AHA vs DLS Thoughts (08-09 6AAA Semifinal #2)

AJ Barker

Game 2 is the upstart 7 seed Holy Angels against 3 seed De La Salle. I called the upset in this one last weekend. Would I be right? Dave Thorson back behind the bench for the Islanders after sitting out the Orono game.

Jalen Jaspers with the 1st 4 points of the game for De La Salle. 4-3 DLS at the 15:20 mark. Tyler Bredow then getting warmed up. A triple on a high screen/roll and 2 FTs. Then a drive for 2 and another triple. 15-8 Holy Angels at the 9:55 mark and Bredow has 10 of those points. Then the defense kicks in. A minute goes by, Coke has removed rust from a car battery terminal. A second minute goes by, I'm at the dentist office. Wait a minute. Wait A Minute! Hold It! Haven't we already been through this (yes we have). No field goals for AHA in the next 9 minutes. DLS tries to take advantage as AJ Barker nails a 2 and then flares for a triple. 15-13 AHA at the 8:35 mark. Jaspers with his 2nd foul 15 seconds later and he has to sit. Moments later Barker with 2nd on a questionable wipe away call. But he has to stay in for offense. LaMonte Hall with a stick back at 6:31. Barker with another jumper at 5:35 and DLS has the lead 17-16. Barker with his 3rd foul moments later and now he's on the bench and there's still 5:24 left in the half. Where will D find points? Bredow breaks a 9 minute FG drought for AHA with a triple at 1:45. Bretson McNeal off the D bench with a triple at 1:25 for the 1st D FG in 4+ minutes. Bredow with 4 FTs to end the half. 25-24 AHA at the break. Tyler Bredow with 17 of those points. Barker with 7 points and Jaspers with 6 for DLS. With all the foul trouble, I'm very happy to be within 1 if I'm DLS. For AHA, an opportunity squander by going without a FG for those 9 minutes.

Bredow still flammable as he opens the 2nd half with a 3. Jaspers with a jumper and then Barker drives and scores his 2nd hoop of the half to tie the game at 30 with 12:30 to play. Bonzi Wells (Sahr Ngekia) with a post bucket and a post bucket before Jonah Travis runs out for a layup with 8:45 left. 36-34 AHA. Then Sam Gullickson with a 3 and a fist pump Cole Frechette goes baseline for 2 and then a steal for 2 more with 7:08 left and AHA is up 43-34 wiht 7:08 left. Timeout Islanders after a 7-0 AHA run in 1:12. Travis grabs a rebound with 6:22 left and throws an elbow and Bonzi jumps into the fray. The officials confer and Jaspers huddles his team for some words of encouragement. Its a technical on Travis and a personal on Frechette for the initial hack. Bredow makes both to conclude a 9-0 run. AHA tries some 2-3 zone but Barker nails a 3 and Jaspers with a jumper. 45-40 AHA with 4:37 left. Andy Jirik travels and then Travis swipes a rebound away from him. That leads to 2 Barker FTs with 3:49 left. 45-42 AHA after an 8-0 De La Salle run in 2:33. Bredow goes by Barker on the other end for a clutch foul line J with 2 minutes left. Barker then misses an NBA 3. Travis rebounds a missed front end and makes 2 freebies with 1:46 left. 47-44 AHA. Bredow past Barker again for another foul line jumper with 1:15 left. Brilliant since it went in, but not the shot you may want there. DLS misses and AHA makes their FTs to pull the 56-45 upset.

For DLS, AJ Barker leads the way with 18 points. I had him shooting 7-18. Jalen Jaspers with 12 points on 4-7 shooting. Bonzi did a nice job on him by matching strength. The 1 time they ran a flare screen for Jaspers and Bonzi got hung up on it, it really got to him. I was surprised DLS didn't come back to that. I'm all for motion offense, but D really needs to look hard at opening up the offense up a bit. They have the talent to do it too. Guys like John Hertle and Jonah Travis didn't get enough touches in my opinion. They get no easy baskets because they don't run and they have zero post ups. Yes they went 17-9 and that's a credit to how well they defend. But you can't really win as a pure jump shooting team. Blocker-mover offense doesn't mean that the blockers never look to score and that's how the Islanders ran it this year. If other guys have more freedom, that will open it up more for the primary scorers. They lose AJ Barker, but realistically I think they have the same team back next year.

For AHA, what can you say about Tyler Bredow. He finishes with 30 points with 4 triples and 12-12 from the line. I had him in the area of 7-12 shooting. Amazing game. Bonzi Wells with 9 points and 5 boards off the bench and he was a perfect matchup for Jaspers. They get the unenviable task of playing Washburn on Thursday for the title at Concordia-St. Paul.

AJ Barker photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net