2010 Best Buy Holiday Classic Championships

My 2010 Most Excellent Holiday Adventure continues with a trip to Augsburg for championship day at the Best Buy Holiday Classic.  Barbeque at a game is never a bad thing and on the quality advice of Mrs Krosschell I decide to have the brisket.  Anytime you look at a sandwich and think "Where do I even begin to tackle this thing?", that's a very good sign.  So props to Tom Krosschell for having Baldy's Barbeque as part of the concessions fare this year (and no $2 12 oz cans of soda either).  $5 is usually steep for concessions, but not true in this case.  Baldy himself was in the building serving up that very good barbeque.  Though my spies tell me that his basketball game needs work.  Big laundry type carts full of Pepsi too, can't go wrong with that.  Now I need a song, since we get very few rain references in and its not November...

Song of the Day
I Wish It Would Rain Down - Phil Collins

Webcast America had the online broadcast of 1 consolation semifinal and the championship bracket semifinal games on Wednesday along with the 3rd place and championship games today.  I did the color commentary for the 3rd place and championships.  You can check out the broadcast of any of those 5 games here.

7th Place Game: Henry Sibley vs Minneapolis Patrick Henry
Full names required here to eliminate confusion.   Sibley bringing their 3 main seniors off the bench and starting 5 non-seniors.  Glad to see Deonte Blakemore back in the Henry lineup to resurrect my Minneapolis City MVP hopes.  Sibley's Alex Stafford has come out of nowhere (football kid I think) to be a useful post player.  All 13 of his points in the 1st half led Sibley on the night.  Second half is all soph Darius Hill for Henry.  He nails 4 straight triples (3 from left corner) on his way to 18 points in the half.  Sibley battles back from 6 down in the last 5 minutes to tie the game, but Hill comes up big with a steal for 2 and an offensive rebound for 2 free throws.  Sibley has a couple of late chances but Henry hangs on for 7th place 62-60.  Hill 20 points, Latrell Love 19 and 11 for the Patriots.

5th Place Game: Burnsville vs Chanhassen
A matchup of 1 year Lake Conference foes and natural disasters for 5th.  Chanhassen jumps out to a 12-5 start 5 minutes in but falls behind 17-16 at the 7:30 mark.  After a Chanhassen timeout at the 6:46 mark, the Storm finish the half strong on an 11-2 run.  27-19 Storm at half.  Chance Panning hot in both runs with 15 points and 3 3s.  Burnsville comes right back with an 11-2 run to take a 30-29 lead just 1:33 into the half.  The Blaze extend the the lead to 50-44 with 6:20 left.  Chanhassen gets 6 in a row to tie and we go right to the end.  Cam Jones in the post to put Burnsville up 54-52 with 32 seconds left and then a Chanhassen turnover.  Burnsville misses a front end and takes a foul with 8.8 left (only 4 team fouls at that point).  Time Burnsville.  On the inbounds Burnsville waits and takes their 6th foul with 3 seconds left.  Timeout Chanhassen.  CJ Smith then bear hugs Panning before the ball ever gets inbounds.  That's the bonus but Panning misses the 2nd one just long.  Burnsville hangs on 54-53 as Storm does not put out Blaze.  Cam Jones missed a late 1 and 1 but his post bucket was the clincher.  He leads the Blaze with 13 points (I'm not buying the 17 in the official box).  CJ Smith 10 for Burnsville.  Chance Panning 15 of his 18 in the first half to lead Chanhassen.  Kevin Jensen 11 points.

3rd Place: St. Paul Johnson vs Minnesota Transitions (broadcast here)
Still not a bad 3rd place game with #1AAA Johnson taking on #1A MTS.  The teams will meet again at Johnson in late Feburary too.  MTS uses their 3-2 zone to keep Johnson at bay and they jump out to an 18-11 lead at the 11:25 mark on a Kyle Noreen 3.  42-39 MTS at the break.  Johnson getting baseline penetration against the zone though.  Rodney Owens with a 3 point play with 13:17 left and MTS leads 55-48 but Johnson quickly cuts the lead to 2 on a nice cut for an And 1 from Roosevelt Scott.  A Marcus Marshall 3 ties it at 58 with 8:30 left.  Then a  Estan Tyler 3 with 7:50 left for a 63-60 lead.  Then a Tyler tip in + 1 for a 68-64 lead.  Owens coast to coast to cut the lead to 2 but Johnson has the ball with the lead and they'll hold against the MTS zone so MTS extends it. Owens ties the game on a putback with 4:15 left, 68 all.  Marshall for 3, Tyler with a steal for 2 and a second straight Oh No, Great shot 3 by Marshall inside of 3 minutes finishes an 8-0 run.  76-68 Govs.  MTS has to extend and foul and Johnson adds on from there for a 93-77 win.    Estan Tyler 26 on my sheet (25 officially) to lead Johnson.  I had Marcus Marshall 1-7 from 3 before making the last 2 that put the game away.  14 of his 20 in the 2nd half, 3 triples.  Kyle Noreen a quiet 19 points guarded by Estan Tyler most of the night.  4 rebounds and 5 assists on my sheet.  Matt Lanier 13 of his 15 in the first half.  Rodney Owens with 25 for the Wolves (I had 27 on my sheet) and 7 rebounds. 

Championship: Hopkins vs Chicago Hyde Park (broadcast here)
Hyde Park with a nice screen and roll for 2 and a Marcellis Davis triple to take a 7-2 lead at the 15:25 mark.  Then its all Hopkins.  Joe Coleman with a drive for 2, a steal for a dunk, another turnover leads to him going glass and a reverse layup off a nice feed from Siyani Chambers.  That's all part of a 16-2 Hopkins run over the next 5 minutes.  Coleman with another layup then 1 assist to Nick Jorgensen and another pretty assist on a 3 on 1 break to Demetrius Martin.  Marvin Singleton with 1 layup and he grabs a rebound and goes coast to coast for another layup.  52-29 at the half, they get a hoop to clear the century mark for a 101-53 win.  Joe Coleman leads Hopkins with 31 points and 8 rebounds (sat last 10:17).  Only 1 outside shot so that's 3-11 in 3 games I've witnessed this season.  Siyani Chambers 8 points and 6 assists on my sheet.  5 total players in double figures for the Royals.  Kyle Davis 14 points to lead Hyde Park.  Leading scorer PG Treyshawn Jones was held scoreless.  Hyde Park too small for the Hopkins guards and they had no matchup for Coleman.

All-Tournament Team
Kyle Noreen - MTS
Estan Tyler - Johnson
Marcellis Davis - Hyde Park
Siyani Chambers, Marvin Singleton - Hopkins
MVP : Joe Coleman - Hopkins