Hines topples Cadets

Parker Hines

Prologue
The early Saturday game on my schedule took me to Minnehaha Academy for a non-conference showdown of league leaders with Classic Suburban leader St. Thomas Academy visiting.  So after my previous mention of the pork sandwich at the concession stand when I was last at Minnehaha, they haven't had it since.  So in a rare moment of sanity, I actually take some good advice and go with the Chicken Wild Rice soup.  Great advice it was from coach Johnson as it was quite tasty.  And it wouldn't be a trip to Minnehaha without mention of the 24 oz bottle of Pepsi.

Game Time
A defensive struggle in the 1st half of this one.  Parker Hines is all of the offense for Minnehaha.  His 3 at 10:40 puts Minnehaha up 10-9 and he has all 10 points.  Lefty Thomas Sjoberg off the St. Thomas bench.  He sandwiches that Hines 3 with a steal for 2 and a bomb of his own at the 10 minute mark.  Danny Abbott for 3 to put the Cadets up 15-10 at the 8:44 mark.  Its a 10-3 St. Thomas run over 4:30.  After a pair of Minnehaha buckets, 6 of the next 7 points go to the Cadets, 4 from Will Barth.  After matching hoops its 23-17 Cadets with 4:50 left in the half.  But St. Thomas won't score again this half.  Jack Johnson with a jumper, Austin Brown for 2, a Taylor Hanson steal for 2 puts him over the 1000 career point mark., Erik Klingner with a putback and Hines beats the buzzer for 3.  That's an 11-0 run to send the Redhawks to the locker room up 28-23.

6 in a row from Minnehaha to start the half forces a Cadets timeout.  34-23 Minnehaha with 15:38 left.  Will Patt with a right baseline jumper followed by 1 from the left baseline to break a 17-0 run across halftime.  After St. Thomas blocks a shot, they come back and get a 3 from Sjoberg then another at 9:50 to cut the Minnehaha lead to 39-36.  Then Hines starts to take over.  He kicks to Austin Brown to 3.  Then Hines and Hanson work the pick and roll for the last 8 minutes and there's no answer.  Hanson from Hines for 2 jumpers off of it plus 2 more and a Hines drive for 2.  Then another Hines drive for 1-2 free throws.  That pushes the lead to 53-41 with 4:46 left.  That's a 14-5 run over 5 minutes.  Then another drive for 2 at the 3 minute mark to keep the lead at 10.  The rest is foul shooting and Minnehaha wins 62-51.

For St. Thomas Academy, they fall to 10-5 overall.  Soph shooter Thomas Sjoberg leads the Cadets with 13 points and 3 triples off the bench.  Reminded me a lot of former Minnetonka star Andrew Latzke.  But offense was really hard to come by for the Cadets.  Billy Chapman 11 points but he really struggled against his summer teammates from the Redhawks going 3-15 from the floor.  Will Patt 10 points, 5-13 field goals with a surprising number of attempts from 3.  The Cadets return to league play next week with games against Hill-Murray and then a home rematch against rival Henry Sibley.

For Minnehaha, they improve to 15-3 with 10 straight wins.  They have wins over a ranked Blair-Taylor, WI club, DeLaSalle and this win in the last 11 days to make a very strong case for returning to the class AA state poll.  Parker Hines outstanding with 21 points and 6 assists on my sheet.  5 of those assists in the 2nd half.  Taylor Hanson with 12 of his 14 points in the 2nd half to go with 13 rebounds.  Austin Brown struggled but still finished with 15 points on 5-13 shooting.

Parker Hines photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net