Lakeville North at Burnsville observations

Tonight's adventure takes me to Burnsville for their Lake Conference showdown with Lakeville N. Tarell Clark on display + top 30 junior David Berthene. 14-7 Lakeville N early before Burnsville closes to 24-22 inside of 7 minutes remaining in the 1st half. No huge run at its 37-31 LN with 1:58 left in the half. Berthene gets a 3 pt play, Brad Calhoun gets a layup off a wonderful screen/roll pass and Nick Judkins throws one in at the buzzer and Lakeville N has their biggest lead of the half. 42-33 Panthers at the break. Tarell Clark with 12 for Burnsville in the half. Tyler Swanson with a nice 1st half of 10 pts for Lakeville N

Burnsville always has some of the best halftime entertainment around (which more than makes up for all of the annoying advertising stuff they do) and tonight was no exception. The Blazettes did a nice dance routine to Billy Joel's Movin' Out. Useless sidenote, Billy Joel is terrific in concert and this song was part of it when he was here last year. Since I'm no Bernie Taupin, I won't try to parody the lyrics here to try and tell the story.

To the 2nd half, Swanson gets a backdoor layup off a great set play to start the half and the Panthers extend the lead to 48-35 at 15:30 and to 56-40 at 12:15. Burnsville gets to 58-45 with 8 to go and they have momentum. But Brad Calhoun badly misses the front end of a 1 and 1, Aaron Gallegos hits his 4th 3 of the night, a Burnsville turnover results in another Gallegos 3 and the lead is all the way out to 64-45 with 6:53 to go. But Tarell Clark won't let Burnsville go away. After a Alex Wheeler bucket, he gets a steal for a dunk, a layup and makes 1 of 2 FTs plus another steal and 2 FTs. Tack on a Max Van Ordstrand 3 and its a 12-0 Burnsville run in about 2 1/2 minutes. 64-57 Lakeville North with 4+ to go. Lakeville N throws up a questionable 3, but Clark overthrows an open Devon Knopke on a run out and Nick Judkins hits a 3 to extend the lead to 10. That starts a 15-4 Lakeville N run to close the game and they win 79-61 to avenge a 60-56 home loss on Dec 11th.

Great balance for the Panthers. Aaron Gallegos with 6 3s (but 1 of 4 from the line, amazing how that works) to lead them with 19. Nick Judkins with 18 at the other guard spot. Tyler Swanson with 18 and David Berthene with 14 for the inside players. Don't count them out of the picture in 3AAAA. But Eastview is a tough matchup for them, as demonstrated by the Jan 11th 25 pt loss. They lose Judkins next year but return their other 4 starters so look for them to be a title contender in the Lake next season.

Clark with 21 to lead Burnsville, Devon Knopke with 10 and Max Van Ordstrand with 8. Their running game is fun to watch, including their full-court pregame drill where they practice it. I like the detail where the guy who scores, actually takes the ball out of the net and then out of bounds to throw the outlet pass. Burnsville's guard play ranks up there with just about anybody with Clark, VanOrdstrand and Knopke. Can they find some inside play for tournament time to deal with Grinnell/Emory of Eastview and Swanson/Berthene of Lakeville North?