Red Lake at MN Transitions thoughts

Kyle Noreen

Game 2 of this opening Saturday continues the modified gym theme of the day as I travel to the brand new gym at Minnesota Transitions for their game with Red Lake. The Wolves had a rude opening to the new gym as Minnehaha beat them last night by 15. No Taylor Sparkman in that game for the Redhawks as he's out with injury. Despite all that, MTS coach Sherman was still kind enough to let Minnehaha's coach Johnson in the building for the game. Short bleachers on 1 side and the place just echos. With their vocal fans, I expect this to turn into a huge home court advantage.

Points points points points points. 13-6 MTS in the 1st 2 and a half and newcomer Jerrell Washington already has 8 points. This game is a layup drill both ways. Red Lake is turning the ball over for tons of MTS layups and when they do get it past halfcourt Red Lake gets layups of their own. Kyle Noreen makes his 1st triple of the game, the Wolves get another triple, Washington with a tough layin and a dunk. 29-10 MTS and we're not yet 6 minutes into the game. Each Noreen gets a steal for a layup to push it to 47-18 at the 8:15 mark. 60-25 at 4:30. 80-35 at the half. That 80 point half is the 4th highest all-time according to the MN Records site You can always find that link in the MN Basketball Resources section on the left along with many other MN basketball links, just scroll down. 2 of the top 3 halves were last year and MTS set the record vs ECHO last year with 103. Red Lake wasn't happy with the officiating and I can't necessarily blame them, but their inability to deal with the MTS press really did them in.

Halftime brought us a performance by the always entertaining MTS Drum Line and Step Team. Very fun to watch and absolutely deafening in that gym. They get started in pregame in the bleachers on 1 end. Coach Johnson of Minnehaha said it well when he said "It keeps you from overcoaching". You can scream into the person next to you's ear and barely be heard.

Kevin Noreen with 25 and Kyle Noreen with 4 triples for 16 in the 1st half. Jerrell Washington with 27 in the half. 6'4 and he's athletic, can shoot and pass. Expect him to put up bigger numbers than Virgil Baker last year. I questioned if the Wolves would be able to find a 3rd scorer this season. No longer as Washington is the real deal. The bench plays most of the 2nd half. MTS wins 126-94. Kyle Noreen finishes with 21 and Jerrell Washington finishes with 31 in very limited 2nd half minutes. Kevin Noreen finishes with 40. You can track his progress toward the state scoring record in the Career Scoring Records section on the left, scroll down if you don't immediately see it. Robert Pemberton with 39 for Red Lake (most in the 2nd half). The Wolves make the return trip to Red Lake February 21st.

Kyle Noreen photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net.