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Chisago Lakes senior basketball star Patrick Rowe has hit a lot of milestones in this season.

First, he passed his dad Mike’s career scoring mark at Chisago Lakes of 1,144. Then he moved into the top three scorers of all time in CL, behind only the Figini brothers, Ben and Josh.

He passed the first brother, Josh, a few games ago in his quest for the top scoring spot in Chisago Lakes’ basketball history, and he’s had his eyes on top scorer Ben Figini for a while.

Rowe finally hit that mark earlier this week and became Chisago Lakes’ all time leading scorer for boys basketball.

He surpassed Ben’s mark of 1,741 points with a three pointer in the first half against St. Francis on Tuesday, February 20. Figini was on hand to congratulate Rowe as the ‘Cats won the game 92-78 and Rowe scored 35 points.

Rowe has skyrocketed up the leaderboard this year. He has passed some legendary names in CL history, including Trevin Nelson, AJ Koehler, Will Tinjum, Chad Masche, his dad Mike, Keith Hasselquist, David Olson and the Figini brothers.

“For a player of Patrick's caliber, his commitment to his teammates and the Chisago Lakes basketball program is special,” Head Coach Mike Holmquist said. “It would be easy for a player in his situation to prioritize recruiting opportunities over his high school team.

Not only has he attended all of our offseason programs, but he organizes team workouts and bonding off the court.  A couple summers ago, he changed flights from a Vegas AAU tournament to travel across the country so he could play with his teammates at a team camp in Duluth despite being completely run down and having the flu.

“His contribution here far-exceeds his scoring records and highlights.  He has been the first guy to volunteer at all of our youth camps, and doesn't just understand the importance of giving back to a program, he sincerely takes joy in it.”

Chisago Lakes 98, Cambridge-Isanti 82

The Wildcats took a big step in trying to at least share the Mississippi 8 Conference crown this year when their high-powered offense blew Cambridge-Isanti out on Tuesday, February 13, avenging their earlier loss in the season to the conference-leading Bluejackets.

Rowe had a signature performance, with a triple double featuring 30 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists. Zander Schmidt added 23 points and Ben Paulsen and Ian Larsen combined for 30 points and 19 boards in a strong supporting effort. Larsen even had a double-double at 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The offensive output was needed to fend off C-I’s dangerous tandem of John Troolin and Elias Dee. The pair combined for 64 points, but it wasn’t enough to match a Chisago Lakes team that was firing on all cylinders on the offensive side of the court.

The win for CL matched them with C-I in the loss column, so if the two teams win out in their conference games, they would share the Mississippi 8 Conference title.

Chisago Lakes 91, Zimmerman 74

The ‘Cats continued their offensive outburst on Friday, February 16, downing the Zimmerman Thunder in a M8C affair.

Rowe had a game-high 27 points and Schmidt knocked down big three pointers en rout to 26 points. Larsen and Paulsen each had eight points and Chisago Lakes was able to rest some starters in the second half as the lead ballooned into the double digits.

The Wildcats have two conference games left, and neither of them are easy. They’ll host Becker on Friday, February 23, and the Bulldogs are in third place in the M8C currently.

They’ll end the regular season with a leap day match up on Thursday, February 29 against Big Lake, who is in a tie with Becker for the third spot in the conference.

Sandwiched between those two big games is a key home contest against Hermantown on Monday, February 26. 

The Wildcats and Hawks are neck-and-neck for the top seed in Section 7AAA, and this game will most likely decide who gets the first seed and who gets the second.

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