Eagles soar over Govs

Prologue
To St. Paul Johnson for a non-conference battle between the Governors and Eden Prairie.  A paint by numbers Walking Taco for the steep price of $4 (most expensive I've ever had).  But a quality Walking Taco is always worth the price.  And what happened to 7-Up?  Far stronger than I remember, maybe bland Sprite has ruined my taste buds.  The most right former Reverend Al Sharpton, a regular partner (decent official) and an awful 3rd guy working the game.

Game Time
Andre Wallace to Jack Cottrell for 2 and a Grant Shaeffer layup.  6-2 Eagles and Johnson wants a quick timeout.  Shaeffer to Caleb Wragge in the left corner for 2 bombs.  20-9 Eden Prairie at the 8:20 mark.  Then inside out to Sam Johnson for 3 with great passing and a Wallace bucket.  29-14 at the 4:15 mark and Johnson needs another timeout.  Jalen Mobley scores out of the timeout and knocks down a 3 off a high screen to cut the lead to 9.  Then 3 bombs in the last 1:40 for EP and its a 9-2 run.  Wragge with his 4th of the half and 2nd in a row from the right corner.  Shaeffer with a long bomb and another bomb just before the horn from Johnson.  41-25 Eagles at the break.  7 triples but 0-6 from the foul line.  22 points and 6 3s from the bench (12 and 4 of those from Wragge).

Wallace with 2 quick buckets to start the half and the lead is 20 less than 2 minutes in.  But Johnson's pressure did provide some hassels.  Mobley with 2 free throws and a drive, then Quashighm Smith-Pugh with a steal and he finds Mobley for a layup.  11:30 to play and Johnson has the lead down to 13.  Then an offensive rebound for EP and it ends up with Shaeffer for 3.  Then Johnson with another Eagles bomb.  Govs still have some left in the tank.  Pugh with a 3 point play, Bajuan Adams off the bench with 3 of 4 free throws and the Eagles lead is down to 60-49 with 8:35 left.  Then a skip pass finds Wallace for another critical EP 3.  Its an 11 point game when the teams trade buckets without the clock running, stuck at 6:20.  A foul stops play and Sharpton sees a mysterious T.  Johnson only makes 1 free throw and doesn't score on the possession when they could have cut it to single digits.  Shaeffer with a 3 point play as Mobley fouls out with 5:51 and you wonder if the Govs have enough offense.  A 14 point game when EP is out on the break, the bad official has an intentional foul call (a good one) but Sharpton doesn't and they'll over rule the intentional call.  Then just after that, bad ref has a charge but Ralford decides to teach an officiating seminar to him while we all wait and overrules that call too.  Good grief.  Anthony Anderson with a great hustle play for the Eagles that sends him flying into and through the Eagles bench.  Its a turnover to the Eagles and the entire bench is over to help him up and applaud the effort.  Shaeffer converts the possession to push the lead to 76-59 and Johnson will never really threaten again.   Eden Prairie wins 88-73

Post Game
The Govs fall to 4-4 and will start St. Paul City play next Thursday at Humboldt.  Jalen Mobley 17 points before he fouled out.  Quashingm Smith-Pugh finishes with 18 points but was mostly a non-factor.  Lefty Lazerik Gilbert 13 points and Pierre Conwell with 11.  The Govs still play a bunch of guys and try to get after it but its just not the same as years past.  Add in the lack of a big time scorer that they've had over the years and you have a Govs squad that is way down by recent standards.

Eden Prairie improves to 8-2 as this starts a 3 game road trip ending with a Sat afternoon tilt at Cretin-Derham Hall and at Waconia next Thursday.  Grant Shaeffer leads with 23 points.  Andre Wallace with 16, 12 of those in the 2nd half.  The bench with big production from Sam Johnson and Caleb Wragge.  They each hit 4 3s and score 14 points.  It seemed like the Eagles hit a critical 3 whenever the Govs looked like they might break back into the game.  Johnson's pressure did bother the Eagles more than I expected.

Play of the Day
A nice simple BLOB from Johnson.  Its 4 across the foul line with the wings and elbows filled.  The Wings will pin down for the elbows and then the original backside wing continues across after his screen and back screens the wing that set the strong side pin down.  He then flashes to the ball. Its said that the best way to get open is to set a good screen.  In this case its 2 screens threatening the back side and then a flash to the ball and the Govs got it twice in the game.