2010 MN Select Classic Thoughts

Here's what caught my eye at the 2010 Minnesota Select Classic

Saturday (Pool Play)
A nice start to the weekend with Triple Threat taking on Magic Westside.  No James Fort inside for Triple Threat as he tweaked a knee and may miss the rest of Triple Threat's season.  But that's more a precaution than a serious injury.  Westside was up 4 with 2:15 but couldn't hold the lead.  Mitch Wurm comes off a downscreen and nails a foul line jumper with 2.5 left to give Triple Threat a 70-68 win.  Major size advantage for Westside in that game and they didn't take advantage.

In game 2, Rosemount took on the St. Paul Warriors.  36-29 Warriors lead with 10 minutes left after an offensive rebound of a free throw for 2.  Rosemount coach not happy and he wants a timeout.  His crew responds with a 16-4 run over the next 6 minutes and the Irish win 50-44.

Westside rebounded from their loss thanks to a pair of David Anderson free throws with 11 seconds left.  That put Westside over the top 64-62 against the Select top team.

No Sanjay Lumpkin on Saturday for the Pump N Run 16s so you need a replacement.  Hmm, Reed Travis is playing with the PNR 15 Black club in the tourney and the PNR 17s have the weekend off.  And the 16s are playing the in 17U division, so that makes Jonah Travis a logical replacement.  55-30 vs Select II at the half as PNR shoots the lights out.  Nick Jorgenson with 7 for 7 3s in the game.  PNR 84-45, ouch.  Danon Briggs with a halfcourt lob to Jonah Travis for the explanation point.  But remember this one.

A ridiculous ending in Select II's next game against Old Skool United.  52-46 Select with 4:30 left after a 7-0 run.  Then RJ Dean for 3 and an assist.  55-52 Skool with 1:32 left.  Big Lake center Anthony Saavedra for 2 more on the post with 40 seconds left.  11-0 Skool run and this one should be over.  Hold my calls please.  Jake Goldberg puts back a miss and then Alex Koch with a steal for the old fashioned 3 point play with 18.1 seconds left.  Chad Howard (nice weekend for him) then takes an Old Skool turnover for 2 free throws.  The ball comes back to half court and Select decides to intentionally foul, interesting choice.  Old Skool gets it to Saavedra on the post and he scores at the regulation buzzer to send us to OT.

In the 1st overtime, Saavedra with a quick miss and then Select holds for 1:40 vs 2-3 zone but turns the ball over with 10 seconds left.  But Select survives the turnover and we'll play a 2nd OT of 1 minute.  Koch misses the front end of the bonus with 20 seconds left which is a major shock for a shooter like him.  Saavedra then is fouled inside but he misses both freebies with 5.7 left.  Select rebounds and takes timeout.  A great play call gets Levi Abercrombie on the run and he's fouled (tick tack call) at the buzzer.  He makes the 1st free throw and Select II wins a crazy one 60-59.

Pump N Run 16s defeated Old Skool 59-44 in the last game of Saturday but don't let that score fool you.  PNR was cold for most of the game and this was a 50-44 PNR lead with 2:10 left before Nick Jorgenson nailed a big 3 to ice the game away.

Bracket Play (Sunday)
Westside lost another close game as Comets Gold took them out 62-58 in the quarters.  Westside was up big in the consolation game vs Select I and held on to win a close one.  In the semis, Comets Gold stuck with PNR until halftime.  Carnell Sheppard for 3 at the halftime buzzer for a 7 point lead and PNR rolled from there 69-47.  Select II defeated Old Skool 72-61 in the other semi.

Comets Stock needed a 3 point play from Levi Johnson with 2.5 seconds left in double OT to defeat Triple Threat in the 16U semis.  Rosemount handled them in the championship game though.  6'7 Matt Nelson from Rosemount with 2 quick blocks, a behind the back dribble on a bust out and then they run a down screen for him for 3.  Very thin now, but there's most definitely an upside there with bigs hard to come by in the 2012 class.

Sanjay Lumpkin back in time for the 17U title game against Select II (see above).  What a difference a day makes.  Again, shots not falling for PNR and they hung on to a 36-35 halftime lead.  Alex Koch with 3 from the deep beyond to keep Select close.  50-44 Select with 10:44 left as they weren't going to go away.  50 all with 7:40 left and this one was going right to the buzzer.  Abercrombie with a tough hoop in the lane and 2 free throws sandwiched around a Jack Harrison putback for PNR.  62-61 Select with 1:33 left.  Lumpkin down the lane and blocked with 1:24 left,  huge play.  Select holds before Koch drives and finds Jake Goldberg for a layup with 40 seconds left and the Select lead is 3.  Brady Wohler drives for a layup with 22 seconds and PNR forces a turnover with 16.1 left.  Danon Briggs drives for 2 with 8 seconds left.  Back we come the other way and Abercrombie gets loose for 3.  The way he played this weekend, no way that wasn't going in.  Select II wins the 17U title 67-65 while Select I was 0-4.  Irony there.  I like what Kevin Jensen did in both the semis and finals for PNR.  Jensen and Lumpkin with 14 points each to lead PNR in the loss.

MN Elite is a 14U west metro team and they took out a very good Select-Focke team in the 15U semis.  Their reward was to play Pump N Run 15U Black in the championship game.  Strike while the iron is hot and the 3 ball was there for Elite.  4 of them put Elite up 20-13 at the 6:45 mark of the 1st half.  PNR not keeping the ball in front of them either.  Dion Bradley with a pair of triples for PNR as they start to find the range.  24 all at 3:30.  28-24 Elite with about a minute left in the half when PNR goes 2-3 zone and Elite holds for 1 shot.  Elite can't take care of it against the quick PNR guards and 2 steals are easy layups to send us to halftime tied at 28.

The second half was all about home gym guy (i.e St. Louis Park frosh) Kashif Hayes.  PNR found a matchup and ran right wing pick and roll to death with him.  37-32 PNR withi 11 minutes left and it looks like they'll run away.  Not quite.  Kolby Seiffert with his 3rd triple of the day and Elite is within 47-42 with 6:15 left.  Then 52-48 PNR with 2:25 left.  Elite fans not at all happy with 2 or 3 calls that didn't go their way (and they weren't necessarily wrong).  Then a quick T on an Elite player while PNR was ready to shoot free throws.  2 of the 4 freebies are good.  Elite doesn't go away though.  Kyle Kalivoda makes 2 free throws with 1:21 left to cut the PNR lead to 56-54.  But Elite can't get over the top and PNR wins the 15U title 62-56.

Kashif Hayes topped all scorers with 19 points.  16 of those were in the 2nd half and most off the right side PNR to Hayes left hand.  Elite didn't make sufficient adjustments to address that as well as settling for 3s early in the 2nd half against the zone.  Kolby Seiffert leads Elite with 15 points.  Matt Juneau played well inside for Elite with 14 points. They play well together and shoot the ball very well.

Really disgusted to see the MN Elite fans attempt to confront the officials after the game was over.  No place for that at all.  Once the final horn blows, its over move on.  Looked like the Elite coach apologied to both Tom Krosschell and Sean Kruger afterwards.  If so, that's a class move on his part.  On a lighter note, best part of the weekend was free soda courtesy of winning a regular season bet with Sibley coach Tom Dasovich.  It's definitely true that the drinks are better when free.