Eden Prairie vs Mounds View Thoughts

Brett Ervin

Now on to the good stuff as we begin the night session with 5-1 Mounds View taking on 5-1 Eden Prairie in a battle of previously ranked teams. Very good crowd on hand for this one.

Dan Carroll and Ethan Wragge get the assignments on each other in this one. The Mounds View offense just can't get going early, but they are being patient (understatement of the night, I've watched paint dry faster). Brett Ervin started the game's scoring with a nice reverse and he gets a post up a 10:40 to give EP a 9-5 lead. Justin Harding counters 20 seconds later for Mounds View and that's the 1st FG for the Mustangs. Yikes. Wragge then gets it going. He makes a triple, then a nice curl for a jumper and then he goes up and over Carroll for an offensive rebound that he puts back with the foul. 17-9 EP at the 8 minute mark. Harding with 5 straight points and the lead is 21-20 EP at 4:30. A couple of bench sophomores contribute late in the half. Jordan Van Eps with a layin and a jumper for Mounds View. Jack Klukas with a bucket and then a nice lefty post move. Marc Miller with a late EP three and the Eagles lead 32-26 at the half. Wragge with 11 points for EP. Harding with 7 for MV.

Eden Prairie gives up the 1st bucket of the half, but Wragge gets 6 points in a 10-0 run and EP leads by 14. 42-28 Eagles at 14:21 after the 2 minute spurt. MV with 6 in a row thanks to 4 inside points from Tyler Perry and the Mustangs only trail by 8 with 11:20 left. Wragge pushes the lead to 12 with 7:15 left on a triple. Wragge then picks up his 4th foul with 6 minutes left and sits. Greg Anderson then nets a deuce and Harding gets a layin and its an 8 point game, 53-45 EP, with 5:30 left. But EP spreads the floor and MV has no answer for this. A 9-2 run seals it and Eden Prairie wins 68-52.

For Mounds View, Justin Harding leads the way with 15 points. Dan Carroll with only 2 FGs and 6 points. Very little for him tonight on the stat sheet and he normally stuffs it. MV finishes 3-17 from behind the line. I'd really like to see more movement and postups in their offense. Harding and Carroll are both tough matchups and Tyler Perry doesn't get much chance to showcase his passing skills.

For Eden Prairie, Ethan Wragge leads the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds on 6-14 shooting with 3-7 from deep and 7-9 FTs. He also added 2 steals. Brett Ervin and Timmy Miller with 10 points each. Very sound defensive play and the Millers (Marc and Timmy) give them very solid guard play. Very disciplined in their offense as you won't see them take many bad shots. The few they do take can often be attributed to Wragge which is understandable with him being the top guy.

Brett Ervin photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net