FILA Showcase Day 1

To Minnehaha Academy for the opening night of the FILA Showcase. 

In the opening session, the Mpls Jags 15s took out ECI Select 42-36.  Ugly game there.  River City blew out Mpls Ballers 71-50.  The Jags are sound and athletic and played well in the tough MYAS state 15U tourney.  They won't be an easy out at the PNR tourney next week either.

Second session: Mpls Gators break open a 25 all game late in the first half and roll over the CS Bulldogs 69-49.  In the game I watched, Grassroots took on ECI Prospects.  Ashby's Riley Mickelson played for ECI in this one and while he's not yet as big as his brother Kurt was, he was still a force in this one early.  Grassroots with no answer for him.  But ECI's guards let them down in this one.  Washburn's Nick Anderson with 3 on the ball steals when ECI was bringing the ball up and that was just in the 1st half.  ECI down 19-18 at the break but then it all falls apart in the second half. They get 4 baskets and get blown out 43-27.  Anderson 8 points and 5 assists and easily could have had 3-4 more assists.  He also had the best shot of the night with a 30 footer from the bench area at halftime. His pair of threes were when he was left alone with time to load up.  His shot is definitely a work in progress but his floor vision and ability to deliver the ball definitely show in this pass first point guard.  Now if him and Dwight Anderson ever manage to add each other's games with Dwight's height, you'd have a heck of a player.  Really strange strategy from ECI not dealing with the press, not extending their zone or getting out of it until the game was already over, not playing Mickelson many minutes and letting their guards take bad shot after bad shot without Mickelson getting a touch.

All that frustration makes a person hungry so its off to the concession stand for the Taco In A Bag.  No salsa and I passed on the sour cream so a very bland meal.  Needed the salsa to add and get rid of heat as the hamburger was steaming hot.  A worthy meal.

ECI Select 17s taking on River City 17s in the 17U bracket.  River City runs out to a quick 15-4 lead but ECI claws back to down 22-20 behind DeWayne Liggins (hope that's the right guy).  His slashing to the basket and finishing was impressive and hopefully it caught the eye of somebody like Valley City who was in the building tonight.  River City blows the game open to 20 but then sees the lead cut to 2 at the very end before they hang on 74-70.  Terrance Williams was dynamite at the point for the Cougars as he was clearly the best player on the floor in this one.

To end the night its Grassroots+ (post grad) taking on the Nebraska Magic.  Grassroots sleep walks through another 1st half and trail 34-31 at the break.  Then Seantrel Henderson shows up and he'll put on a uniform.  He enters the game with 12:38 left and a 41-40 lead. He follows a miss for a layup.  Then a defensive rebound and Unseld outlet to Jordan Hughes for 3.  Hughes pick and roll with Ariel Deloney for a dunk.  Louis Cox with a tough 2 and then former North star Kevin Thompson (always a Czar favorite) with a steal and he's goes the other way for the 2 handed jungle gym dunk.  Timeout Magic.  Its an 11-1 run over 2:40 and that basically puts the game away.  Cox and Hughes with nice lobs to Thompson for 2 more dunks in the halfcourt late is nice icing on the cake in a 74-66 Grassroots win.  Henderson only played about 5 minutes but his impact was obviously felt.  Let's hope the DQ Blizzard after the game doesn't impact my waistline that much.