To Concordia-St. Paul for the 6AAA title game with Washburn taking on Holy Angels. An Oh Boy before the game as we have a less than playoff quality officiating crew on hand. They lived up to that tonight. Vocal AHA student section but the "ACT" and "Hooked on Phonics" chants during the game were totally uncalled for and classless. From a private school too which is even more surprising. Thankfully the student sections were on opposite ends as the Washburn section was not at all pleased and rightfully so. To the game itself.
Washburn's DeAaron Hearn with the initial assignment on Tyler Bredow. Cole Frechette with a layin from Bredow in picture perfect execution of a 2 on 1 break. Washburn counters with 5 in a row via Ra'Shede Hageman inside and a Dylan Hale triple. 12-9 Washburn at the 13:01 mark. But Holy Angels goes 1-3-1 and that sparks a run of 10 straight points concluded by a Jack Hogan jumper after a nice up fake that sent the Washburn defender flying by. 19-12 Stars at 10:40 after a 10-0 run in 2:21. Bredow with a triple at 8:21 off a classic inbound and run to the corner play and then another Bredow hoop extends the lead to 26-14 with 7:40 left in the half. In 5:21, AHA outscores Washburn 17-2. At the 6:29 mark, Bonzi Wells (Sahr Ngekia) makes 2 FTs going past Hageman to keep the lead at 12. Some blood and lingerie on the deck for a short delay. Something got said during the delay as Washburn swarms all over the place on defense. AHA with at least 5 turnovers and it may have been 10 during the last 6:29. The Millers outscore the Stars 16-0 to finish the half . AHA went back to the 2-3 before the run. 32-28 Washburn at half. Hale with 14, Hageman with 9. Bredow with 7 for AHA.
Holy Angels sticks with the 2-3 in the 2nd half. Bonzi spins for 2 and then Bredow gets into Hageman for 2 more and we're tied at 32 with 16:25 left. Bonzi with a jumper from Bredow and we're tied at 34. Hageman with a steal and he goes coast to coast as no one wants to take the charge. He then sits with his 3rd foul at the 12:13 mark. Bredow finds Cole Frechette for 2 and then a jumper at 10:05 for a 38-36 Stars lead. Hale and Nick Smith both with triples. 42-38 Washburn with 8:42 left. Bonzi with a strong drive for 2 free throws. Washburn turns it over and AHA runs out. Bredow throws ahead to Bonzi for an easy layup but Hale chases it down and goes up with Bonzi for the block. Great play by Hale at 7:50. Andy Jirik with great footwork pivoting around Hageman on the left block for a layup with 7:30 to play, tied at 42.
Smith then comes up in transition and both guys at the top of the zone just watch as he pulls up and nails a straight away 3 at 6:50. Bredow with a charge on the next possession. Hale then with a triple at 5:15. 48-42 Washburn. Bredow with a pair of free throws and then Bonzi with 1 of 2. 48-45 Washburn with 4:36 left. But the Stars get no closer. Hageman with a layup, a Holy Angels turnover and then 2 Hale FTs. 52-45 Washburn with 3:26 left. Cedric Martin with 4-4 FTs for his only points of the night, Hageman with a layup and then an exclamation point dunk. Washburn moves onto state 63-52.
For Holy Angels, what a run in February and March after the 1-13 start. Tyler Bredow with 20 points to lead the way. I also had 4 assists for him. Washburn threw a bunch of defenders at him. Bonzi Wells with 11 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. Strategically I was very disappointed. Bonzi had a quickness advantage on Hageman and was bigger and quicker than Jay Edwards. Yet no real effort to get him postups. Especially when Hageman had 2 fouls for the last 6 minutes of the 1st half. The couple of touches he did get he didn't go at Ra'Shede. Very surprised too that AHA never went back to the 1-3-1 in the 2nd half. Strange too that freshman Parker Bredow got time tonight after seeing no time at all for the 2nd half of the season. Considering that he might be the starting point guard next year, I'm not against the concept but it was strange. They have 8 of the 11 kids who played tonight coming back next year. Watch out in 2009-2010.
For Washburn, I'll never figure out why coach Perkins insists on leaving Ra'Shede Hageman in on offense when teams have to foul. AHA missed a couple of chances to put him on the line including 1 case where Martin (an excellent FT shooter) was fouled instead. Dylan Hale with 24 points and he got after it on D during the 1st half run to get Washburn the lead. Ra'Shede Hageman with 17 points. I had Hageman for 6 rebounds and 8-12 shooting. I also had Hale with 9 rebounds. Washburn did show some of Cedric Martin at the FT line against the 2-3 zone which I liked but they never looked high-low.
In the past two years, we've had a Bonzi Wells and an Emeka Okafor in the league.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute…the AHA students were classless? It was the Washburn section that was chanting Toughen Up after a Holy Angels player was hurt and had to leave the game. And the ACT chant was in response to Washburn kids chanting Daddy’s Money. (From a Minneapolis public school too, which is not at all surprising.) Maybe you think they were classy in comparison to their past behavior. At least they didn’t need 20 cops to break up a mid-game melee this time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear that from the Washburn section. Assuming that's true (and I have no reason to believe you're wrong), its also classless.
ReplyDeleteThe logic that 1 bad cheer justifies a bad cheer in response is complete nonsense.
Reports say that the fight at Arlington had nothing to do with either school that was at the game so don't throw Washburn under the bus just because their team was there.
yeah i agree. i was there.. in addition to the ACT comment they also chanted "food stamps"
ReplyDeleteand after washburn said "daddys money", holy angels replied with "at least we know him"(AHA cheerleader told me this.)
now THATS classless.
In your first paragraph, were you implying that the officials were sub-par?? The game I saw that night had officials who were consistent, fair and had little real outcome on the game.
ReplyDeleteRexChap, the officiating in the game was bad in my opinion. Take the example late in the game where play was stopped for an injured Holy Angels player while Washburn had the ball. The rule is clear that you don't stop play for an opponent's injury unless the injured player is in danger (which he clearly wasn't).
ReplyDeleteThat said, Washburn outplayed Holy Angels and deserved to win the game. The officals weren't part of the outcome.