Saturday, Feb. 8: at Jackson County Central, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 11: Windom, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 14: at St. James Area, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 20: at New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 27: Le Sueur-Henderson, 7:30 p.m.