2009 Twin Cities Game Thoughts

Cedric Martin

To Arlington to end my regular season with the Twin Cities Game. Johnson with the clean sweep as they're in all 3 games. Washburn in the top 2 games and Henry in the freshman game for Minneapolis. Names to remember from the early 2 games include Ben Glover from Henry and Roosevelt Scott from Johnson. Clarence Thomas with 22 points and Dwight Anderson with 21 points to lead Washburn to a 68-53 win in the JV game. To the big game.

Washburn with a quick 5 points to start the game but Johnson right back thanks to Dion Suggs-Young. He nails a 3 and after he finds Jordan Pluff on a screen roll, we're tied at 7 at the 13:25 mark. After 4 Washburn free throws, we have the ball go out of bounds and its gone. The zebras look under the stands and we've got nothing. New ball please. Ra'Shede Hageman finishes a 17-5 Washburn run with a follow-up dunk for a 24-12 Washburn lead with 6:20 to play in the half.

Johnson won't go away as they go on a 20-5 run and lead 34-31 at the half. No flow to the end of the half as it was a parade to the free throw line. The game was also marred by a brawl in the stands at the 2:10 mark for a long delay, but thankfully no issues after order was restored. Johnson with 9 guys scoring. Hageman with 6 points and 11 rebounds.

Back and forth we go in the 2nd half. Cedric Martin with a pair of free throws and a DeAaron Hearn floater put Washburn on top 39-38. Lamar Anderson and soph Anthony Lee with layups for a 47-43 Johnson lead at 12:20. Dylan Hale with 5 points in a 10-3 Washburn spurt for a 53-50 Washburn lead with 8:36 left. Washburn switching to a 2-3 zone during the run. Johnson right back with 6 in a row as Estan Tyler finds Suggs-Young and then Suggs-Young again and Maxie Rosenbloom with a layup. 56-53 Johnson with 6:40 to play. Hearn with a tough bank and Martin with a 3 point play. Hearn with a steal for 2 and Jordan Osberg runs out for a layup after a bad Johnson shot. 62-56 Washburn with 4 minutes left. Washburn with 3 straight bad possession concluding with a questionable offensive foul on Hearn with 1:35 left. Suggs-Young with 2 free throws to cut the lead to 62-60 with 1:28 left. Hale with 2 free throws and Hageman with 1 of 2 after Suggs-Young misses a 3. Suggs-Young with a 3 at 29.2 65-63 Washburn. Hale turns it over with 22 seconds left and Johnson has it back. Suggs-Young rushes it back the other way and forces a shot with 18 seconds left. Osberg fouled on the rebound with 16.1 left. The 1st FT is up and its off the back rim up and ... it falls thru. WOW! He makes the 2nd as well. 67-63 Washburn. Washburn goes to their bench thinking there's a timeout but none called. Coach Reggie Perkins rushes his guys back on to the floor for the inbound, but they've got 6 or 7 guys on the floor and that's a technical foul. Suggs-Young steps up and makes only 1 of 2. He gets a handoff on the possession but he misses the front end of the bonus. Hageman fouled at 8.2 and misses both. Johnson out of timeouts and back they come. Michael Talley open in the corner and drives but that does them no good. By the time his kickout pass gets to the opposite corner, time has expired. Washburn wins 67-64.

Washburn with 13 points from Dylan Hale and Cedric Martin. Martin 11 of 11 from the charity stripe. Ra'Shede Hageman with 9 points and I had 18 rebounds for him on my unofficial sheet. But I also had him 1-8 from the FT line. Every Washburn player made a trip to the line. 7-10 from their bench. The starters besides Hageman were a perfect 19-19. Washburn opens 6AAA play at home on Wednesday against Mound-Westonka.

Johnson got 18 points from Dion Suggs-Young. 15 of those in the 2nd half. Only 1-4 FTs and a forced shot in the last 20 seconds for one of the most clutch players in the state. Very surprising. The Governors host Harding in the opening round of 3AAA on Friday. Johnson 14-24 from the charity stripe compared to the 27-37 for Washburn.

Cedric Martin photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net