Rebels cage the Cougars

Prologue
A last minute change in my schedule takes me to Centennial for their NW Suburban showdown with Champlin Park.  Its my first ever trip so I end up in the ice arena before the game.  Did that at North St. Paul too many moons ago.  Getting to a new building is easy, finding the right entrance, now that's another story.  No hot dogs at all at the tiny concession stand but thankfully cheese pizza (though mediocre).  The Mr Basketball committee was represented tonight and no surprise where they were sitting (see this for an explanation).  Its a special night too as friend of blog and sometime commenter 80's Music Rulez was able to join me for this one.  So with that in mind, I thought it was only appropriate to allow him to pick our song of the day, but it had to be from the 80s (of course).  So based on the results of this game and putting up with me for the evening, he made an outstanding choice.
 
Song of the Day
What have I done to deserve this? - Pet Shop Boys

Game Time
Centennial opens the game getting the 3 cuts to the basket for scores out of the 5 out look.  6-5 Cougars at the 15:20 mark.  Then it falls apart.  A turnover for a layup, Anthony Hill with a drive and a floater, TJ Okafor on the offensive glass for 2 and then a dive to the rim for score and the foul.  That 3 point play concludes a 16-0 Champlin Park run over 5:27.  21-6 Rebels at the 9:53 mark.  McDaniel Doe off the Rebels bench with a drive and a nice dive vs the 2-3 zone in picture perfect short corner execution for a layup.  27-8 (22-2 run) at the 6:45 mark.  The backdoor cuts have gone away.  36-17 Champlin Park at the break.  2nd half isn't any better for Centennial.  49-28 with 7:23 left and that's all we can handle. 

Post Game
I had TJ Okafor for a double-double of 13 points, 11 boards and 3-5 blocks (hard to see from the crow's nest) at that point.  Okafor with very few post touches vs the 2-3 or 1-3-1 zones Centennial played.  Anthony Hill 11 of his 16 in the first half.  Mitchell Kuck scoring for Centennial (11 on my sheet) but not getting any help as the Cougars couldn't generate any offense.  Centennial falls to 2-7, 1-5 in the conference.  The next 2 weeks are brutal with 5 tough road games (Maple Grove, Roseville, Irondale, Osseo and a makeup with Spring Lake Park) and Armstrong at home.  Champlin Park stays 1/2 game behind the mess on top of the league at 4-1, 7-1 overall.  They have a big home game with Osseo on Tuesday and just knocked off Armstrong earlier in the week.  So much for my preseason prediction, looks like they'll easily surpass that.