Osseo vs Heelan observations

Game 2 of the East Metro Showcase featured Osseo vs Sioux City Heelan. Wow is Brannon Cougill big. Has a striking resemblance to John Daly too. Carrington Tankson didn't start for Osseo, but did come in right away at 16:10 of the 1st half. Heelan brought an absolute army of fans too, props to them. Also interesting that they have Bishop Heelan on the front and "Pride" on the back of their jerseys (mascot is Crusaders).

Heelan gets out to a 16-8 lead, but Osseo fights back behind Carrington Tankson dominance. Cougill picks up 2 fouls and goes to the bench with 5 minutes left in the half and Heelan up 30-28. Heelan stretches it to 39-33 and there was an interesting moment during this period. Zach Peterson was in the game (no Dower) and Heelan had no big on the floor so they spread the floor and had Peterson's guy take him off the dribble. Great coaching and equally great coaching by Tim Theisen to get Peterson out of there immediately. Interestingly, Peterson played very little after that. Tankson hits a 3 off a missed Dan Brown FT and then finds Brown for a layup and its 39-38 Heelan at half. Very fast paced half. Tankson has 18 pts, Cougill with 11 and sophomore stud Zach McCabe has 10.

In the 2nd half, its back and forth early. Heelan is playing a 1-3-1 with Cougill in the back and they aren't guarding DJ Phillips, Nate Dimmer or Ryan Spading so Osseo is playing 3 on 5 on the offensive end. Heelan leads 60-57 with about 8 minutes left and Tankson goes nuts. 2 3s and a steal for a layup lead a 10-0 Osseo run to lead 67-60. Heelan tried to faceguard him and run DJ Phillips defender at him the entire last 10 minutes and Tankson still got his. He also got a dumb T for showing up the official after a carrying call (loads of those for some odd reason in this game). Tankson's head can be an issue at times and this was one of those times. Heelan made 1 of the 2 FTs but got nothing on the possession. They fight back to be down 71-69 with 2:05 left when they get a steal for a breakaway and Tankson flops but no call and the layup is no good. Sam Dower takes an ill-advised 10 footer at 1:10. Tanner Ferguson makes 2 FTs but the 2nd one is waived off for a lane violation and its 71-70 Osseo with 1:04 left. Osseo turns the ball over but Dower rebounds a Heelan miss with 40 seconds left. DJ Phillips makes both ends of the bonus with 33 seconds left and its 73-70 Osseo. Heelan's Shay Jacler has the tying 3 go in and out with 20 seconds left. Tankson hits 4 FTs to seal a 77-70 Osseo win.

Zach McCabe is a really nice sophomore wing player for Heelan in addition to the monster that is Brennan Cougill. They also have a shooter in Tanner Ferguson and all 3 of them are back next year. Ouch! Not a team I want in my section and the type of team I'd like to see come in for the TWolves Shootout. I'm still baffled how Johnson beat them by 6 last night. McCabe finishes with 24, Cougill with 19 for Heelan. For Osseo, Tankson finishes with 33, Sam Dower with 18. Dan Brown was ice ice cold for the 2nd straight time I've seen him. He finished with only 6 pts and most shocking went 0-4 from the line including 2 missed front ends of the bonus.

Great games and well done by Coach Simmons to put this together despite the fact that I skipped the last 2 games. But please clean the top row of bleachers behind the benches where the cameras go. The same pizza crust, pop cans and 1-2-2 trap I was drawing up were still there today from the Como Park game on Wednesday night.