Champlin Park at Osseo Thoughts

As Ernie Banks once said, "Let's Play Two" as I'm in Osseo for a girls and boys doubleheader. Girls JV goes way over and we don't get started with girls game until almost 6:30. Osseo girls hang on 57-52. CP had an early 15-4 lead in that one. Once again I miss out on pizza, but the hot dog was worthwhile. Now to the important action.

CP goes with an interesting defensive choice in the boys game. Kyle Zimmerman (CP best big) guarding DJ Phillips (Osseo's PG). Sam Dower doubled on every touch but usually not by Zimmerman in a surprise. CP catches a break when Jayvin Reynolds picks up his 2nd foul 2 minutes in and he's gone for the rest of the half. The 1st 10 minutes are back and forth before Josh Pella breaks the press with a dunk and then off a Jasper Duberry steal he makes 1 of 2 FTs for a 17-14 Champlin Park lead at 6:53 of the 1st half. Nick Djerf with 4 of Osseo's 6 in a row as he finishes that spurt with a steal for 2 to put Osseo on top 20-17 at 5:40. Zimmerman makes 2 free throws after an offensive rebound and its 20-19 Osseo at 5:31. Osseo then goes on a 12-2 run capped by a nice set to get Dower a alley-oop dunk (we'll describe this later). Bobby Fischer off the bench with 2 triples in the run. 32-23 Osseo at the half. Dower with 12 and 5 in the half. Zimmerman 8 and 5.

Bobby Fischer with 2 more 3s for Osseo early in the half to offset a couple of CP triples. Osseo leads 38-29 3 minutes into the half. Zimmerman and Scott Theisen get buckets and the margin is only 5. The Orioles counter with a 12-2 run of their own over the next 5 minutes as Djerf gets 4 in the run. 50-35 Osseo with 9:10 to play. Theisen with 2 layups on nice feeds from Pella before a Dower bucket. Then Dower picks up his 4th foul (all in 2nd half) at 7:21 and it looks like CP has some life. That foul sends Zimmerman to the line down 52-39. He misses the front end. Osseo then gets 9 of the next 11 with Dower out (Djerf 5) and they have a commanding 61-41 lead when Dower returns at 4:47 (did he really need to come back in?). He gets a nice assist to Djerf and a couple of free throws and a bucket in that time. Osseo wins 75-54.

For Champlin Park, Scott Theisen leads the way with 20 points and I had 7 rebounds for him. 13 of those points in the 2nd half. They're now 7-5 and 3-1 in the NW Suburban. 3 league road games await them. Overall I thought they did an alright job on Dower, but did a poor job rotating to shooters. DJ Phillips is the guy you want to force to beat you. CP didn't take care of the ball when they had their chance with Dower out.

For Osseo, they are now 4-0 and stand alone on top of the NW Suburban. 10-1 overall with 10 wins in a row after that opening loss at Sibley. Great job by the Osseo bench. Nick Djerf with 15 points and Bobby Fischer (he plays basketball and chess too?) with 14 (4 triples) off the bench. John Rowland with 10 off the bench. They needed it with no one besides Sam Dower over 4 points from the starting lineup. Dower finishes with 20 and 10 on my sheet and had a couple of monster blocks in the 2nd half. Everything inside tonight, no settling for FT line jumpers which is nice. I'd like to see him show a counter or something else besides that lefty jump hook. They've got a good one vs Wayzata on Saturday and I'll be in attendance.

Play of the Day
In our play of the day, a look at the lob dunk for Dower at the end of the 1st half. Standard 1-4 high set with Dower on left elbow. Point guard takes the ball 1 or 2 dribbles 1 way and then comes back to the other side (we'll say right to left in this case). Left wing clears out. Right wing comes over the top of a Dower screen to the left box. Dower pops back to the top of the key for the pass from the PG who's on the left side now. The wing that cleared comes off a down screen from the other post and gets the ball at the right wing. Dower then gets a back screen from the guard that previously curled to the left box and they throw it up to him.