2011 East Metro Showcase Day 1

Prologue
To Johnson for the annual East Metro Showcase.  Today is day 1 beginning with a 61-56 St. John's Military Academy (Delafield, WI) victory over #1A Minnesota Transitions.  I then show up for a quality hot dog and Pepsi which is never a bad thing.  South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Kirkwood and NDSCS in the building watching action tonight.  We also get WCCO TV for the entire night as Frank Vascellaro is in the building live but no Amelia Santaniello, what's up with that?  As to song of the day, let's honor this disgusting weather with a classic.

Song of the Day
Foreigner - Cold as Ice

Game 1: #1AAAA Hopkins vs #2 D1 Milwaukee Riverside
Its a showdown of high ranked teams in the middle game of the day as 11-1 Milwaukee Riverside comes in ranked #2 in Wisconsin.  They knocked off previous #1 Milwaukee King last week  King then beat Johnson by 15 the following day.  Riverside star Trinson White just picked up an offer from Cal Poly this week.  Hopkins off to a quick 7-0 lead as Riverside can't take care of the ball.  After a Zach Stahl steal and dunk, Riverside comes back with a 9-0 run ended by a White putback to cut the Hopkins lead to 22-20 at the 7:30 mark.  Hopkins then goes on a 20-6 run over the next 6 minutes.  Nick Jorgenson with a pair of left corner 3s against a 1-3-1 and it finishes with a Marvin Singleton 3.  Riverside cuts the margin to 42-31 at half.  Very ugly half for both teams.  Then its a 13-2 Hopkins run run to start the 2nd half with 7 points from Siyani Chambers.  The lead is 55-33 with 14:55 left, it gets to 30 but we don't get running time.  Hopkins goes on to a easy 92-68 win.  Joe Coleman finishes with 29 points and 6 rebounds.  12-17 shooting but only 1-2 on real jump shots.  That's 4-13 on the year in real shooting in the games I've attended.  Siyani Chambers all 12 of his points in the 2nd half.  Nick Jorgenson 15 points with 3 3s.  Trinson White 20 points for Riverside.

Game 2: #2AAA Johnson vs Superior, WI
This game is very interesting one as you have a battle of D1 point guards who both saw time for MN PNR this summer.  Joel Lindberg from Superior will attend NDSU next season.  Then you have Estan Tyler on the other side who will attend Missouri-Kansas City.  Rumor has it NDSU had their choice of the 2.  Johnson gets out to a 6-0 lead to force a Superior timeout and then Superior will go 3-2 zone the rest of the way.  Tyler with a hand in the 1st 11 points of the game for Johnson with a pair of sweet assists for layups, a putback, a 3 and a steal for 2 free throws.  11-2 Johnson at the 15:46 mark.  Johnson doubling Lindberg on inbounds plays and running 2 guys at him all over the floor.  Rob Kraft hot all night.  His first 2 triples help bring Superior within 21-20 at the 8:50 mark.  Marcus Marshall to Tyler for 3 and then reverse roles for another 3.  Then Lindberg picks up foul #2 at the 7:15 mark on a charge and sits.  Superior is within 30-25 at the 5:59 mark and Lindberg comes back in, slightly surprising.  His bank shot cuts the lead to 3 before the dice come up snake eyes at 4:27.  30-27 Johnson leads.  Marcus Marshall gets 3 bounces and the shooters role for 3 right after that.  Tyler ends the 12-4 spurt with a 3 point play to push the lead to 11.  But Johnson is sloppy in the last 45 seconds of the half.  42-36 Johnson at the break.  Can't be too displeased with that if you're Superior.

14-5 Johnson goes off in the 1st 7:10 of the half.  It ends with a Waylon Johnson putback at 10:50, 56-41 Johnson.  Superior claws their way back.  Dustin Hobson with a layup and Lindberg with his only points of the 2nd half on 2 free throws at the 6:36 mark.  Timeout Johnson up 60-53.  Then a set play finds Kraft for 3 in the corner, Tyler misses a layup and the same set play for Kraft and he's fouled shooting the 3.  All 3 free throws are good at the 5:27 mark.  2 missed free throws on the other end but Lindberg misses a good look at a 3 to tie.  Tyler finds Roosevelt Scott for a layup with 4:25 left to push the lead to 64-59 and it seems Johnson has weathered the storm. 

Maybe not!  Josh Kimmes with a layup and then a no look pass from Lindberg for another.  Johnson turns it over and its Kraft with his 6th triple of the night.  The 7-0 runs gives Superior their only lead of the night 66-64 with 2:50 left.  Tyler drives at 2:18 to tie the game and then a pair of free throws with 1:16 left for a 68-66 lead.  Kraft has an OK look at a 3 but its quick and no good.  Tyler is fouled but misses the front end.  Trey Coffman snares the rebound for Johnson and they get a timeout to save possession with 38 seconds left.  Johnson still holds and takes 2 more times-out (I hate proper english) as Superior won't foul.  Finally, Scott is fouled with 17 seconds left and misses the front end.  Kimmes misses a bunny inside that would have tied it.  Marcus Marshall makes 2 free throws with 3 seconds left to seal the 70-66 Johnson win.   Estan Tyler absolutely outstanding in another big game.  He has 19 of his 30 in the 1st half.  I had him for 5 rebounds and 5 assists as well.  He had numerous other quality passes as well.  Marcus Marshall 20 points with 4 3s vs the zone.  Those were mainly on skip passes.  Roosevelt Scott 10 points in an off night for him as he easily could have had 20 points with the good looks he had at the rim.  Joel Lindberg held to 6 points on 2-9 shooting.  Rob Kraft 6 3s and 4 free throws for 22 points to lead the Spartans.  With DeLaSalle winning easily over Superior at UW-Superior 2 weeks ago and this home struggle for Johnson against the Spartans, I can see this win solidifying the #1 spot in the AAA poll for DLS.  That assumes of course that both teams win out, which isn't a given.