Timberwolves Crush Thunder, Twins Outlast Yankees

The Minnesota Twins held on for a close win over the Yankees while the Timberwolves punched their ticket to the playoffs with a big play-in-tournament win over OKC on Friday. The St. Cloud Norsemen did not get their weekend off to a good start, falling 9-1 to Aberdeen.

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- The Twins beat the Yankees 4-3 in game two and now lead the series 2-0. New York got off to a hot start with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. That score stood until the top of the sixth when Carlos Correa hit a solo home run to put the Twins on the board. Kyle Garlick also hit a solo home run in the seventh to close the gap to 3-2 for Minnesota. Correa lifted the Twins to victory with a go-ahead two-run double in the top of the eighth. St. Paul native Louie Varland threw eight strikeouts and allowed six hits and three runs through the first six innings. The Twins improve to 10-4 and New York falls to 8-6. Game three is set for Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Pre-game coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.

- The Timberwolves kept their season alive with a 120-95 win over the Thunder at home on Friday. Minnesota outscored Oklahoma City in each of the four quarters and led by as many as 29 points. The Timberwolves had six players score in the double digits. Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 28 points and 11 rebounds, Rudy Gobert tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Anthony Edwards had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Conley Jr., Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Kyle Anderson added 14, 12, and 11 points respectively. With the win, the Wolves advance to the NBA Playoffs as the no. 8 seed and will face the no. 1 Denver Nuggets in a best-of-seven series. Game one is set for 9:30 p.m. in Denver on Sunday.

- The Norsemen fell 9-1 to the Wings in the first game of their final regular season weekend series on the road Friday night. The Wings scored in every period, holding a 3-0 lead over the Norsemen going into the final frame. Hunter Hanson scored the only goal of the game for St. Cloud early in the third to close the gap to 3-1. The Wings responded with six unanswered goals. Owen Dubois netted four for Aberdeen. Will Ingeman made 33 saves and allowed eight goals in the net for St. Cloud. The Norsemen fall to 28-22-4-5 and remain in second place in the Central Division, just one point ahead of both Aberdeen and Minot. St. Cloud will have one more shot at the Wings in game two on Saturday. Puck-drop is set for 7:15 p.m. in Aberdeen.