Prologue
Its my 1st trip to Armstrong and a worthy one it is. #2AAAA Osseo comes to town with both teams 11-1 and tied (with Blaine) on top of the NW Suburban standings. I was too impatient to wait for the pork sandwich and that was a mistake as the pizza was a touch greasy for me. Interesting setup with the gym split in 2 not just for the freshman A and B games but also for the 2nd session of JV and Sophs (similar to what Osseo does). JV's get the short side away from the camera so the sophs get on video. Good college crowd with Concordia (St. Paul and Moorhead) and Valley City State in attendance. As to music, let's go with this for a bit of foreshadowing.
Song of the Day
The Four Season - Oh What A Night
Game Time
Armstrong with 3 3s in the 1st 3 minutes for an 11-5 lead. Terez Van Pelt with a 3 point play for his 5 point of the night. 11-10 Armstrong at the 13:33 mark. Then KJ Bluford with a pair of buckets to start a 10-0 Armstrong run. Then he has a sick crossover and goes glass. Then its Marquel Curtis. Bluford to him for a lob dunk, a steal for 2, a free throw and a turnover for 2 more on a strong move. 7 in a row from Curtis pushes the lead 30-14 at the 5:39 mark. He nails a 3 in the last minute. 35-21 Armstrong at halftime.
Armstrong starts strong in the 2nd half. Mike Willman with a layup and a 3 point play around a Bluford 3. Then Levi Abercrombie with a steal and he dunks at 15:43. 45-23 Armstrong and Osseo needs a timeout. And out of the timeout they respond thanks to Joey Sonnenfeld. He has a putback and the foul, a layup, then he misses a bunny that he puts back and a steal for a big jam. Then KJ Bluford with a charge for his 4th foul. Armstrong needs their 2nd time out of the run. 48-40 Armstrong with 9:31 left. Marquel Curtis carrying the Falcons as he goes backdoor for 2 FTs and drives and then a layup at 7:05, 54-44 Armstrong. Then Terez Van Pelt brings Osseo back with a 12-0 run. He scores a layup, then a forced shot gets him 2 free throws and then he nails back to back 3s vs a 3-2 zone. 56-54 Osseo with 2:43 left after a 33-9 run over 13 minutes. Curtis with a tip and the foul, Van Pelt to Ian Theisen for a layup and KJ Bluford a putback. 59-58 Armstrong with 1:22 left. Van Pelt misses and Osseo gets it back and takes a timeout with 45.8 left. Van Pelt drives with 25 seconds left no good, rebound no good, Theisen has a chance and leaves a rebound short. After those 3 chances to lead, Bluford grabs the miss and makes 2 FTs with 11.5 left. Out of a Armstrong timeout, Osseo finds soph Bridge Tusler on the left wing for 3, but he doesn't want the shot. Back to Van Pelt who throws it right back to Tusler in the left corner. As time runs out, Tusler throws up a contested fadeaway 3 and ITS GOOD! 61 all and we'll play overtime
The Osseo fans on their feet as we start the overtime. Theisen rejects Curtis twice on the opening possession. Scoring hard to come by in the OT. Bluford fouls out and Tusler misses both. Finally a drive to the hoop, rebound is loose and Osseo throws it in and it ends up in soph Konner Goettsche's hands for a layup with 1:30 left. 64-61 Armstrong. Osseo with a sloppy pass and they're on the sideline with no pressure for a turnover. But Abercrombie walks with 49.5 left to give the ball back as it looked like Osseo was trying to find the right guy to foul. Osseo goes pick and pop and Van Pelt finds Sonnenfeld from the same left corner with 33 seconds left. Willman gets a good look from Curtis who was doubled but its no good and we'll play a 2nd overtime.
66-65 Armstrong with 2:31 left when Curtis spins for a layup but its called a walk, very questionable. After an Osseo miss, Curtis misses a baseline fadeaway with 1:30 left. Van Pelt with 2 free throws and then Sonnenfeld with a steal for 1 free throw. The 2nd one is missed and Osseo grabs it and takes time. Absolute killer. 68-66 Osseo with the ball and exactly 1 minute left. Van Pelt makes a great acrobatic play on the inbounds in the backcourt just to save possession. After the teams trade points, Van Pelt makes 1 of 2 with 5.3 left. Curtis can't get a decent look to go and Osseo comes from 22 down with 15:43 to go to win 73-70 in double overtime. WOW!
Post Game
Take a deep breath, whew. Marquel Curtis leads Armstrong with 28 points and 10 rebounds on 9-18 shooting. KJ Bluford cooled off in the 2nd half but still finished with 17 points and a pair of triples. Levi Abercrombie 11 points. Armstrong falls to 11-2 and 4th in the NW Suburban (tiebreaker applied). They are at Coon Rapids on Friday.
For Osseo, they improve to 12-1 and have Centennial and Hopkins (Breakdown tipoff classic) coming up yet this week. Joey Sonnenfeld comes up huge with 17 of his 28 in the 2nd half and overtimes, all while having to guard Marquel Curtis too. While the rest of the roster was passive for a large chunk of the night, his intensity showed all game. Terez Van Pelt was quiet in the first half he was a monster with 10 points in the 12-0 run that gave Osseo the lead for the 1st time in the 2nd half. 16 of his 22 points in the 2nd half. While he was the catalyst, he would have been out of control last year, but wasn't in this one. Nice to see him developing into a nice prospect. Frosh Ian Thiesen split time in the middle with Will Johnson and had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks on my sheet. Would have liked to see Osseo take even more advantage of their inside play in this one.
Good summary on a great game. A couple of thoughts. Osseo travels pretty well and their crowd was fantastic. Armstrong's crowd was disappointing. Odd setup in the gym as you feel about 200 yards away from the floor. Which is probably better with fans and referees!
ReplyDeleteThe game. First time seeing Osseo and wasn't sure what to expect. I've seen a lot of Van Pelt over the years at PC. Really seeing a change in that young man's game. Much more of a floor leader, in control while still being athletic and bouncy. Sonnenfeld is COMPLETELY underrated in my opinion. Honestly, I'd heard very little about him this year. Really immpressed with his athleticism and skill. Great hustle and gets after it. Not sure how he's been so overlooked by everyone.
I was told Theisen has been struggling with knees since Dec but looked good. Runs the floor well, finishes etc. Agree with the thought their bigs need more looks.
Tussler with a huge shot to redeem what had been a mostly struggle of a game for him.
Curtis is just so good. What a leader and scorer. Curious as to what his recruiting is like. Any knowledge of it? Bluford and Abercrombie are nice shooters and Abercrombie with a throwdown! Impressed. Jump shooting teams can run hot and cold. I thought yesterday's game was a real example of that cliche.
Going into the game I was expecting an Armstrong win as I've heard from many that Osseo is a touch overrated. I don't think they can beat Hopkins but I'm not sure anyone can. Outside of that club though, they are right there with the rest.
Great display of high school basketball last night.
Well said Pimp. I think Sonnenfeld being a football kid makes his basketball under appreciated. Plus playing in obscurity with Magic Westside this summer didn't help. Ditto everything you said on Van Pelt. Don't know about Curtis and his recruiting status, but he's a tough matchup. He was fortunate not to get more than the 1 5 second call in that stretch in the 2nd half where he played a ton of point guard. 1st half jump shots went, 2nd half ones didn't and Armstrong got jump shot happy. Bluford can really fill it up in a hurry when he's hot.
ReplyDeleteBased on what I've seen of teams, that #2 ranking is worthy. Lakeville South deserves mention there as well (2 home losses by a total of 5 pts to Johnson and Hopkins). Those are the 2 most complete teams I've seen behind Hopkins this year. Tartan, Eastview and Eden Prairie would be in my next group.