Roseville survives Washburn

Prologue
Its depressing to walk down the street and not see the traffic because the snowbanks are too high and then get to the end of the block only to find that there's no way to cross the street except to mountain climb one of them.  Hate it when I forget my abseiling gear (that's rappelling for those of us using English).  But thanks to the snow, Roseville at Washburn is on tonight's light schedule.  Never a bad thing to visit there with one of the best hot dogs around (and best concessions in the Mpls City Conference) and a great mascot, though no one dressed up like the ticked off Miller tonight.  To the concession stand I go and I'm all over the hot dog but then a surprise sighting since I'm too old to stare at the coeds working.  Its A & W root beer so I'm definitely getting that too.  Grade A for the concessions tonight.  And while we're on the topic of good things at Washburn, how about some props to the student section for knowing a quality sing along song that we hear every so often at a game.  When the song is older than the students singing it and they know the words, gotta give that some love so we have

Song of the Day
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond

Game Time
A very fast pace early to this one.  A David Stanley with layups followed by a Lucas Brown 3 and tip for a 7-0 Roseville run.  18-10 Roseville at the 10:22 mark.  Washburn right back with Clarence Thomas for 3 and Cedric Chappell on the post.  Then Joseph Doby for 2 and a 3 point play inside after grabbing on offensive board on a free throw.  Chappell with a layup to finish a 14-2 Washburn run.  24-20 Millers at the 6:48 mark.  Mack Johnson then heats up for Roseville.  A triple, a layup, another triple and then a great choice to run the set play for him for 3 in a row.  34-31 Raiders back on top with 3:45 left in the half.  Lucas Brown stayed in with 2 fouls but with the lead, he'll sit the last 3:10.  No problem as Logan Brown with a pair of layups, including a sweet reverse in the last minute.  43-36 Roseville at the half.  They finished the first half on a 20-7 run over the last 6 minutes.

Washburn really didn't use much dribble drive motion in the first half but they come out with it in the second half.  A Dwight Anderson jumper cuts the lead to 43-38 43 seconds into the half.  Roseville then off on another run.  This time its an 10-1 run thanks to Emeche Wells.  He gets a steal and going out of bounds goes behind the back to Connor Harlander for the layup.  Steal 2 for 2 free throws and a 3rd steal for a breakaway dunk.  After a Washburn free throw, Lucas Brown catches in the right corner, great head fake and 1 bounce to the rim for a thunderous 2 handed flush!  55-41 Roseville leads with 13:30 left.  But on the next Roseville possession, Dwight Anderson with a steal and Brown makes a mental mistake by going for the block.  Its his 4th foul and he'll have to sit with 13:17 left.  Washburn scrambling on defense and Roseville can't buy a shot.  But 4 free throws and a pair of drives keep the lead at 63-53 with 9:50 remaining.  A Washburn steal for 2 with 7:53 left cuts the lead to 63-56.  Coach Critchley rolls the dice and brings Lucas Brown back in a bit of a surprise move.    He pays dividends right away for 2 and the foul (missed FT) followed by a Wells layup.  67-58 Roseville with 6:20 left.

Then Brown fouls out on a really touchy call at 6:13.  But a bad coaching move to leave him on Doby who was the primary post threat all night.  That results in 2 free throws.  Then a Washburn putback before the same lead official who got Brown throws the T at coach Critchley.  He would have been justified getting one earlier based on his opinion of the officiating.  That's 2 more free throws.  Then another Roseville turnover results in a Chappell layup.  Roseville fans about ready to riot as there's a bad out of bounds call.  Nothing going their way with the zebras.  8-0 Washburn runs cuts the Roseville lead to the minimum, 67-66 with with 5:20 left.  Thomas for 3, Chappell from Nick Anderson and then Anderson off a turnover for a layup.  74-71 Washburn with 3:40 left.  Mack Johnson misses a 3 at 2:15, 76-73 Washburn as they call timeout with the ball.  That looks like Roseville's best chance to get even.

Doby misses a bunny then controversy.  Russell Johnson to the basket, the layup is good and the foul at 1:49.  But wait, here comes our lead official, he corrals the official who made the call and they wave the basket off saying it was before the shot.  Unbelievable.  Both freebies are good and Washburn with a careless turnover on the other end at 1:34.  Mack Johnson misses another 3 but grabs the miss and is fouled.  He nails both to put Roseville back on top 77-76.  Doby with a putback at 1:05 as Washburn goes back to the high screen and roll that provided much success.  Russell Johnson stepping up big as he goes splash from the right corner for 3.  Thomas misses a triple and David Stanley with 2 free throws.  Dwight Anderson with a long bomb with 18 seconds left to cut the Roseville lead to 82-81.  Mack Johnson with 2 more free throws.  Dwight Anderson misses and Stanley seals it with 2 free throws with 3 seconds left.  86-81 Roseville wins.  Whew.  The last 10 minutes of officiating left much to be desired (especially if you were a Roseville fan) but thankfully the final result wasn't drastically affected.

Post Game
For Washburn, lefty post Joseph Doby leads the way with 19 points.  No answer for him inside.  When he worked the high pick and roll with Nick Anderson, it was dominant.  Anderson had 4 assists plus another 2 or 3 passes that could have or indirectly led to points in the first half.  Why they didn't stick with it in the second half I don't know.  With Thomas and Dwight Anderson as shooters on the wings, run that high screen with a roll and replace until somebody stops it.  Washburn missed 10 free throws in this one, including 7 in the first half.  Cedric Chappell active with 16 points.  Dwight Anderson with 17 including 8 of 12 at the charity stripe.  Washburn falls to 2-1.  They open Minneapolis City play at Southwest on Friday before heading to the Marshall holiday tournament at SW MN State.

For Roseville, Lucas Brown 16 points despite foul trouble.   Emeche Wells with 16 points on the other wing and it easily could have been 20 if not for some missed layups.  David Stanley 17 points leads the way.  Roseville 8 of 8 from the line in the last 1:49 was huge.  Their perimeter play with Stanley at the point, Mack Johnson shooting it and Lucas Brown and Emeche Wells slashing on the wings is high quality.  Post play really hurt them tonight.  Lucas Brown had to defend the top post scorer and that ended up getting him his 5th foul.  I like how Emeche Wells has developed into a slasher and defensive presence for this club.  The Raiders improve to 2-0 and open Suburban East play Friday against Forest Lake.  A trap game possibly as they travel to Johnson next Wednesday with Johnson still upset about losing to Roseville during the Breakdown fall league.