Hopkins Tonka thoughts

Prologue
To Hopkins I go for the annual rivalry game with Minnetonka.  This obviously isn't the same Minnetonka team of years gone by.   But I wanted to see what they were like under a new coach.  We have the Hopkins band and inexplicably 3 members of the Mr Basketball committee.  If they're still evaluating all 25 finalists, the committee isn't getting the job done.  Its stuff like this that puts Ray Cowles as a finalist instead of Nate Wolters.

Game Time
Cole Stefan for 3 to put Tonka up 5-4 early.  Joe Coleman with a nice give and go from DJ Peterson and then his 2nd dunk of the night from a turnover.  He has all 8 Hopkins points.  Another Tonka turnover gives Coleman his 3rd dunk of the night.  Chad Howard with a 3 for the Skippers to cut the Hopkins lead to 18-12 inside of 10 minutes.  Then Hopkins starts to roll.  The inbound to Coleman on the right block, passer goes by and Coleman spins for a 2 handed dunk.  Nice concept using him there when they've historically used their biggest big in that spot.  They can also throw it up to him for a dunk if he's face guarded.  Simple read and react set, but its been very very effective for years for the Royals.  Coleman with another bunny.  Cam Selmer for 3.  DJ Peterson with a layup and a jumper after a big Zach Stahl block.  He follows it with a pair of free throws.   Its a 15-2 Hopkins run in just under 3 minutes to push the lead to 33-14 at the 6:35 mark.  Tor Anderson with 3 straight triples for Tonka but those are countered by 3 Jeremiah Tolbert bombs and another strike from Selmer.  Coleman runs out for a dunk and the lead is 24.  Anderson beats the halftime buzzer to cut the Hopkins lead to 49-28 at the half.

Coleman shows off range in the second half with a pair of triples.  Zach Stahl on the post at its a 62-37 game at the 14 minute mark.  Leonard Glass with a lob dunk off a turnover and a Nick Latzke 3 cut the lead to 18.  But Hopkins pushes the lead right back to 26 with a Riley Dearring layup, Marvin Singleton on the block and layups from Stahl and Selmer.  70-44 with 9:45 left.  Tonka does have 1 run in their system along with some sloppy play from Hopkins.  Latzke for 3 followed by an area code 3 from Stefan.  Dearring with a 3 point play to keep the lead at 24 with 8:43 left.  Leonard Glass with 4 straight, Stefan with another long NBA 3 and then he goes screen/roll with Glass for 2 more.  74-59 Hopkins and there's still 6:35 left.  The Skippers miss a couple of chances and Hopkins pounces to put this away comfortably 96-69.

For Minnetonka, Nick Latzke leads the way with 15 of his 19 points in the second half.  8-13 overall with 6-8 and 3 triples in that second half.  Tor Anderson with 11 of his 17 late in the first half to keep the game somewhat respectable.  Cole Stefan 5-12 for 13 points with 3 triples.  Leonard Glass 12 points to also reach double figures.  Interesting that the Skippers ran quite a bit of what looked like 4 out 1 in motion and got away from some of the dribble drive stuff they've been known for.  The Skippers fall to 11-13 and have lost 8 out of 12.  That's the 6th worse record in the second but the 2nd best power ranking.  I think they have to be behind North and Armstrong.  Now, if they get Minneapolis South and Alonzo Traylor in the 4/5 game at home and Armstrong gets St. Louis Park in the 3/6 game, now you've got a pair of very interesting games.  Traylor is a bad matchup for Tonka and St. Louis Park knocked off Armstrong this season.  But Armstrong is playing well now.  On the other hand, if Tonka gets Armstrong and South plays St. Louis Park, those games could be ugly.  Armstrong has Tonka's number and Traylor would be a major factor against the Orioles.

For Hopkins, Joe Coleman 18 of his 24 points in the first half on nothing outside of 2 inches before knocking down a pair of 3s in the second half.  Zach Stahl active around the basket and knocked down a pair of 3s for 16 points .  Quiet night for Marvin Singleton with only 9 points and 5 rebounds.  Not many opportunities to look for him on the block.  DJ Peterson with the best game I've seen him play this year.  13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and quality defense on Stefan.  Hopkins won't get the chance to avenge the loss to Johnson but somehow I think they'd like to see North again in section play.  The Polars took out the Royals 66-63 the night before the TWolves Shootout.