Esko Boys Basketball Face Uphill Battle as Unseeded Team in State Tourney

The Eskomos will take on #2 seed Minneapolis North in the Class AA quarterfinals.

ESKO, Minn. – Wednesday night, the Esko boys basketball team are heading back to a familiar place as they will take part in the Class AA state tournament for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

The Eskomos lost in the quarterfinals, but bounced back to win the consolation championship. That experience proved to be very valuable to the players on this year’s team.

“It was really important because we had mainly seniors last year for our starting five, except for one or two people that played. Not a lot of us had a lot of playing time so it helps seeing and visualizing the court and all the experiences that we had down there,” said senior Jon Stodola.

The Eskomos will take on the #2 seed Minneapolis North High School. Head coach Derek Anderson says the Polars love to force turnovers so taking care of the ball will be their top priority.

“They play a ton of pressure “D”. They’re very fast so we got to be ready for that. We haven’t seen a team quite like that this year. But at the same time, we have some shooters and some guys who can score as well. We’ll get down there and give it our best shot,” Anderson said.

Tip–off for Wednesday’s game at Williams Arena is set for 6 p.m.