2011 6AAAA Semifinals

Prologue
To Osseo for a night of 6AAAA semifinals.  Always love the Dominos Pizza and Pepsi.  Plenty of coaches in attendance.  UMKC in to watch Marquel Curtis and Butler head coach Brad Stevens reportedly in to watch Siyani Chambers.  MN-Moorhead, SW MN State, Central Lakes, Itasca and Augsburg on the list of other colleges attending.  The Mr Basketball guys front and center for Joe Coleman.  I also get a Rene Pulley sighting (long time no see) and the MN Heat watching as well.  A media horde also showing up with Michael Much, Chris Monter and John Sherman in the building.  Al Sharpton working the opening game to boot.  The Wayzata pep band on hand for the late game.  They give us today's song

Song of the Day
Bob Seger - Old Time Rock and Roll

Game 1: Hopkins vs St. Louis Park
Hopkins won the first matchup 102-57 and left very little doubt about this one.  Joe Coleman with a reverse layin and a putback.  Siyani Chambers for 3 and Hopkins has the 1st 7.  Marvin Singleton back to back layups and a Nick Jorgensen layup.  17-3 Hopkins just over 5 minutes into the game.  Jorgensen another layup, Singleton on the post again and Coleman with a 3 point play.  26-8 Hopkins at the 8:55 mark for a St. Louis Park timeout.  Then a major pullaway late in the half.  Demetrius Martin starts the run with a 3.  Then Chambers with a nice cut to break pressure in the backcourt and he finds Coleman for a dunk.  Zach Stahl coast to coast, a turnover for a Martin layup and the lead is 47-17.  Hopkins moves on with a 81-44 win.  Zach Stahl an impressive night with 23 points and crashing the class.  Joe Coleman standard work with 22 and 8.  Marvin Singleton 12.  Kashif Hayes showing he has big upside with 15 points.  Aaron Ziman 10.  Marquealis Edwards held to 7.  St. Louis Park has some major losses (Ziman, Edwards, Joe Zangel) but with Hayes, Garrison Gillard and DJ Pollard coming back, there's a nice nucleus there.  The Orioles finish their season 18-10.  Hopkins is 27-1.  Who will they face?

Game 2: Wayzata vs Armstrong
A battle of Wayzata's size vs Armstrong's quality guard play.  Chris Burt's layup at 13:15 puts Wayzata up 9-5.  Armstrong counters with a 14-4 spurt thanks to Marquel Curtis converting a pair of Trojans turnovers and dunking a miss. 19-13 Falcons at the 7:46 mark.  Eric Robertson 4-17 in a cold first half but his bucket at 6:30 cuts the Armstrong lead to 21-18.  Curtis in the post for 2 free throws.  Then he steals a pass and he'll get the ball back on a lob for a layup, then a tip in at 5:05.  27-20 Armstrong.  9-2 Wayzata the rest of the way.  Robertson for 3, Burt inside for 3 of 4 FTs and a Tanner Helgren 3 at the halftime buzzer ties the game at 29.

Wayzata looks to pull away as Helgren with a steal for a layup and then a scoop for a 3 point play.  50-42 Trojans with 11:45 left.  Michael Willman with the play of the night.  He gets a long outlet from Curtis spins and throws up the reverse layup and the prayer is answered for a 3 point play.  KJ Bluford adds 2 to cut the lead to 51-47 Wayzata with 9:46 left.  Robertson to the rack for his 1st FG in 13 minutes, Armstrong can't putback 2 misses and Burt responds with a putback for a 3 point play on the other end and the lead is up to 9.  Curtis with a pair of buckets to keep Armstrong within 7.  Robertson diagonal skip to Helgren for 3 from the left corner.  Curtis counters that with his own putback for a 3 point play.  61-54 Wayzata with 5:52 left.  But Curtis won't score again and Wayzata pulls away.  Burt with 2 free throw, Zach Robertson with a layup, Helgren converts a turnover into a layup and adds 2 free throws, Zach Robertson again at the 2:25 mark.  Bluford breaks the 10-0 run with 2:05 left but its too late.  Wayzata wins 75-60.

Armstrong finishes their season 18-10 but went 4-8 in February and March.  Marquel Curtis with 26 and 10 for the Falcons.  KJ Bluford 18 points.  Most of the roster graduates including the guard trio of Curtis, Bluford and Levi Abercrombie.  Wayzata is now 21-7 and will play Hopkins in the section final on Tuesday night in Osseo.  Hopkins won the 2 regular season meetings by 17 and 30 points.  Star forward Eric Robertson under the weather, he shot 5-22 and finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds.  Credit Wayzata's roster for stepping up around him.  Chris Burt with 21 points inside and if he could have had 30 had the Trojans looked for him down low.  Tanner Helgren 3 triples and he comes up with 20 big points.  Zach Robertson 15 points and he was productive on the glass as well.  Only 1 basket off the bench combined for these teams tonight (a garbage time postup by Jaevon Walton).