Private schools POW: Matt Christiansen, Irish...

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com

All year long sophomore Matt Christiansen was making strides for the Bishop McGuinness basketball team. An injury at a tournament in New Mexico was going to slow him down, I thought.

Once fully healthy again, Christiansen started to become that force again. And at the state tournament, he and fellow sophomore Joe Edmonds showed why the Irish will once again be knocking on the door.

McGuinness lost to Douglass in the Class 4A finals but just about any team in the state would have lost to that Douglass. Heck, maybe EVERY team in the state would have lost to that Douglass team.

Christiansen has really developed a solid low post game and is a beast on the glass. Going to be interesting how comfortable he feels as he becomes even more of option 1A or 1B with Edmonds.

Despite the setback, Christiansen’s performance easily gives him the Private Schools Player of the Week.  Wonder if he is going to get any taller?

Other team contenders

Mt. St. Mary’s boys basketball team: Had an unexpected loss to Hugo in the quarterfinals, but Hugo ended up reaching the finals so that was more a case of not realizing how good that team was. Losing some tremendous seniors on this team that did represented the school well. Injuries hurt as well as we never got to see what they truly could have done, but Lenny Hatchett will have this team back in the conversation next year.