Stars overcome Strandlund's huge night

Prologue
To The Sal to see SW Christian take on CHOF.  Contrast here of guards for SW Christian against CHOF's star center Tyler Strandlund.  The simplest of concession stands but a Kit Kat is always a good option. 

Game Time
8-5 SW Christian early when Tyler Strandlund decides to get it going.  He nails a straight away 3, then a layup, then a smooth 3 from the right corner and a layup off a nice side pick and roll.  Its a personal 10-2 run over 2:10 for a 15-10 CHOF lead at the 13:20 mark.  5 in a row from the Stars to tie and we'll go back and forth.  23-20 CHOF after a Strandlund hoop at 7:15.  Then he sits at 5:13 with a 2 point lead and CHOF promptly gives up 4 in a row and he's right back at the scorer's table.  CHOF misses a late bunny and SW Christian knocks down a late jumper to tie the game at 31 as we head to intermission.  Tyler Strandlund 18 and 10 in the 1st half.  CHOF's other threat Tate Piepkorn with a pair of triples for 10 points. 

Strandlund with an early layup and then back to back buckets.  40-39 SW Christian with 12:40 left.  Jordan Dye with back to back baskets before frosh Kendall Strandlund banks a 3 from the right corner and Tyler Strandlund posts for 2.  44 all with 10 minutes left and then Tyler Strandlund picks up his 4th foul with 9:46 to go.  Yikes.  But CHOF rolls the dice and decides to keep him in the game.  Tyler with a putback at 7:40 for a 48-46 CHOF lead.  A pair of CHOF turnovers in the halfcourt result in layups.  Then CHOF gets a rebound, but SW Christian comes from behind to steal it and that turns into a free throw.  51-48 SW Christian with 4:21 to go.  CHOF with a good long possession vs the Stars 2-3 zone (partly due to only 2 scorers) and at 2:20 it finally ends with nothing to show for it.  But Piepkorn jumps a guard to guard pass and takes it the other way for 2 (his only field goal of the 2nd half).  After Dye makes 1 of 2 with 1:51 left, its another long CHOF possession.  This time Strandlund gets fouled and calmly makes both with 57.1 left to tie the game at 52.  Out of a Stars timeout, CHOF sticks with their 1-2-2 and SW Christian misses with 20 seconds left.  Strandlund boards it and brings it the other way.  Dye takes it away from him and goes the other way and has to be fouled.  He makes both with 8 seconds left.  CHOF wanted to push the ball to halfcourt and then take their final timeout, but they inbound and use up 2.7 seconds to go nowhere.  With 5.3 left they have to go the length of the court.  Strandlund never touches it and Piepkorn misses a tough shot late.  SW Christian hangs on 54-52.

For CHOF, Tyler Strandlund was a monster.  30 points (12-21 FG), 23 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 turnovers with a pair of early triples.  Only 4 points in the last 10 minutes and some of that has to be due to playing that stretch with 4 fouls.  Tate Piepkorn with 10 of his 12 in the first half and couldn't buy a shot in the 2nd half.  And CHOF has no other scorers, fortunately some zone and long possessions kept this one low scoring (10-8 in the last 10 minutes).  CHOF falls to 2-9 with the loss but after getting blown out in their 1st 5 games, they've been more competitive recently with this loss and only losing by 11 to a ranked Park Christian team.  Bethany Academy visits The Sal on Saturday.

For SW Christian, this was a must win as they're fighting MCAA rival Lester Prairie and Cedar Mountain/Comfrey for the top seed in section 2A north.  Losses to New Life and Bethany may haunt them despite a 2 point win at Lester Prairie.  A tough pair of games coming up for the Stars as they host #2A Minnesota Transitions and visit #10AA Mayer Lutheran in the next 2 weeks.  Jordan Dye leads the way with 13 of his 17 in the 2nd half.  SW Christian got very little out of their diamond press and had a rough night in transition defense.  Daniel Horner actually matched Strandlund until getting injured late in the first half.  But I was still surprised the Stars didn't do more to try and slow him down (e.g faceguard, diamond and 1 to sandwich him etc)