Day 1 at the 08-09 East Metro Showcase

The Czar welcomes The Emperor to The Kingdom for a special visit to see the 3rd annual East Metro Showcase at St. Paul Johnson. A nice job by Johnson coach Vern Simmons in putting this event together. From our perch high above the action, here's what I saw.

Game 1: St Paul Johnson vs Milwaukee Northwest.
Northwest out to a 6-4 lead thanks to a putback and 2 free throws from 6'6 soph Eric Allen. Johnson's own star soph Estan Tyler then gets it going. He knocks down a jumper and 4 free throws in a 13-0 Johnson run. 17-6 Johnson at 12:38. The lead seesaws around this the rest of the half. 40-29 at the break. Tyler with 18 and Northwest not taking care of the ball with turnovers. Johnson then uses a 2nd half 15-4 run over 3 minutes of the 2nd half to blow the game open. The Governors win easily 93-69. Estan Tyler with 21 and Lamar Anderson with 15 points for Johnson. Keith Townsend with 24 for Northwest.

Game 2: St. Paul Arlington vs Milwaukee Marshall
Best game of the day was this one. Marshall gets out to a 15-10 lead 4 and a half in to the game, but Arlington comes back to lead 31-30 at the break in a very back and forth game. Very fast pace the 1st 10 minutes that slowed down the rest of the half. Arlington gives up the 1st 5 of the half but then goes on a 9-0 run to take a 40-35 lead with 14:37 left. London Love with a couple of buckets for Marshall to break a 47 all tie, 51-47 Marshall with 9:40 left. Arlington uses an 11-2 run thanks to turnovers from Marshall for a 58-53 lead with 7:20 left. Charles Langhorne with a tip in at 5:30 to keep the lead at 5, 64-59. Marshall star Chauncey Williams gets a 4 point play at 5:20 and that's the beginning of the end. Arlington turns it over for a Love bucket, Williams then grabs an offensive rebound and finds Reggie Hearn for 2. That's the start of a 13-2 run for Marshall. Joseph Brooks cuts lead Marshall lead to 72-68 with a bucket at 1:55. Hearn them misses a dunk but grabs the miss and is fouled for 2 free throws at 1:32. Deondre White has 2 triples go in and out and Marshall goes on to win 77-68. They out score the Phoenix 18-4 over the last 5:30. DeMarcko Jones with 19, Deondre White with 15 for Arlington. Alfreeman Flowers with 22, Reggie Hearn with 11 and I had 19 rebounds on my sheet. Chauncey Williams with 12 points on cold shooting and a very quiet 2nd half (only the 4 point play).

Game 3: Hopkins vs Milwaukee Vincent
Vincent gets 1 field goal in the 1st 7 minutes as they can't get into any offense thanks to the Hopkins man-man D. By that time its 23-5 Hopkins. Royce White with a dunk but out of sync on the offense end. Trent Lockett with a couple of nice dunks. White and Lockett with 13 in the half. 51-26 Hopkins at the break and The Emperor and I call it a day since we'll see enough of Hopkins in the La Crosse Aquinas game.

Fans be warned that some of the Wisconsin rosters are from last year and not totally accurate. Check Wishoops.net for current accurate rosters for the Wisconsin teams.