Red Knights don't let down

Prologue
As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of seeing a team back to back or a ton of times in short succession.  However, karma interferes by deciding to make one of its every so often appearances.  That means that instead of Eastview at Spring Lake Park (which was a 20 point game), I end up seeing the boys girls doubledip of Minnetonka at Benilde-St. Margaret's.  Minnetonka girls take a 7 point 2nd half lead after Mrs Dasovich chews out an official and gets a call on the other end (well done).  But they can't finish it and Benilde comes away with a hard fought home win.  Would that be an omen for the boys game?  St. Thomas, River Falls (both talked to Isaiah Gray after the game), Sioux Falls and St. Olaf in the building for the game.  As to music, I've been remiss in selecting songs of the day lately so we'll give you a flurry of them tonight.  That includes a repeat of last year's BSM at Minnetonka song selection.

Song(s) of the day or week
I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - traditional (for the Dasovich clan)
Shine (aka Heaven let your light shine down) - Collective Soul (for Saturday's game at Concordia)
Toad - Cream (Ginger Baker with one of the great drum solos of all time in tribute to the MTS drum line).

Game Time
Minnetonka starts out in some kind of funky junk defense.  I know coach Dasovich won't let me hear the end of it but I never did figure out what it was for sure (I'm saying triangle and 2 or stick and 3).  Benilde carves it up to the tune of a 9-2 lead.  Will Dunn with a jumper and then out of a momentum killer timeout Isaiah Zierden finds him for a layup.  19-6 BSM in control.  Then Latrell Love starts to get some touches.  A 3 point play on the offensive glass.  Then Riley Dearring with a block of Zierden that leads to 2 from Danny Burger.  Love with a jumper and a finish on a nice screen and roll with Tommy McDermott.  Still 25-15 BSM at the 6:20 mark as Sanjay Lumpkin would score a couple of inside buckets in that stretch.  Riley Dearring gets a matchup with Isaiah Gray on the post and scores.  McDermott for 3 trailing the break and steps right into it (one of the prettier shots in basketball).  A turnover for a Love layup and another Dearring bucket.  McDermott with a pullup and drive for a lefty finish to put Tonka up 28-27.  That's a 13-2 run over 5:30.  But Zierden would make a late NBA 3 for a 30-28 BSM lead at the half.

Love with an early post bucket and 2 free throws.  McDermott with another drive and a Love putback.  42-39 Tonka ahead with 11 minutes to play.  Then Breion Creer comes off the BSM bench to guard Love.  He pays dividends on offense too converting a 3 point play on a nice wrap around pass from Sanjay Lumpkin.  Dunn with a drive and a Lumpkin putback in a 7-0 run that has Tonka reeling.  Then Isaiah Gray with 1 bucket and after Lumpkin gets 2 straight helpside blocks on Love, Gray goes to the reverse at the other end to spark the crowd.  50-44 BSM with 8:48 left, the run is 11-2 in just over 2 minutes and Minnetonka takes a much needed timeout. 

Creer with a putback at 6:20 and a pair of Zierden free throws.  58-50 BSM with 5:52 to go and Creer comes out to a well-deserved ovation from the crowd.  Lumpkin with a putback, Dunn with a short jumper and then offensive board for a 3 point play.  65-54 BSM with 3:41 to play.  Minnetonka not quite done.  McDermott pulls up for 3.  Then Malcolm Moore with back to back layups on turnovers including nice hustle and pass from McDermott.  65-61 BSM only by 4 with 2:15 left.  Gray scores but Dearring drains a 3 off an offensive rebound kickout (those always seem to go in don't they?)  Gray misses a front end of the 1 and 1 but McDermott's scoop at the other end is no good.  After Gray comes back with 1 free throw, McDermott has a great look at a 3 spin around and out.  Love grabs the miss and makes 2 freebies with 15 seconds left.  Zierden doubled on the inbounds after a timeout so Lumpkin makes the catch and 2 free throws.  70-66 BSM with 14 ticks remaining.  Malcolmn Moore with a tip at the 5 second mark, Zierden makes 1 of 2 with 3 seconds left.  McDermott takes the rebound to halfcourt and his 3 is off the back iron and no good.  #1AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's hangs on 71-68 over #9AAAA Minnetonka.

Post Game
For Minnetonka, Latrell Love leads the way with 20 points and 7 rebounds.  Tommy McDermott 18 points, Riley Dearring with 15.  I don't see enough junk defense so I liked what Tonka came out in.  That said, I thought we'd see far more of their post sets, especially in the first half.  They had favorable matchups with Dearring and Love in the post.  I thought they could have exploited those matchups more.  All of that knowing that size is the achilles heel for BSM (see Eastview game which I know the Tonka staff had to see some of).  I thought that allowed BSM to save Lumpkin as they kept him off of Love.  On the other end, Minnetonka won't be happy with the rebounding numbers as they should have dominated the backboards with their size and didn't.  Skippers suffer their first loss of the season to fall to 6-1.  They play next at the Best Buy Holiday Classic next week.

For Benilde-St. Margaret's, 4 of their 5 scorers end up in double figures.  Sanjay Lumpkin and Isaiah Gray both with 18. Gray continues to play extremely well for the Red Knights.  He was a matchup that was advantageous on the offensive end.  Will Dunn 16 points and 9 boards.  Isaiah Zierden held to 12 points as Tonka did a nice job on him.  They weren't as physical with him as Eastview was but then again who will be?  But my MVP of the game goes to Breion Creer and his 7 points.  Latrell Love goes the last 11 minutes without a field goal and Creer's bulk and toughness was the main reason why.  It took a while for coach John Moore to hit on that matchup but once he did he stuck with it.  The Red Knights improve to 4-1.  They host section rival (and also undefeated) Holy Angels on Thursday.  Then they're in the loaded Eden Prairie holiday tournament.