The overtime thriller between the Cretin-Derham Hall and DeLaSalle boys basketball teams on Saturday, Jan. 31, was the most highly contested game we’ve seen so far on the Strictly x Strib Varsity Tour, with both teams keeping it close all game before the Islanders secured the 82-81 victory.

DeLaSalle showed it has one of the strongest home-court advantages in all of Minnesota high school basketball. The sold-out crowd was incredibly loud, and every fan in attendance was locked in on the action for the entire game.

When it seemed as if DeLaSalle had clinched the victory with a three-pointer from Evan Miller, the student section stormed the court and dogpiled the senior. But time had not expired. A Raiders free throw in the final second of regulation tied it and sent the game to OT.

In the end, underrated junior Kamar Thomas came up big for DeLaSalle by burying the winning shot in overtime.

Thomas was impressive throughout the whole game and showed why more college coaches need to take notice of his game. He finished with 16 points and was one of four Islanders to score in the double digits. Junior Jaeden Udean led with 19, Miller added 14 and sophomore Ichima Idoko had 13.

The player who impressed the most, though, was Cretin-Derham Hall senior and St. Thomas commit JoJo Mitchell. It felt like Mitchell was getting whatever look he wanted down the final stretch, and he finished with a game-high 36 points. Nebraska commit Ty Schlagel added 19 points for the Raiders.

We’ll see you at the last boys basketball stop on the Strictly x Strib Varsity Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 4: Mahtomedi at Tartan. And we’ll finish things off on Friday, Feb. 6, with a girls game between Providence Academy and host Hill-Murray.

Strictly x Strib Varsity

The story and video here are part of a new partnership between Strictly Bball and the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Strib Varsity brand. Learn more about this partnership here.