John Millea
January 06, 2007
www.startribune.com

Stars carry load as Hawks clip rivals

There might not be a better nonconference boys' basketball rivalry in Minnesota than Cooper vs. Armstrong, sister schools in the Robbinsdale district. And when the teams met Friday night at Cooper, the gym was crowded, the fans were pumped and you would have sworn it was the postseason instead of early January.

Cooper got the better of Armstrong this time, rolling to an 80-66 victory as 6-6 senior Dennis Williamson and 6-5 sophomore Rodney Williams Jr. each scored 25 points.

The Hawks, last year's Class 4A state runner-up, won their first seven games before losing to Edina and Wayzata. Cooper coach Kurt Pauly was not happy after Wednesday's 12-point defeat at Wayzata, and he let his players know it.

"The biggest thing tonight was our defense," he said. "I didn't like our defensive effort against Wayzata; Wayzata is a good team but I don't think we played particularly well against them. Dennis Williamson in particular didn't play well, and I challenged him. He's a senior, he's a leader. Dennis showed tonight what a senior leader does."

Armstrong (8-3), ranked No. 7 in Class 4A, was coming off a memorable finish one night earlier. The Falcons outscored Shakopee 40-28 in the second half and won 56-55 when Alex Rubin made a 60-foot shot at the horn. Rubin finished with 27 points in Thursday's game and had a game-high 28 Friday.

In addition to playing on consecutive nights, Armstrong is without second-leading scorer Carter Biewen, who is sidelined with an ankle injury."We were maybe a step slow, I guess," coach Greg Miller said. "But Cooper's a good team."

The teams combined for 44 free throws and 48 three-point shots. Armstrong made only three of 25 from behind the arc.