A Presidential Christmas

Prologue
A long day as I venture from one side of the metro to the other for 3 games.  The day starts with a presidential battle of Roosevelt at Harding.  And despite the expected quality of the game (or lack of), there was no Teapot Dome scandal to get me in the building. But maybe the JV assistant coach on the phone at the start of the JV game was calling off the unknown bribe.  The game turned out to be more competitive than anticipated.  Then to other side of the kingdom for the BSM/Minnetonka doubleheader.  I did the color for the boys game (watch it here) but I'll still have some thoughts below.  No concessions today besides a 20 oz Powerade as I needed some McDonalds between games.  As to songs, I missed out yesterday so for you the loyal reader, I'm in the Christmas spirit.  We'll make up for lost time with 2 songs.  The first is the most obviously pick of the year so far.  The second is in the Christmas spirit with the time of year and the BSM candy cane warmups.  Add in coach Dasovich's young daughter running around and that gives a mandatory Christmas song.

Songs of the Day
Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus.

Roosevelt at Harding
No size and besides Calvin Jenkins of Roosevelt, really not much talent either.  Though I do like Brandon Strickland for Roosevelt next season.  12-8 Roosevelt at the 11:50 mark before a 11-0 run pushes the lead to 15 just 3 minutes later.  Junior guard David McClain finishes the half strong for Harding with a 3 point play and 3 of 4 free throws to keep it close.  32-23 Roosevelt at half.  Calvin Jenkins 14 points for Roosevelt.  Todd Van 7 points but 3 fouls for Harding

Harding with 8 in a row early in the second half to cut the lead to 36-31 with 13:45 left.  Jenkins nails back to back triples and the lead is right back to 11.  His drive with 9:10 left gives Roosevelt a 44-36 lead.   Van cuts the lead to 4 with a drive but sits with his 4th foul at the 6:54 mark.  46-42 Roosevelt with 6:40 left.  They take timeout and take the air out of the ball with a 5 out look that they hadn't showed all day.  Abdullahi Omar with a nice backcut of the elbow screen for a layup at the 4 minute mark.  A pair of Roosevelt turnovers gives Harding life.  They score on the first but McClain misses 2 freebies on the second with 1:36 left and Harding down 4.  Roosevelt goes 4-4 from the line the rest of the way and a buzzer beater 3 for Harding is meaningless.  Roosevelt wins 52-49. 

Calvin Jenkins 24 points to lead the Teddies to the win.  Todd Van with 17 to lead Harding despite missing 10 minutes due to foul trouble.  Most interesting thing was to see Roosevelt run the DeLaSalle secondary break.  The connection there is Teddies assistant Mike Walker coaching the Pulley 16s with DLS Assistant Todd Anderson.  The concept is the same but seeing a different talent level run it gives a different spin.

Benilde-St. Margaret's at Minnetonka
Andrew Turnblad has developed into a useful post for the Skippers (15 points tonight).  His stepback jumper cuts a BSM lead to 13-11 at the 11:45 mark.  Then size becomes an issue for the Skippers with Evan Battle and Kyle Washington both in the game.  Battle takes advantage with 2 post scores and a free throw.  In that spurt add on a Kyle Washington putback.  22-12 BSM at the 8:34 mark.  Minnetonka can't get a shot to go in or get one off because there's a handchecking call seemingly every 5 seconds.  Tonka in the double bonus at the 7 minute mark.  Very tightly called game.  The free throws allow Minnetonka to hang around.  Tonka soph Malcolm Moore in the middle of this paragraph with a pair of free throws for a 25-18 BSM lead.  Then Isaiah Zierden for 3, Myles Barnes with 2 free throws and then a steal and he is intentionally fouled for 2 more freebies.  BSM can't convert on the possession but Isaiah Gray steals on the Tonka possession and goes for a layup.  34-18 BSM at the 5 minute mark after a 9-0 run and Tonka needs time.  45-30 at the break. 

Second half isn't any better.  Barnes with a pair of 3 point plays to push the lead to 22 at the 12:16 mark, 60-38.  Those sandwiched a Nick Latzke postup on Gray and missed layup that was the picture of his night.  Then Washington with a huge block and Zierden nails the pullup 3.  This one isn't in doubt.  BSM wins 83-59.  Nick Latzke with only 2 points as he never got going.  1-9 FG, 0-6 FTs including 2 missed front ends.  Andy Jones stepped up with 12 of his 15 in the first half.  Tommy McDermott 13 points.  Keep an eye on 8th grade lefty guard Andrew Grosz (saw blowout varsity minutes tonight) and frosh post Grant Steele for the Skippers in years to come.   Isaiah Zierden leads BSM with 23 points, 4 triples.  Very economic in his shooting at 5-9 and 9-9 FTs.  All the other perimeter players had off nights.  BSM was way too strong inside.  Kyle Washington 11 points, 7 rebounds, 8 blocks (I'm counting a bogus goaltending call as a block) on my sheet.  Myles Barnes 12 points, Evan Battle with 9 points .  53 total fouls in the game.  I had BSM with 34 made FTs.to 16 for Minnetonka.