Como Park holds off St. Bernard's

Prologue
To Como Park for an early Saturday start vs St. Bernard's.  Standard concessions fare and music.  Looking forward to see Ricky Suggs play for St. Bernard's.  Ran into Concordia-Roseville coach Eric Schutte, who's almost impossible to spot when he's not wearing the Armani suits.  There's no better dressed coach in the metro.

Game Time
St. Bernard's going 2-3 zone which they'll stick with most of the game.  Ricky Suggs has it going in the first half.  Interesting that another lefty using a ton of right hand inside.  He has a putback, layin and a pair of free throws to put the Bulldogs up 9-4 at the 13 minute mark.  11 all at 7:47 as Joe Conley comes off the bench and finishes a 7-2 run with a putback.  Suggs with another pair of buckets in a 6-0 run.  Time out Como Park at 6:20 down 17-11.  Conley with a 3 point play and Como leads 21-20.  We go to the half with St. Bernard's up 24-23.  Suggs with 14 and 9.

Back and forth in the 2nd half.  Suggs and Conley trade hoops 29-28 Bernard's at the 15 minute mark.  Conley with a 3 point play at 12:22, 36-35 Como Park.  Conley for 2 and then a floater at 8:35 give Como Park a 45-41 lead.  But Suggs scores inside and Jake Demarias nails a 3.  47-45 Bulldogs with 6:35 left.  Como takes the lead back with Devion Welch converting a 3 point play inside, Brandon Baker with a pair of hoops.  Suggs with a pair of free throws at 4:24 52-50 Como Park.  Conley floats again and tips in a miss.  56-50 Cougars with 3 minutes left.  Bernard's comes out of a timeout with a 1-3-1 trap.  They convert 1 turnover into a tip in but they won't get closer than 4.  Interesting that Suggs had a steal and layin with 9.6 left and the backboard was slapped.  If a technical would have been called (and it could have been), that would have been really crazy.  4 point game and St. Bernard's would have had 2 free throws and gotten the ball back.  Como Park wins 63-59.

For St. Bernard's, this is a down year. They fall to 2-2.  Ricky Suggs finishes with a big game of 26 and 13 on 9-17 shooting.  Shane Taylor and Jake Demarias each finish with 11 points.  The Bulldogs host PACT on Tuesday in what should be a decent game.  Then they open with Roseville in the Catholic Spirit tournament at Concordia-St. Paul.

For Como Park, they improve to 1-1.  My sheet is off a few points but I had Joe Conley with 17 of his 23 in the 2nd half   He got great looks from the high post vs the 2-3 zone and did a nice job of turning and attacking the rim from there.  I also had him with 10 rebounds.  Him and Suggs went at it for a large part of the day.  Quiet day at the point for Adrian Wackett.  He's getting some D3 looks from places like St. Olaf.  Como Park travels to East Ridge (who won at St. Bernard's by 14) in one of the very few Wednesday games next week.  They'll then play in the Minneapolis North holiday tournament.