Cooper and Benilde battle to the end

Myles Barnes

Prologue
To the Haben Center at #2AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's for their big North Suburban showdown with #7AAAA Cooper.  I love the prewrapped hot dogs, but trying to undo the tinfoil was like trying to solve a rubik's cube.  When in doubt, just rip it open.  Good stuff.  Found out tonight from Tom Krosschell that he not only kept me away from the buffet at the Best Buy Holiday Tournament (very wise move since I know nothing better than my way around a buffet table) but he also sold out all of the $2 12 oz cans of soda that I was previously bitter about.  Supply and Demand works.  Economics 101.  Note to self, take another look at my college econ book.

Game Time
Myles Barnes gets a feed at the foul line and explodes down the lane for a big 1 handed dunk.  He follows that with a jumper and a layup.  9-8 BSM at the 14:20 mark.  Then Cooper is off on the 1st of many runs on this night.  Calvin Godfrey with a putback, Elijah Swen for 3, Darry Jones converts a layup after a Godfrey block and then Godfrey dunks an offensive rebound.  11-2 Cooper run in less than 3 minutes puts them up 19-11.  BSM fights back as a Seth Marx 3 ties the game at 25 with 7 minutes left in the half.  But Godfrey is finally starting to get some post touches and he's converted the last 2 easily.  Peter Crawford takes over for BSM in the last 5:30.  He scores 13 of the last 17 Red Knights points of the half.  A pair of three point plays included in that and living at the foul line thanks to the Cooper bigs all having 2 fouls.  44-40 Benilde-St. Margaret's at the half.

Interesting matchup as Godfrey comes out guarding Crawford to start the half.  What's up with that???  Isaiah Zierden with a layup and a floating bank and Myles Barnes with a pair of buckets in a 11-2 BSM spurt that puts the Red Knights up 55-45 with 12:20 to play.  Elijah Swen with a 3 point play on a Zierden flop but he flopped so early there was no contact.  Then Crawford with 2 free throws blowing by Godfrey.  Darry Jones counters for 3.  Crawford then goes baseline takes the Godfrey contact and scores and gets fouled.  59-51 BSM with 10:40 to go.  But Crawford also gets a T for taunting.  He misses the foul shot and Cooper goes off on a 13-0 run over the next 3:20.  Zierden finally breaks the run with a 3 at the 7 minute mark.  Godfrey runs out for a dunk and may have blocked Crawford but he gets called for the foul and Swen gets a T.  Only 2 of the 4 FTs (Crawford's 2 and the Ts) are made and BSM turns it over on the possession.  Godfrey misses 2 FTs but Cooper gets 3 chances on another BSM turnover and can't convert.  Seth Marx makes Cooper pay with a 3 and follows that with a layup.  69-66 BSM with 4:23 to go after a 10-2 run over 3 minutes.

Then the Red Knights fall apart.  Brandon Harrison posts up for 2, Godfrey with a tip in, Swen puts back a miss.  Godfrey runs out for another dunk.  4 or 5 straight BSM turnovers.  Cooper takes time with the ball at 2:20 up 74-69 and they'll hold vs a 1-3-1 trap.  At 1:35, Cooper throws a lob for Godfrey who misses the dunk, hangs on the rim and then lets 1 hand go to try and dunk the ball as it comes back down.  Basket Interference is the correct call for regrabbing the rim, but he was on the rim so long and nobody there that it was an obvious technical but no call.  Refs don't want to make a dicey call like that in a tight game, but that one needed to be made in my opinion.  BSM misses and Darry Jones converts a 3 point play on the other end with 1:16 left to push the lead to 8.  BSM makes a couple late 3s that don't matter.  83-80 Cooper wins a very back and forth and entertaining game. 

For Benilde-St. Margaret's, its their second straight tough loss to a high caliber 4A team (Yes put Minnetonka in that group now that they have everybody).  Isaiah Zierden leads the way with 23 points,4 triples in that.  Peter Crawford with 17 of his 22 in the first half.  I thought BSM should have done more with Crawford to exploit the early second half mismatch with Godfrey.  Myles Barnes was saddled with 2 fouls after his quick start.  He finished with 13 points.  His game appears to have another level of explosion this year.

For Robbinsdale Cooper, Calvin Godfrey 23 points, 14 boards with 4 blocks and 3 steals on my officially unofficial stat sheet.  Quick off the feet, defensive enforcer in the lane and runs the floor well.  Darry Jones came up with his scoring performance of 21 points.  Elijah Swen huge with 21 points and he was the guy that really stepped up big for the Hawks.  Cooper stays undefeated at 7-0 and they host Spring Lake Park on Friday.

The rematch should be dynamite.  Its at Cooper Thursday February 11th.

Myles Barnes photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net