2010 East Metro Showcase Day 1

Estan Tyler

Prologue
Day 1 of the 4th annual East Metro Showcase.  Rene Pulley, Chris Monter, Chris Carr and Wishoops.net editor Mark Miller taking in the game with Jason Jesperson.  Gotta like the plump hot dog too.  Tough break with the weather forcing Sioux City Heelan to cancel their trip.  Nice job by coach Simmons to readjust the schedule and get the games in.

Game 1: Superior vs St. John's Military Academy
How crazy is it to have 2 Wisconsin teams playing each other but under Minnesota rules?  Kevin Mays was big with 21 points for St. John's Military Academy but they had no answer for the Superior 1-2-2 zone.  The poise and shooting stroke of DJ Mlachnik were evident in this one despite a low point total.  Isaiah Gray struggled with foul trouble in the 2nd half and didn't shoot it well.  Superior's Joel Lindberg with most of his 21 points in the 2nd half after 3 fouls (2 charges) had him in 1st half foul trouble.  Superior was down 2 at half but won easily 68-53.

Game 2: St. Paul Johnson vs Milwaukee Vincent
Vincent is a historically strong program, but they're mid-level in Milwaukee this season behind Hamilton, King and Washington at a minimum.  Vincent forces 3 quick turnovers with the diamond press and forces a quick Johnson timeout in the 1st minute of the game, but its only 3-0 Vincent.  Vincent's star frosh Deonte Burton with an assist for 3 to put Vincent up 8-6 at 14:25 before Johnson goes off on a run.  The Govs apply their own pressure, run and jump in this instance and not the 2-2-1 I'm accustomed to seeing from them.  Jordan Pluff with great energy off the bench and providing the offense to go with the defense in a 21-4 Johnson run over 5:50.  27-12 Johnson with 8:35 left in the half.  36-21 Johnson at half and they push the lead to 25 less than 6 minutes into the second half.  Johnson wins easily again 70-51.  Estan Tyler with 11 points and 6 assists.  Jordan Pluff with 16 points to lead the scoring.  Donte Warlick with 13 points and stellar passing in this one.  Anthony Lee scored 12 points in the balanced attack.

Game 3: Hopkins vs Maple Northwestern (WI)
Steve Tecker still on crutches for Northwestern so no best player for the Tigers (OK we knew that coming in).  10-8 Hopkins leads after a Northwestern postup basket at 14:10.  Hopkins is too much defensively as they take advantage of forced turnovers to open the lead up to 40-20 (30-12 run over 9:30).  But 3 triples from Northwestern in an 11-2 run threaten to make this one interesting.  But DJ Peterson nails a 3 and Jeremiah Tolbert with a steal for 2 both in the last 30 seconds of the half for a 46-31 halftime lead.  2nd half score is almost identical as Hopkins wins 93-62.  Siyani Chambers with 7 points and 5 assists in the 1st half with the assist largely on the break after turnovers.  Joe Coleman finishes with 21.  Marvin Singleton with 18.  Northwestern star Donnie Hissa with only 8 points.  1 sleeper from up north for you 2nd tier AAU folks is Tyler Forysthe who finished with 15 points and is a big shooting guard who can knock it down. 

Estan Tyler photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net