Dateline: January 18th, 2008. Games 73 and 74 of my season as we start the evening with the Minnesota Transitions girls playing St. Bernard's. It's 24-0 at 6:32 of the 1st half when MTS hits 1 of 2 FTs. 37-2 Bulldogs at the half and MTS doesn't have a field goal. They get the elusive bucket at 15:00 left and another with 13 minutes left to make it 43-6, they start a scoring binge with their 3rd field goal with 5:30 to go. Final score is 63-28, but 3 field goals in just over 30 minutes, ouch. Props to the Transitions coach for his positive attitude with the kids.
To main event, Edina in the boys game. Bernard's gets out to a quick 9-2 lead and tack on another 9-1 run and we've got a 20-7 game in the 1st 8 minutes. Edina gets back to within 7 with the score 37-30 SB at the half. Edina closes to 4 for the 1st time in the game at 39-35 with 15:23 left but SB goes on a 12-3 run to get their biggest lead 51-38 with about 10 minutes left. Edina comes right back with an 11-2 run of their own and SB needs a timeout leading 53-49 at 8:07. But 55-51 is a close as Edina gets. Avery Duncan makes 2 FT from an offensive rebound, John Bright gets a breakaway layup, Jordair Jett hits 1 of 2 and Bright hits 1 of 2 after another Duncan offensive rebound and its 61-51 with 5 minutes left. Jett makes 6 FTs down the stretch to seal a 74-65 Bulldogs win.
Jett finishes 23 despite being hobbled by what appeared to be an early ankle injury. He looked like he was laboring often in the 2nd half. 17 points for John Bright and 12 for Trent Davis. Will Deberg and Danny Schoenecker each lead Edina with 17 points. Bobby Johnson and Jim Hill do a nice job inside combining for 20 points.
Despite being outsized by 4 Edina guys of 6'5 or larger, St. Bernard's held their own on the glass. When you have players like John Bright, Jordair Jett and Averey Duncan who play at least 2 or 3 inches bigger than listed, you can do that. If they hit the boards like they did tonight, SB can go an awfully long way in the AA tourney. Will Deberg is a nice player for Edina, can handle, shoot, sees the floor well, plays with discipline and has enough to get to the rim on occasion.
Edina falls to 8-5, but their other 4 losses are to Shakopee by 6 on the road, St. Cloud Tech by 3 at home, Jefferson by on the road and a home blowout against Benilde. Those are all quality losses and they have quality wins over Prior Lake and Cooper at home and road wins vs Willmar and New Prague. They've got solid bigs and a very good guard in Deberg so their record isn't a big surprise.
Good choice of a game as there were many tonight. Was the girls game in the same facility? By now Ed Cassidy should give you an honorary spot on the bench.
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