Bears take control of Tri-Metro

Prologue
Its a another trip to Blake and that must mean its cold.  But these Bears aren't hibernating and their opponent (St. Anthony Huskies) has a bark to match their bite.  Blake has upgraded the food which deserves great applause, but I pick the 1 night where the hard working parents don't have Walking Tacos.  Bad luck by me.  Its a matchup of Tri-Metro division leaders so it deserves a hit song.  Here's today's selection.

Song of the Day
Foreigner - Cold as Ice

Game Time
Last year Anthony Brama went off for 39 to lead the Huskies to a 70-69 win.  Brama's luck this year was sour as he picks up 2 fouls in the 1st 1:28 and has to sit.  Blake uses that to score the 1st 7 of the game.  St. Anthony would get a running half hook from Chance Blackey for their 1st field goal of the night but they were hard to come by.  Blake would take control from there.  Kebu Johnson to Alex Smith for a layup, then a Johnson steal for a 3 point play.  Paul Blake with a putback after a turnover.  St. Anthony turns it over for a 3rd consecutive time for 0 points but misses an open layup going back.  17-6 Blake at the 7:30 mark.  Brama back in the game to try to ignite the Huskies offense but to no avail.  Soph PG John Veil with his 2nd 3 of the night and the extra pass to Johnson for 3.  He sandwiches that 3 with a pair of drives. Then he swats Brama on one end and Veil buries a 3 on the other.  Johnson takes another turnover for 2 more and the rout is on.  38-10 Blake at the half.  St. Anthony with 4 FTs and 3 FGs in the half.  Unofficially the Huskies were 3-27 from the floor.  Johnson keeps it going posting right off the 2nd half inbounds.  Then a steal that he takes home for a dunk and a runout for a reverse layup.  Add 2 more bunnies and its really out of hand at 50-12 with 14:17 to go.  60-23 with 9:07 left when I call it an evening.  St. Anthony with 9 FTs and 7 FGs at that point.  Blake goes on to win 69-38.

Post Game
For St. Anthony, Anthony Brama leads with 11 points.  Nobody else more than 6.  It was fun to see St. Anthony go to the Buzz Defense. a 2-3 passing lane zone.  Coach Bratland is a hard nosed man to man kind of guy so it was interesting to see that.  They did get some traps out of it but on this night nothing worked.  St. Anthony falls to 10-2 (only other loss 54-52 at NSP) and 6-1 in the Tri-Metro.  They remain 1 game ahead of Concordia in the East division.  They visit Mahtomedi on Saturday.  Brama vs Zach Lindquist head to head will be fun.  Both teams like to pound the ball low.  Mahtomedi using their triangle type set and St. Anthony with their Kansas high low system.

For Blake, who would have seen this coming.  Their size inside was absolutely dominant with Kebu Johnson, Connor Kline and Paul Blake sending everything away and making life miserable.  Kebu Johnson finishes with 20 points and stuffing the stat sheet going for the Andrei Kirilenko 5x5.  I had at least 6 rebounds, 5 steals, and 4 blocks for him on my sheet.  John Veil adds 3 3s in the 1st half and finishes with 13 points and 7 assists.  Paul Blake with 12.  The Bears now have won 3 in a row since back to back losses to Chaska and Edina.  They're now 11-2 and 8-0 in the Tri-Metro, 1.5 games ahead of DeLaSalle in the West.  7 of the next 8 games for the Bears are on the road and only 3 home games vs 10 road games remain in the regular season.