Prologue
Finally a trip to Hopkins to see the #4 Royals take on the #9 Greyhounds of Duluth East. Another round of Taco in a Bag tonight (outstanding). Can I count seeing Rene Pulley during the JV game only as a sighting? With Chambers, Zierdan and Alipate all as point guards, he's going to look at Tyus Jones. Very interesting. Pump N Run, Net Gain, and the Mr. Basketball committee in the house. Get well Ken Lien's bum knee. Another Hopkins game started at 7 for an advertised 7:15 start (not cool). Good for East though as they can get home on a school night.
Game Time
East star soph Johnny Woodard out of the blocks hot with a pair of quick 3s. 10-4 Greyhounds in 2 and a half minutes. Then Marvin Singleton starts his dominant half. A layup, putback and postup for him are part of a 9-0 run to put Hopkins on top. That forces an East timeout. The turnovers continue to mount for East as a Coleman steal for 2 is the 6th Hopkins steal of the night. Dyami rolls an ankle with about 13 minutes left going to basket. Not good a sign. Woodard trying to keep East close with a tough step back 3 and a dunk at the 11 minute mark to tie the game at 18. Starks for 3 at 9:25 to cut the lead to 22-21. Then the Royals start to run away. Riley Dearring for 2 and then a triple. Zach Stahl for 3. 31-23 Hopkins leads. Woodward with a putback at 6:40 and the Hopkins lead is 31-29. Singleton with a pair of freebies and a nice lefty finish on a drive from the foul line. Then 2 and the foul plus a putback and 2 more free throws. Except for the free throws, that's part of a 10-0 run for a 41-29 lead with 4:35 left in the half. 53-39 Hopkins at the half.
DJ Peterson with back-back triples to force an East timeout down 18. Singleton 2 FTs and a Coleman steal and dunk to push the lead to 26. Dearring with back to back layups and the lead is 32. Etc etc. Hopkins rolls in the 2nd half to a 104-64 win. Marvin Singleton was a beast with 21 of his 28 in the 1st half and 9 rebounds. Joe Coleman with a quiet night of 18 points. 10 of those out and running in the 2nd half. Riley Dearring 18 points and he was firing all night long.
Johnny Woodard leads East with 27 points, 4 triples. Very funky shot with his right foot very far forward so if you get up in him that prevents him raising up. Starks with 3 triples in the first half but the bum ankle really limited him. East now 9-5 and they trip to #5 Osseo on Saturday
Hey Czar,
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I've seen a team less interested in playing defense than East. They'd rather lose by 40 as long as their two guys get their points. In the three games I've seen from East I've seen some individual offensive talent but really disappointed in their effort on the other end of the court.
I know they can outscore the teams in their region which may get them a chance to be the Region 7 favorite but wow was that a forgettable effort. I see they travel to Osseo on Sat.
I'll give East a lot of credit for playing such a difficult schedule. It has to be tough coming down to the Cities as often as they do to play.