Minneapolis North beats Ubah Medical Academy 143-4

MINNEAPOLIS - Blowout games aren’t uncommon early on the playoffs, especially for top seeds who don’t earn first-round byes.

But anyone who opened their newspapers or saw online the final score between Minneapolis North and Ubah Medical in the Section 5AA Playoffs Thursday night likely had to take a second look. The Polars beat Ubah Medical Academy 143-4, and no, that’s not a misprint.

Ubah Medical Academy is a small public charter school in Hopkins. Minneapolis North has a storied basketball tradition and is likely one of the favorites in Class AA.

The Polars led 98-2 at the half. They out-scored Ubah Medical 45-2 in the second half. Teams often get criticized in blowout wins for running up the score, but Trent Witz went to social media after the game to defend Minneapolis North. He’s the director of basketball operations for the school.

The North Minneapolis boys' basketball team practices while wearing masks amid the pandemic. (FOX 9)

After learning his North High Polars would be facing off against Ubah Medical Academy, a team that's only played 5 games this season, head coach Larry McKenzie called the team's coach and asked if he wanted to go through with the game.

"He said, 'Well, what do you mean do you really want to play this game? I feel like you are insulting me. Of course, we want to play the game,'" said McKenzie.

McKenzie tells FOX 9 his team's starters only played for about 10 minutes of the game.

At halftime, he talked to Ubah Medical Academy's coach again, who told him his kids were having fun.

"I go to him, the officials go to him, I say, 'Are we done?' He said, 'No, I'm going to go in and talk to my kids and we'll come back out,'" said McKenzie. "It just didn't make sense to play that game last night and I tried everything in my personal power."

McKenzie wants people to know the full story pf what happened and not just focus on the lopsided score headline.

"It's North High School with all the other negative stuff that goes on about who we are and what goes on in our community... People think we are bullying them... Unsportsmanlike, all that kind of stuff. That was not the case at all," said McKenzie.

FOX 9 reached out to both Ubah Medical Academy and the Minnesota State High School League for comment, but as of Friday night, had not heard back.

Minneapolis North moves on, but clearly it was a situation that could’ve been avoided altogether. The Polars will play Watertown-Mayer on Saturday afternoon.