36 Bolts of Lightning for Eagan

Prologue
Its off to Eastview to see the #5AAAA Lightning take on #4AAAA Eagan in the South Suburban opener for both teams.  Some history here in a couple of ways.  The important one is that its Joey King's 1st game against Eagan since leaving there as a freshman.  The last game he sat out last season was the 2nd league game against them.  On a lighter note, I actually passed on the pizza and subway for a hot dog.  Free chips in the deal is always helpful.  Usually I'm hoping for anything but a hot dog.  A rare appearance by the swarm known as the Eastview Pep Band.  I haven't seen a pep band that big since Lake City's band took up the entire baseline at Holy Angels during section play many moons ago.  Since we have a pep band tonight, that means the song of the day comes from their set list.

Song of the Day
Carry On My Wayward Son - Kansas

JV Game Time
A wild ending to the JV game.  Eastview down 3 with the ball.  Player gets hammered, extremely late whistle while the rebound is bouncing around and the kid will get 3 shots with 1.5 seconds left.  First 2 are good and Eagan takes timeout.  No matter as the 3rd is good to tie the game.  But off the make Eagan takes it right out of bounds and throws the touchdown pass to a streaking player at the opposite foul line for the easy layup to beat the buzzer for a 48-46 win.

Varsity Game Time
No Matt Hentges for Eagan as he's sitting out after suffering a concussion last week in Winona.  Ryan Patterson with a 3 point play and a Ben Sicoli free throw give Eagan 4 in a row to tie the game at 4 at the 15:11 mark.  Then Eagan can't buy a bucket and Joey King goes off.  King with back to back 3s.  Ben Oberfeld on the offensive glass for 2, Frank Veldman to the basket for 2.  Timeout Eagan down 10 and its doesn't help.  King with back to back hoops for another Eagan timeout, a putback and 2 on the post.  Veldman with a sweet drive and dish to Oberfeld for a layup.  Then a turnover results in King out on the break and he delivers a huge 2 handed facial and the foul.  He misses the free throw and Veldman puts it back.  31-6 Eastview leads at the 5:55 mark.  Its a 27-2 run over 9:16.  Eagan stays even the rest of the half for a 37-12 halftime margin.    King with 22 in the half on 10-14 shooting.  Eagan's scoring combo of Ben Sicoli and Jameson Parsons 0-11 in the half for 3 points (all 3 FTs by Sicoli).

King isn't done though.  He's left alone for a layup at the 17 minute mark.  Parsons finally gets on the board at the 16:40 mark with a drive for 2.  Darin Haugh for 3 and another Parsons drive gets him no call except a frustration technical.  King makes the 2 freebies and then nails back to back triples from the left wing for 8 in a row.  Timeout Eagan.  52-18 Eastview at the 13:22 mark and this one is totally over.  Eastview wins 71-45.

Post Game
For Eagan, Jameson Parsons missed his 1st 8 shots on my sheet.  He finishes with 7 points on 3 of 14 shooting.  Ben Sicoli 1-6 for 5 points.  Shea Mandli's 4 field goals leads the team.  Too many jump shots and they couldn't get Parsons going.  Hentges and his physical play would have been a major help.  But there were probably a half dozen shots that went in and out too.  Just one of those nights.

For Eastview, Joey King with the extra motivation drops 36 with 4 3s on 14-19 shooting with 4-6 at the line.  Post play, 3s, fake and pull up or right to the rim, no answer for him in this one.  Ben Oberfeld with another double double as he finishes with 10 points and 11 rebounds on my sheet.  He averaged 14 and 10 at the Hastings tournament last week and tied the Eastview individual rebounding record with 15 boards against Duluth East in the season opener.   Frank Veldman with a very good night on the defensive end giving Parsons almost no good looks.  Eastview chose to leave him on an island and stay close to Parsons most of the night.