Mounds View at Spring Lake Park Thoughts

Shaun Jensen

An interesting battle of an undefeated AAA team (4-0 Spring Lake Park) vs 5-0 #10AAAA Mounds View. A couple of fun players to watch in this one as Shaun Jensen leads SLP and Dan Carroll leads Mounds View. A couple of interesting MV facts coming into this one. They held their opponents to 16-90 from 3, while shooting 44-95 themselves. But their opponents have made more FTs (72-85) than they've attempted (48-71) which is not a good sign. Coaches from Tartan, Elk River and Armstrong on hand to watch.

Elijah Sabah gets the initial assignment on Carroll as both teams go man to start. Jensen finds Tyler Ylvisaker (henceforth called Y) for 3, Sabah puts back a miss and Jensen makes a tough bank and its 7-0 SLP 2 and a half minutes in. MV with 4 early turnovers. Then Jensen's defender strangely leaves him to double the ball and Jensen makes them pay with a wide open right wing triple and its 12-4 SLP at 12:46 and coach Ziggy Kauls needs time. Mounds View comes out in a 2-3 zone with the guards very wide. SLP counters with a very high 1-3-1 set with Jensen almost at center court. Carroll with a drive for 2 and then a lefty finish off the bounce. Justin Harding finds Tyler Perry (Perry's a great passer BTW) for 2 and its 15-10 SLP at 5:30. SLP after starting with Sabah in the middle of the zone offense moved Jensen to that spot. Y with 2 triples and a Jensen with a bucket and its 23-12 SLP at 3:50. MV out of the zone. Derek Dahl counters a Carroll triple with one of his own from Jensen. Y finishes the SLP scoring for the half with another 3. 29-18 Panthers at the half. 7 triples in the half for SLP, Y with 4 of them for 12 points. Jensen with 10 and he's getting to the lane at will. Carroll with 7 for MV. The Mustangs with a very sloppy half with double-digit turnovers.

Sabah with a nice up and under pushes the lead to 33-20 at 16:50. But Mounds View doesn't go away. Greg Anderson with a triple on a nice inside out play, then he puts back his own missed 3 and makes another 3. Carroll then goes up and under on Sabah in the middle of the lane for 2. 10-0 Mounds View run over 2 minutes and its 33-30 SLP. Trey Scott and Anderson trade triples. Jensen playing a sloppy half of his own so far in the 2nd as he's not taking good care of the ball. Sabah drives and gets 2, Travis Johnson puts back 2 misses and Dahl puts back a miss for a 9-2 SLP run. 45-35 SLP inside 11 minutes left. Jordan Van Eps with a 3 point play then 6 more in a row for SLP and its 51-38 at 7:50. MV now applying full court pressure. Carroll with 2 triples and Harding gets a rebound over Jensen for 2 in an 8-0 MV run and its back to a 5 point game wiht 5 and half left. Jensen drives for 2 and Scott gets a layup and its 55-46 with 3:30 left. Carroll with another triple cuts it to 4 with 1:45 left. SLP goes spread. Travis Johnson misses the front end of the bonus after previously making 2. 59-53 SLP with 44.7 to play. Cole Christenson hits a 3 for MV with 7.1 left and its only a 3 point game. Jensen makes 1 of 2 to put the game away. 60-56 Spring Lake Park wins.

For Mounds View, Dan Carroll is all everything for them. 20 points tonight. He came in leading them in the big 3 categories with 16.4 pts, 6.4 rebs and 3.8 ast per game. Greg Anderson finishes with 12 after the big 2nd half. Justin Harding with 8. I was disappointed that the Mustangs didn't attack the matchup inside with Jensen guarding him. Harding got a couple of buckets inside over Jensen, but MV never really made an effort to exploit it. They really had no answer for containing dribble penetration and that would be a good explanation for their season FT totals by opponents. This was also a problem last season as MV has versatile size, but not really athletic size.

For Spring Lake Park, they stay undefeated as Shaun Jensen finishes with 17. He made plays down the stretch when he had to after struggling early in the 2nd half. His activity in the lane was a major reason for the 1st half rain down of triples. Y with nothing in the 2nd half after 4 big triples in the 1st half. Elijah Sabah was a guy I pointed out in my North Suburban Conference preview so his play was something I was watching. He finished with 10 points and was active inside.

Shaun Jensen photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net