Minnehaha vs Sibley Thoughts

Game 2 of the opening day at Bethel gives us #5AA Minnehaha vs #2AAAA Henry Sibley. These teams met in fall league play and Sibley won huge. With no Greg Meyer for Minnehaha (out due to injury), could the Redhawks compete in this one?

Chris Halvorsen with the assignment on David Burnham in this one. Jake Kreuser off to a nice start with a couple of post buckets and an assist to Mike Bruesewitz for a triple. Taylor Hanson off to a nice start with a couple of buckets for Minnehaha. 16-12 Sibley at 11:45. Hanson then goes by Kreuser for 2, Burnham with a jumper and Taylor Sparkman knocks down a couple of 3s and Minnehaha leads 24-16 at 8:20. Its a 12-0 run over 3 minutes. Sibley chips away and gets 7 in a row of their own over 2:15 and its 26-25 Minnehaha with 5 minutes left in the half. But Burnham and Sparkman make triples in an 8-0 run to end the half and the Redhawks have a 38-29 going to halftime. Sparkman with 4 3s and 12 points in the half. Burnham and Hanson with 7 each. Bruesewitz with 13 points. Kreuser with a nice 1st half of 7 points, 6 rebounds and a block. Minnehaha 6-16 from the deep beyond in the half and staying even on the boards.

2nd half is even to start. Taylor Sparkman with a nice curl move to lose Halvorsen which he converts into a layup and Minnehaha leads 44-34 at 14:15. Mike Rostampour in now to deal with the dribble penetration of Hanson (instead of Kreuser). He gets a bucket off a scramble. Bruesewitz with 2 layups and a steal that leads to a Halvorsen dunk and we're tied at 44 with 11:15 left. Can Minnehaha get back ahead? Answer: An emphatic No. Rostampour with a post up, a drive and then a jumper for 6 straight Sibley points. He then got a steal that should have been 2 more, but he got his footwork messed up going in for the dunk. Hanson with 2 FTs and its only 50-48 Sibley with 7:51 to play. But Maurice Hernandez puts this one out of reach with a pair of triples along with a Halvorsen layin and post up for 2. 60-48 Sibley leads with 5:36 to play. All added up its a 26-4 Sibley run over 7:30. Rostampour continues to add on inside late but this one is over. 72-59 Sibley wins.

For Minnehaha, Taylor Sparkman finishes with 17 and 9 and he hit big triples in the 1st half. He was 2-7 shooting in the 2nd half to finish 6-17. Taylor Hanson with 12 points but he was able to get in the lane and was active. But he only shot 1-9 in the 2nd half with some good looks. David Burnham quiet with only 9 points (1-3 FG in the 2nd half). They shot 1-11 from 3 (7-26 overall in the half) and got outrebounded 15-7 in the 2nd half.

For Sibley, Mike Bruesewitz solid with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks. Mike Rostampour with a monster 2nd half of 14 points and 7 rebounds in 9 minutes. His ability to slow Hanson down off the dribble without Kreuser in there was big. Nice adjustment by coach Dasovich. Maurice Hernandez with 13 of his 16 points in the 2nd half including 3 of 5 shooting from deep. Sibley shot an astronomical 18-27 (66.7%) from the floor in the 2nd half to outscore Minnehaha 43-21. Overall, they shot 28-51 for the game.