Mike Austin
On Saturday, February 27, the Polar League Conference’s boys’ basketball coaches met to select the 2009-2010 All-Conference team. Each year the conference selects the league’s Most Valuable Player, five first team selections, five second team selections, and then 10 players are selected for honorable mention honors. All 21 players are then invited to play in the Polar League All-Star game in Barnum on Monday, March 29.
This season, Floodwood’s A.J. Blanton was named the conference MVP. First team selections were Adam Eskuri and Jake Stainbrook of Esko, Trevor Nummela of Moose Lake, Jordan Smith of Cromwell, and Josh Hogan of Barnum.
Second team selections were Nick White of Barnum, Jake Adams of Carlton, Caleb Koecher of Moose Lake, Ryan Hutar of Cromwell, and Cook County’s Mike Austin.
Austin had a terrific season, averaging 11.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. In addition, Austin is the Vikings’ best all-around shooter, making over 46% of his shots from the field. Despite missing two games following a shoulder injury in the Babbitt game, and playing the following games in pain, Austin has the respect of Conference coaches as one of the 10 best in the Polar League.
James Groth
Honorable mention selections were Cook County’s James Groth; Preston Hurd and Garrett Collins of McGregor; Ryan Guentzel of Two Harbors; Aaron Gustfason of Wrenshall; Jared Schminski of Floodwood; Justin Newman of Barnum; Jackson Lindquist of Esko; Luke Thun of Silver Bay; and Ryan Adamczak of Moose Lake.
Groth has proven to be the Vikings’ go-to-guy on offense with his deep threat capabilities behind the three-point arc. Groth is averaging 11.0 points, 2.2 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. Groth has improved his defensive play, as he often guards the quicker opponents of the Polar League.
Both Austin and Groth will play on the Blue team in the seventh annual Polar League All-Star game on Monday, March 29. The boys’ game will be at 7:45 p.m., preceded by the girls’ game at 6:00 p.m.
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