2012 Catholic Spirit Championships

Prologue
I had to call off my boycott of the Catholic Spirit (remember they make the media pay to get in, Bolshevik to that) as it was my only way to get in 4 games and volume of games and teams is far more important than a flicker of the Czar's infinite wealth.  A major panic when I left my hoops bag at the Northstar Hoops Report middle school camp during the morning.  Thanks to Willie Vang and George Ellis for bailing me out on that one.  U of St. Thomas with quality hot dogs and the nice chips, dog and soda deal.  Always unique to UST is the soda out of the fountain, no cans or bottles.  Fairly dead atmosphere all day.  Did see Winona State make a trip to the metro to take in some of the action.  Let's take a look at the action from championship day of the 16th annual Catholic Spirit tournament.

7th Place - Providence Academy vs Minnesota Transitions
MTS took the place of St. Agnes for the last 2 days of the event.  After a 102-34 thrashing yesterday from Milwaukee Bay View, today wasn't much better.  MTS with no seniors on the roster and no real size.  Junior Willie Parrish trying to keep MTS close with 5 3s and 17 points in the 1st half.  But the turnovers are too much to overcome.  Providence up 49-26 at half and this one goes running time with Providence winning 79-42.  Joe Heck 23 points, most of them layups off of turnovers, to lead Providence.  Parrish finishes with 25 points and 7 triples.

5th Place - Hill-Murray vs Milwaukee Bay View
Hill-Murray gets 4 quick 3s from Ryan Buron to jump out to a 17-8 lead.  Soph Brandon Eckford with a pair of 3s and free throws to keep Bay View within 31-29.  But now its Eric Weimar who's hot for Hill-Murray, he knocks down 4 3s in the half.  Hill-Murray with 11 of them in the half for a 53-42 halftime lead.  Carlin Dupree with a 3/4 court 3 at the buzzer for Bay View.

Dupree with a 3 point play with 13:41 left and the Redcats are within 8.  Then Buron with another 3, a jumper and add on a Steve Makely 3 to push the lead back to 15.  Marlon Northern keeping BayView around with a 3 point play, putback and 2 more.  Dupree tacks on a bucket and is fouled.  9-0 Bay View run to cut the Hill-Murray lead to 74-68 with 6:32 left.  Jack Cichy with a pair of late layups and Hill-Murray closes it out 94-80.  Carlin Dupree 27 for Bay View.  Ryan Buron 28 points to lead Hill-Murray.  Eric Weimar 24 off of the bench as both he and Buron knocked down 5 3s.  Steve Makely added 4 for the Pioneers.  They make a total of 16 3s.

3rd Place - Cretin-Derham Hall vs Rosemount
This is the 1st time in 4 years that CDH hasn't been in the championship game. Joe Rosga out for CDH with a left hand injury.  Garrett Goetz back to back 3s as the Irish make 5 quick bombs for a 17-10 lead.  The Raiders respond with a 16-3 run thanks to a pair of 3s and Jashon Cornell scoring 6 inside.  34-32 CDH at half despite 8 Rosemount 3s.

The 2nd half is a shooting gallery put on by Stevie Moman of CDH.  He makes 3 triples, 2-3 free throws fouled on a 3 and a pair of technical free throws in an 18-2 run that starts the 2nd half.  That would open up a 52-34 lead for CDH.  Logan Halvorsen's 3 and bucket off a turnover cut the lead to 61-50 with 7:04 left.  Sam Neumann with a 3 point play and a pair of free throws plus Moman's 6th 3 of the half push the lead back to 19.  CDH wins 77-63.  Stevie Moman with 22 of his 28 in the 2nd half and a total of 8 3s.  Sam Neumann too big inside as he piles up 16 rebounds to go with a quiet 15 points.  Garrett Goetz 26 points to lead the Irish and 5 3s.  Rosemount sporting a nice group of sophomores with 2 sophs who start and 2 more in the rotation.

Championship - Wayzata vs Holy Angels
Wayzata looking for a 3 peat as champions after defeating CDH the last 2 seasons.  But the gold with blue candy cane stripe on the warmup pants is hard to look at.  Zach Robertson off to a hot start for Wayzata with 9 of the 1st 11 Trojan points.  Nick Eid off the bench with a Kevin McHale move and a layup on a nice bullet pass to the backside.  22-15 Wayzata at the 7:14 mark.  Sam Joiner with a couple of big 3s to keep Wayzata moving. Delshon Strickland coast to coast for 2 and a late 3 but Robertson gets loose for 2 late 3s.  41-31 Wayzata at half.

Jordan Dembley with a slick pass off the post up to Strickland for a layup.  Dembley goes the length of the court and splits a pair of foul shots.  Then Strickland again to cut the lead to 6.  A little diamond and 1 on Robertson from the Stars.  Then business picks up as we see a bunch of technicals.  Wayzata by 10 when we get a delayed charge call from the outside offical when the underneath ref made no call.  Right call but wrong guy wrong time and Wayzata head coach Phil Ward justly gets a T for making that point.  Brad Carlson picks up his 4th with 7:53 left and we get the 2nd Wayzata T.  3 of the 4 freebies are good but AHA can't convert the possession thanks to a bad shot.  57-52 Wayzata with 7:15 to play.  Carlson returns at the 6 minute mark and immediately scores to push the lead to 7.  Then a bad no call on 1 end, a bad no call on the other and then a tough call on Wayzata in the scrum.  The refs are already on edge from a bad 3 to 4 minutes and we get the quick whistle for a 3rd Trojans technical.  Dembley makes 3 of 4 free throws and then finds Strickland for a layup.   Strickland adds a floater to cut the lead to 61-59 with 4:41 to play.   Zach Robertson with a pair of free throws and a Holy Angels technical foul.  Wayzata can't convert the possession but they get the lead back to 6 inside of 4 to play.

Holy Angels makes 4 freebies in a row to cut the lead back to 2.  Kalivoda with a great backdoor cut for a layup at the 3 minute mark.  Strickland puts back his own miss for a 3 point play to cut the lead to 1 with 2:33 left.  The teams trade misses as Danny Sullivan has another instance where he couldn't score over the long arms of Robertson.  Carlson makes 6 of 6 free throws.  Holy Angels has 1 last chance down 3 with 8.6 left.  The ball is denied into the front court.  Sullivan has to take in the back court and push.  He gets off a contested 3 that is in and out.  Drake Mjaanes closes it out with 2 freebies.  Wayzata wins its 3rd consecutive Catholic Spirit title 75-70.  Zach Robertson scores 19 of his 24 in the 1st half to lead the Trojans.  Kyle Kalivoda 13, Brad Carlson 14 (8-8 FTs).  Delshon Strickland 28 points and 8 rebounds for Holy Angels and Danny Sullivan 14


All-Tournament Team
Joe Heck - Providence Academy
Ryan Buron - Hill-Murray
Carlin Dupree - Milwaukee Bay View
Garrett Goetz - Rosemount
Stevie Moman - Cretin-Derham Hall
Delshon Strickland - Holy Angels
Charlie Koontz - Holy Angels
Brad Carlson - Wayzata
Kyle Kalivoda - Wayzata
Zach Robertson - Wayzata