Lakeville North survives late Raiders scare

To Lakeville North I go for a non-conference tilt with Cretin-Derham Hall. CDH a very different team since I last saw them as Marcus Binns and Jonathan Kinsel are no longer on the roster and Elliot Owusu was in street clothes. Interesting that Bemidji State signee David Berthene came off the bench for Lakeville North.

Seantrel Henderson with 6 points early including a wide open layin on a pick and roll where the Panthers defense got totally lost. Tied at 11 at the 12:30 mark. The Panthers then get it going. CJ Johnson off the bench for 3, Tyler Swanson with a couple of hoops and Thomas Clarkin off the bench with a pair of triples. 20-4 Panthers run over 5:30. 31-15 Lakeville North with 7 minutes to play in the half. Minimal offense the rest of the half as its 37-20 Lakeville North at halftime. Seantrel Henderson with 10 of the 20 points for CDH. Tyler Swanson and Chris Orgas with 8 each.

Dajon Newell buries a 3 for the Panthers at 14:05 to push the lead to 20. CDH starts to chip away. They get 7 in a row before Clay Horne picks up his 4th foul with 11:07 to play. The lead is 15, 46-31 with 10 minutes left. Henderson with a putback, post up and a pair of free throws as he finishes off a stretch of scoring all 8 points for CDH. 48-37 when Horne returns at 7:57. Then David Bettenburg comes to life for the Raiders. He makes a floater and then a nice turnaround in the lane before he buries a triple for 7 in a row. 50-44 Lakeville North at 5:50 and they need a timeout after a 20-6 CDH spurt over 8 minutes. After a Tyler Swanson bucket, Gus Gehlen with a jumper and Jake Frey converts a Henderson block of Orgas into a 3 ball. 52-49 Panthers up with 4:30 to play and we've got a good going.

CJ Johnson with a jumper for 2 and then Orgas cleans up a bad shot by Johnson at 3:20 and the lead is back to 7 for Lakeville North. Henderson with another postup to cut it to 5. 57-52 as Lakeville North spreads the floor to a delay game. A Panther drives to the hoop and Henderson sends it back again. Bettenburg clutch with another triple and its down to a 2 point game. 57-55 Lakeville North with 59.4 left. A great sideline inbound play gives Swanson a layup from Orgas with 43 seconds left. Bettenburg misses a triple, but then redeems himself with a steal for a 3 with 20 seconds left. 59-58 Lakeville North. Aaron Gallegos fouled and calmly drains both freebies with 14 seconds left. 9.8 left and CDH wants their last timeout as they get the ball to halfcourt. Out of the timeout, Lakeville North elects to foul. Very interesting. Gus Gehlen makes 1 and then misses the 2nd intentionally with 5 seconds left. Fred Newell rebounds but misses the front end, Bettenburg gets the ball to halfcourt and heaves. Off the iron and no good at the horn. Lakeville North hangs on for a 61-59 win.

For Cretin-Derham Hall, disappointing effort in the 1st half as they got outhustled. Seantrel Henderson with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 2 big 2nd half blocks on my sheet. David Bettenburg with all 13 of his points in the 2nd half. Interesting that CDH played a passive 2-3 zone most of the game. They host surging Stillwater in their final game of the regular season on Friday. This game could also determine who hosts the 4 vs 5 game between the teams in section 4AAAA.

For Lakeville North, they played a ton of people early. Maybe it went on cruise control a little early, but they struggled closing teams out as they've blown other big leads this season. Tyler Swanson leads the way with 14 points. Chris Orgas with 11 points as the only other player in double figures for the Panthers. David Berthene with 8 points off the bench. They end their regular season vs woeful Kennedy on Tuesday. They'll be the top seed in section 3AAAA. Burnsville and Eastview are right behind them and both have 1 point wins over Panthers this season.