Mahtomedi at Richfield thoughts

Prologue
To Richfield to see them for the first time this season as they take on Mahtomedi.  Taco in a bag tonight with the option of Fritos or Doritos.  Does it get any better than that?  Richfield coming off a stretch where they played Tartan tough and took it to St. Thomas Academy.  Richfield with only 1 senior, Jay Sewer who makes a huge contribution.  How will this compare with high quality curling action on CNBC?

Game Time
Mahtomedi hot out of the gate as Bobby Sherwood doubles up on a floater/triple pairing.  11-4 Zephyrs at 11:15.  Sewer with a pair of assists for layups to cut the lead to 11-8 at 10:30.  Then Mahtomedi is off on a 14-2 run.  Andre Arnett for 3, then 2 on an elbow isolation followed by another triple and he finishes the run with a pull up jumper inside of 6 minutes left in the half.  25-10 Mahtomedi leads.  Sewer coast to coast for 2 and then a high soft bank.  Arnett going again as he gets a bucket and 2 more free throws off the elbow iso.  And he tacks on a 3 to end the half.  40-21 Mahtomedi at the half.  Sherwood and Arnett with 35 of the Mahtomedi points on 6 triples.  Jay Sewer with 2 buckets and 3 assists for 11 of the 21 Richfield points.

Richfield with the 1st 4 of the second half as they threaten to hang around thanks to a pair of Mahtomedi turnovers.  44-31 Zephyrs before soph Justin Pahl nails a pair of 3s and then pulls up breaking on a turnover for 2 more.  That pushes the lead right back to 19 with 11:23 left and Richfield needs a timeout.   Sewer drives for 2 and finds Corey Fitzgerald for 3 and Mahtomedi needs timeout with 6:31 left.  54-42 Zephyrs lead. But Richfield won't threaten.  Sherwood with a floater and Mahtomedi drains the clock the last 4 minutes and makes 9-10 free throws in a 2:30 stretch.  That keeps the lead in double digits and Mahtomedi wins 71-55.

For Richfield, Jay Sewer finishes with 12 points.  Soph Darrien Johnson also reaches double figures with 10 points.  The Spartans are now 5-8 in the Classic Suburban, 11-11 overall.  The schedule does them no favors with a trip to Johnson tomorrow afternoon and a home date with Sibley on Friday.  Richfield played 10 guys and 8 of them return next season.  That includes 5 sophomores, notably Darrien Johnson.  But the big question is who will score.  Sewer is the only guy averaging double figures and he graduates.  Not to mention he's the one guy who can create for others.

For Mahtomedi, Sherwood and Arnett held to 10 points in the 2nd half after combining for 35 in the first half.  Bobby Sherwood with 23 and Andre Arnett with 22.  The Zephyrs are now 16-6 and 8-5 in a 3rd place tie with Tartan in the Classic Suburban.  They're in a battle with St. Thomas for the 2nd seed in section 4AAA.  Those teams split 2 close games already this season and a section semifinal matchup appears to be on the horizon.