Stars outshine Redhawks

Prologue
Off to Holy Angels for my 1st look at the Stars this year.  They've gotten off to a very good start taking BSM to the wire just before the holiday break.  A C+ hot dog on the menu and the rare find of A&W Root Beer.  JV/B game is a total blowout. Ho hum crowd trying to get back in the swing of things. Since we're all fat and happy from the holiday season (and of course I qualify), let's go with this retro tune for today's

Song of the Day
Poison - Unskinny Bop


Game Time
A quality guard matchup as Jordan Dembley gets the assignment on Minnehaha's Gerald McCarver.  Sam Keis with a layup and 3 ball for Holy Angels. McCarver counters that with a bucket and free throw.  12-11 Minnehaha at the 12:48 mark.  Holy Angels opens it up thanks to Danny Sullivan.  He finds soph center Charlie Koontz for a layup, then buries a 3 in transition and converts a layup.  25-16 Stars at the 6:40 mark.  Minnehaha claws back with a pair of McCarver buckets to get the lead down to 1.  31-28 Holy Angels at half.  Center Kaharri Carter 9 trips to line in the half on the way to 12 points to lead all scorers.

Dembley for 3 and then a sweet behind the back pass that gets bobbled into no points.  Then Sullivan with a layup on a bullet pass from Parker Bredow.  36-30 Stars at the 15:40 mark.  Sullivan with another basket, Dembley with his 2nd 3 of the half and another Sullivan 3 to push the lead to 49-37 at the 12:20 mark.  McCarver keeps the Redhawks fairly close.  A drive for a pair of freebies and an assist for a layup cut the lead to 9 outside of 7 to play.  Dembley continuing a strong half with 2 free throws and a drive.  But Jesse Johnson buries a 3 inside of 6 to play.  59-51 AHA with the lead before they put it away.  Dembley to the basket for 2, Sullivan tips in a missed free throw and converts a turnover into a dunk.  Then Dembley to center John Banovitz for back to back layups.  69-52 Stars with 3:45 left after a 10-1 run in 2:10.  Dembley adds a 3 point play and a pretty 3 pass sequence vs pressure nets Keis a 3 point play as well.  1:55 left and the benches empty.  Holy Angels wins 81-54 as they go on a 22-3 run in the last 5:45.

Post Game
For Minnehaha, Kaharri Carter with 12 of his 18 in the first half.  He was active inside causing the Holy Angels bigs some trouble with 13 trips to the charity stripe.  Gerald McCarver 15 points as Dembley did a nice job on him.  Minnehaha falls to 6-3 (3-1) with the loss.  They have a big showdown in the Tri-Metro West at undefeated #6AAA Blake on Friday night.  Then a tough trip to St. Anthony next Tuesday.

Holy Angels improves to 5-3 with the victory.  2 of those losses by a total of 3 points.  Nice mix of man and 3-2 zone in the game.  Jordan Dembley with 19 of his 21 (I'll take mine over official book) in the 2nd half including 7-7 FTs and a pair of pretty assists in the late run.  Danny Sullivan finishes with 19 and 7 rebounds on my sheet.  Sam Keis and Charlie Koontz chip in with 11 each.  AHA has a very interesting 3 game home stretch coming up with Mpls Henry (coach McKenzie's old school), Missota favorite Chanhassen in the conference opener and then Breck with former McKenzie assistant Matt McCollister at helm.