All the Lions roar

Prologue
Its another trip to St. Paul to see a battle of Lions as St. Croix Prep makes the trip to The Sal to take on CHOF.  As usual no real concessions but the usual Kit Kat and a 20 oz Red Gatorade keep the beverage counter moving.  St. Croix Prep coach Matt McCollister pulling out the white suit coat for this one.  Idea being if its cold outside trick yourself into thinking its warm.  So let's see, white jacket, I grew up in the 80s, coach McCollister kind of has that Don Johnson look.  So today's song is one of the easiest picks of the year.

Song of the Day
Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme

Total Beverage Consumption Counter: 860 ounces  (80 games, 62 days)
  • 36 oz Dr Pepper
  • 36 oz Sprite 
  • 12 oz 7 Up
  • 120 oz Red Powerade
  • 80 oz Red Gatorade
  • 384 oz Pepsi
  • 152 oz Coke
  • 20 oz Barq's Root Beer
  • 20 oz Mug Root Beer
Game Time
CHOF center Anders Strandlund inside for 2, then a steal and he takes it for a nice dunk and a shot block on the other end.  12-9 CHOF at the 12:19 mark.  Then Strandlund picks up his 2nd foul and it triggers a big SCPA run.  Weston Berg a 3 point play on that 2nd foul.  Chance Fisher for 3, a 3 point play and he ends the run with a steal for 2.  26-14 SCPA at the 5:28 mark.  The run was 17-2 over 6:11.  They carry that to a 34-21 halftime lead.

Strandlund picks up his 4th 10 seconds into the second half.  Kai Ylonen's bucket with 15:39 left puts SCPA up 41-23 and the rout appears to be on.  CHOF comes out in a 3/4 court 1-2-2 trap and SCPA has no good answer for it.  That trap holds SCPA without a field goal for 8 minutes and its with Strandland sitting.  Meanwhile Nate Johnston makes a living at the foul line in the 2nd half.  He makes 4 freebies in a row and scores a bucket.  Tate Piepkorn adds a 3 and Grant Geerdes with a couple buckets in the run as the SCPA lead is down to 43-36. 

SCPA rebounds behind their leader Michael Gutierrez.  He drives for 2 with the right hand and 2 more with the left hand and then gets a steal and reverses that.  Then a comical moment.  Johnston at the top key vs Gutierrez.  Johnston ducks the shoulder, Gutierrez goes down, Johnston rises up and kicks out the legs Reggie Miller style and gets the call.  He makes 2 of those 3 freebies and then 2 more freebies to cut the lead to 5.  49-44 SCPA with 4:57.  Chance Fisher helps SCPA salt it away with 4 points in an 8-2 spurt.  SCPA wins 63-50.

Post Game
For CHOF, Nate Johnston leads the way with 15 of his 17 points in the 2nd half.  He was 11-13 from the charity stripe in the 2nd half.  Grant Geerdes 11 points for the Lions.  CHOF still pretty young so they have a couple of years of improvement ahead.  The Lions fall to 5-7 overall.  They host Bjorn Broman and Lakeview Christian on Friday night with a quick turnaround vs Bethany on Saturday afternoon.

St. Croix Prep gets 21 points from Michael Gutierrez, 15 of those in the 2nd half.  His 6 point spurt after the 8 minute drought got the Lions back on track.  Lefty Chance Fisher with a very productive game of 16 points.  Wes Berg with 12 points, 8 of those from foul line. St. Croix Prep improves to 9-6 overall.  A rematch with FAIR (2 point win in 1st meeting) looms next week after a home game with Spectrum on Friday.  Then tough games with New Life and St .Paul Academy after that.

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