Rout around weekend

Prologue
Its a triple header with a pair of top ranked teams on the slate for a Friday night, Saturday afternoon trio of games.  Friday night with Czar's good pal The Caveman and oldest son at Heritage.  (Insert Captain Caveman and Son call here).  Then to Edison for a walking taco with meat and salsa only.  Interesting mix.  Finally to the island for a catholic battle.  Mr. Basketball represented at that one.

Game 1: Heritage at Maranatha (Fri)
Christian Pieper with 5 early points as Heritage opens a 9-7 lead at 13:35.  Pieper with another bucket before a 9-0 MCA run allows the Mustangs to open a 19-13 lead at the 9:05 mark.  After a Heritage bucket its a 17-4 MCA run.  Heritage would knock down a 3 and get a 3 point play for the last 6 of the half.  36-25 MCA at the half.  Heritage keeps that within 55-42 with 8 left.  MCA would run away from there for a 80-52 win.

Game 2: Mounds Park Academy at Edison
Mounds Park Academy would score the 1st 5 but Edison would counter with a 16-2 run.  The Panthers would cut that to a 20-14 margin at the 9 minute mark.  Isaiah Blackwell for 2 and then steps into a 3 from the top against the zone.  That expands the Edison lead to 14. Joe Anderson with 2 off a turnover to push the lead to 17.  Edison goes to halftime up 39-24.

The lead is 19 when MPA makes a run of 6 in a row.  49-36 Edison with 11 to play.  Brian Lichtor with a jumper in that run and then a 3 to cut the lead to 12 just inside of 9 to play.  Jonah Togbah too strong inside for Edison in the 2nd half.  He scores inside and adds a free throw.  The Panthers get a last chance as they're within 12 with 6 left and Lichtor can't get a great look at a 3 to fall.  Edison gets a 3 point play from Brian Givens on the other end.  Togbah inside then a bad intentional foul call leads to a 5 point Edison possession and the lead is back to 20.  Tommies go on to beat Mounds Park Academy 69-49.  Edison post Jonah Togbah with 15 points to lead all scorers.

Game 3: Cretin-Derham Hall at De La Salle
Sam Neumann for 3 and then a 4 point play as CDH opens a 13-9 lead.  Joe Rosga then fouled on a 3 and makes all 3 for a 20-16 CDH lead at the 10:54 mark.  Then off a Luke Scott miss off the glass, James Lawson flies in with the nasty 1 hand tip dunk and CDH takes an immediate timeout.  20 all at 9:49.  That sparks the Islanders.  Lawson almost tip dunks the next miss as well but its just a plain old tap in.  Reid Travis with 4 free throws sandwiched around a putback.  Luke Scott for 3.  Then with the defensive intensity at a crazy level, Travis jumps a passing lane.  He takes it the other way and gets absolutely clobbered on the breakaway.  That's the 3rd foul on Jashon Cornell and Frank Delaney already has 3 as Travis is drawing all kinds of fouls inside.  But that results in no points.  Scott runs for a layup to conclude the 18-2 DLS run.  They take that to halftime for a 47-31 lead.

A couple of quick 3s to pull CDH within 51-37 2 minutes into the 2nd half.  Its all De La Salle from there.  Travis with 7 in a row.  Geno Crandall on the run with a no look to Sacar Anim for a layup and then a layup of his own off a turnover.  Now the lead is 25, 62-37 with 12:45 left.  Then the St. Anthony SLOB play (look it up on YouTube) executed to perfect with Jarvis Johnson (not a big guy like the vid) getting the lob for a dunk.  A technical on CDH for 2 more free throws from Luke Scott and he buries a simple pin screen on a BLOB for a left wing 3. That sends us to running time 75-39 with 8:40 left.  De La Salle wins 85-49.

Reid Travis with 22 and 9 on my sheet for De La Salle.  Luke Scott 19 points with 3 triples. Sacar Anim getting more sets run for him all the time.  He ends with 15 and coach Thorson has dug out an old set he used to run for Jalen Jaspers to get him a top of key iso and rip to score (or hit Luke Scott for 3).  Sam Neumann 16 points and Joe Rosga with 14 for CDH.  Neumann got more looks against the Islanders defense than I expected.  But ultimately, the intensity of the defense from the Islanders was as off the charts as I've seen in a long time.  The ability to have interchangable parts and switch screens like they do allows great pressure.  Middle drives were an issue which allowed some good looks for CDH.