Champlin player gets to live every kid’s last-second dream

The only way today’s state basketball tournament Class 4A quarterfinal between Chaska and Champlin Park could have been any better is if Chaska had won.

Champlin Park lives the good life. The team is undefeated this year and while Chaska, with a 24-5 record and a 16 game winning streak, is no slouch, it was most certainly the underdog today. We like underdogs.

Chaska held an 8-point lead at halftime but great teams tend to get breaks and tend to answer their own prayers.

This is a prayer from Sam DuBois.

“I saw Theo tap the ball out and, at first, I was running to it to make sure they didn’t go down and get an easy layup,” he said. “I caught it and put it up and it fell. Even when you’re a little kid, shooting into a trashcan, you think ‘5-4-3-2-1’. You never think it’s actually going to happen, though,” DuBois told the Star Tribune.

“I’m really glad the high school league added a consolation bracket because these guys didn’t deserve to end their season that way. They deserve to get out there and battle again tomorrow,” Chaska coach Dana Kallman said.

The second half of the game is available here.