Saturday action at the Twin Cities Summer Classic

Saturday games at the Twin Cities Summer Classic, as almost all of the 17U action is at Wayzata, that's where I was watching games. Many college coaches in attendance. A list of just a few D1 schools in attendance includes Iowa, Wisconsin, Southern Illinois, Columbia, Princeton, Northern Iowa. Not to mention all the local schools. I missed session 1 tending to other business in the kingdom but I did arrive in time to see the end of session 2.

Session 2: 43 Hoops Chatman def MN Mustangs 74-43. Will Deberg playing with this 43 Hoops squad. Team Missouri def Elite Sports 60-57 in a tight game in the same pool.

Session 3: This session is all about the 16U pool of death. Kevin Noreen joined the Magic Black squad for their game with the MN Xplosion. As the Xplosion struggle on the glass, Noreen makes his first appearance at 12:25 with Josh Pella guarding him in a entertaining matchup. The Magic get out to a 14-8 lead after Deron Murphy finds Noreen for a layup with 10 minutes left in the half. The rest of the half is back and forth and a Magic 3 at the horn makes it 37-36 Magic Black at the half. A 9-2 run out of halftime topped off by a Steve Bailey 3 gives the Xplosion a 45-39 lead with 14 minutes left. With the score 52-50 and about 10 minutes left, Noreen makes 1 of 2 FTs and then gets 2 straight layups on postups to give the Magic a 57-50 lead with 7 minutes to play and they won't look back. Magic-Black wins 75-63. Kevin Noreen with 14 points and Deron Murphy with 10 points for the Magic. Jack Ghizoni with 17 points to lead the Xplosion.

In the other pool of death game, the Mpls Redhawks rolled to a 57-38 win over the Upstate Elite. 43 Hoops Harris def MSB 53-46 in other 16U action.

Sessions 4 and 5: In session 4, the Madison Spartans def 43 Hoops Amundson 65-55 in 15U action. The MN Heat Black squad def Hoops Masters 59-48 in 16U Action. In session 5, Net Gain Sports blew out All Iowa Elite 95-50. Sam Dower had it going early inside and then knocked down a couple 3s in a row in the 2nd half. Cole Stefan was on fire from the outside and Andy Burns did a terrific job orchestrating the whole thing. Trent Lockett slashed to the basket at will in the 2nd half. Net Gain Scoring: Dower with 21, Lockett with 17 and Stefan with 26. Dan VanKalsbeek with 10 and a nice showing for All Iowa Elite.

In other 17U action in this session, 43 Hoops Chatman holds off a game Team Missouri squad 62-51 with 2 nice dunks late by Chris Halvorsen. This game was much closer than that the whole way. 94 Ft of Game survived 2 changes by the MN Comets Stars to win during regulation. They win 78-72 in OT.

Session 6: The 16U Pool of Death continues with the Mpls Redhawks taking on Magic Black. Back and forth 1st half gets us to 48-40 Redhawks with 7:29 to go. Out of a Magic timeout, they try to apply more pressure and it just blows up horribly. That, combined with ice cold shooting and precision ball movement vs the pressure, allows the Redhawks to go on a 15-2 run over the next 5 minutes to put the game well out of reach. Redhawks win 67-45. John Rowland (Osseo) was the beneficiary of many of the passes to end up with 17 points. Parker Hines (Minnehaha) with 12 points.

Sessions 7 and 10: These sessions allowed me the chance to take a look at the MN Heat Elite 15U squad. The Preiner twins were available, but Alex Richter was out. His return is expected for bracket play. In the 1st game they played the East Metro Elite. That squad is a Vern Simmons (Johnson coach) led squad and they play just like the Johnson varsity. Scrambling, trapping, aggressive defense. The Heat led 23-10 in the 1st half of the game before East Metro went 1-3-1. That cut the deficit to 32-26 Heat at the half. East Metro opened the 2nd half man to man just like the 1st half, but once again with about 8 minutes left in the half, they applied pressure and it bothered the Heat. East Metro finally took the lead 42-40 off a steal with 6:05 to play and they never trailed again. The Heat missed a layup that would have tied it late. East Metro seals it with 2 late FTs to win 59-55. In the 2nd game that I saw them play, they blew out MN Team Elite 77-51 after starting the game on a 19-3 run. Drew Preiner impressive in the 1st game at the point guard spot (12 pts), Luke Preiner with the impressive 2nd game with 11 pts and a nice well rounded game. John Christensen turned the 2nd half of the 2nd game into his own personal layup drill to finish with at least 25 points by my count.

Also during these 2 sessions, the MN Xplosion def Upstate Elite 77-68 in 16U action. In 15U action, 43 Hoops Amundson def KC Keys 68-61.

Session 8: The Illinois Wolves come in with their prime talent to take on the MN Comets. This was a mismatch from the start. 14-3 early, 39-17 at halftime and the Wolves roll to a 74-47 win. Nate Wolters lit it up for the Comets with 27 points but no one else could find a way to put the ball in the basket. Joseph Bertrand (Illinois recruit) with 11 points with numerous nifty moves off the dribble to get to the basket. Diamond Taylor (Wisconsin recruit) with only 4 points. He didn't look as explosive as Bertrand, but I can see where he'd be a nice fit in Bo Ryan's system. He was sporting the high socks look and got the initial defensive assignment on Wolters.

Session 9: 43 Hoops Harris blows out Hoops Masters 81-32 in 16U action and it could have been far worse as the score was 66-19 with over 9 minutes left. Clay Horne very active around the basket but had difficulty converting. Max Rosenbloom was his usual active self and Tim Lubke knocked down 3 triples in the game.

MN Heat Black 16U def MSB 69-64 in the other 16U game going on.

Session 11: Finally the end to a long day. Taylor Filipek gives us the hat trick of name players switching teams. He joins the MN Comets Elite 16U squad for their game with Big Game Sports. With 7:40 left in the 1st half, the Comets led 30-13. They also led 47-32 at halftime. But BGS didn't go away. They go on a 16-3 spurt to start the 2nd half and its only 50-48 Comets with 12:15 to play. With 9 minutes left its 57-50 Comets and they open it up late to win 88-70. Eric Tengwall 14-14 from the FT line. Alex Hanks with 16 points and Taylor Filipek with 14 points for the Comets.