Still haven't found those baskets at Benilde

Prologue
Some long time readers may remember this post from February 7, 2009 where the offense for Benilde-St. Margaret's and DeLaSalle couldn't be found for over 7:30 of the start of the second half.  Well tonight is somewhat reminiscent of that as I make another trip to the Haben Center at BSM to see them take on Rosemount.  Outstanding prewrapped in tin foil hot dog and the highly underrated Mug Root Beer (I'll think I'll have a sip as I write this, ah).  Another Rene Pulley sighting tonight and Pump N Run in the building as well.  Minnetonka with much shorter scouting trip than Hill-Murray earlier in the week.  Cretin-Derham Hall looking at BSM for their matchup.  Prior Lake also in the building.  St. Mary's in the building scouting and Ryan James reported that NDSU was in the building.  Keep an eye out for college coaches this weekend and next week.  So with that intro, today's song is slightly more contemporary than recent selections.

Song of the Day
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2

Game Time
Andrew Nelson with a nice backcut 2 minutes into the game.  3-2 Benilde-St. Margaret's.  Then the Rosemount offense decides to head south before the upcoming weekend storm.  Rosemount free throws - clank.  Isaiah Zierden drives for 2.  Evan Battle with a jumper.  Rosemount - clank.  Will Dunn with a nice spin and fade for 2.  Sanjay Lumpkin for 3 and then he converts a turnover for a layup.  Rosemount gets a wide open layup against the 1-3-1 trap but travels.  Danon Briggs for 3 and Dunn with a jumper.  Rosemount then gets called for a charge.  2 timeouts and 9:30 later Charlie Broback drains a 3 to break a 23-0 BSM run.  Rosemount missed 15 to 20 straight shots and went 0-4 from the line during the spurt.  2 more missed freebies by Rosemount with Dunn and Kyle Washington scoring on the post.  Then a Rosemount shot off the top and side of the backboard.  32-5 BSM with 4:15 left in the first half.  Rosemount star Matt Nelson finally gets on the board with a putback at the 3:10 mark.  39-8 before a 9-0 Rosemount run in the last 2 minutes tightens things up a bit.  Rosemount's David Morgan then beats the halftime buzzer for 3.  42-20 Red Knights at the break.

In a what else can happen tonight moment, Matt Nelson misses a clean dunk with 10:30 left.  54-26 Benilde with 10:22 left after a pair of Evan Battle freebies.  BSM gets a bunch of guys playing time and Kyle Washington has a couple of nice dunks.  But Rosemount doesn't let themselves get totally blown out.  They keep it respectable by winning the last 10 minutes.  Benilde-St. Margaret's wins 66-51 but it wasn't that close.

Post Game
For Rosemount, coach Schnettler could only shake his head at nothing going in as the Irish had plenty of good looks during the early run that got the game out of hand.  Charlie Broback leads the way with 11 points.  Junior star Matt Nelson finishes with 10 points and 8 rebounds but shoots 4-17 from the floor on my sheet (box has 8 points so possibly 3-16).  While there were shots that just didn't go in, they were bothered by the length of BSM inside.  Freshman Garrett Goetz got to see some minutes tonight.  To think that there are 3 freshman point guards who can say they saw varsity minutes this season in what may be the toughest conference out there, the South Suburban.

For Benilde-St. Margaret's, Kyle Washington with a very good night of 16 points.  Will Dunn stepped up with 9 of his 13 points in the first half slashing to the rim.  That was enough to overcome an off night from Isaiah Zierden who had 6 points on 2-8 shooting.  While they played a ton of guys and weren't looking to show anybody up, you'd like to see BSM really put this one away as a couple of Rosemount makes could have forced the starters to come back late.  A very complete team with quality guard play, a major factor inside and a group of wings who can play big at anytime.  Since Benilde is so loaded you may not see much of him until 2 years from now, but I liked Grant Kellogg in the JV game.