Goliath falls

Prologue
Off to Farmington for the 3AAAA championship game between Cretin-Derham Hall and Apple Valley.  The expected full house on hand.  Great games tonight in Monticello (5 OT in 8AAAA final), Marshall advances to state in OT, SW MN Christian loses and this one didn't disappoint either.  Red Gatorade is the beverage with sausage pizza.  Quality 40 minute pregame performance from the Apple Valley band.

Song of the Day
Runnin down a dream - Tom Petty

Total Beverage Consumption Counter: 1376 ounces  (124 games, 106 days)

• 12 oz 7 Up 
• 20 oz Barq's Root Beer
• 20 oz Mug Root Beer 
• 80 oz Sprite 
• 84 oz Dr Pepper
• 160 oz Red Powerade
• 272 oz Red Gatorade
• 184 oz Coke 
• 544 oz Pepsi

Game Time
Big key in this game was a good start for CDH.  They get that with Donnell Gresham scoring the 1st 5 and Michael Hannon from deep.  Timeout Apple Valley at 16:46 trailing 8-2 and that's despite 4 offensive boards.  Tyus Jones 4 points to cut the lead to 2.  Sam Neumann putback, Gresham with another 3, Neumann for 3.  George Hottinger with a layup and Neumann with a layup after a turnover.  22-15 CDH at 12:50.  Tyus coast to coast for the And 1 and he adds a steal for 2 to tie the game at 26.  Tyus on the run for 2 more to conclude the 16-4 Apple Valley run.  Tobroxen with a layup and Tyus to Brock Bertram for a bucket on the pick and roll.  Loose ball ends up with a Tyus 3.  Hannon with a jumper and then 1 of many abuses he had of the Eagles bigs off the bounce.  44-38 Apple Valley at the half.  Early on the pace was absolutely furious but CDH made an effort to slow the game down.

Hottinger a pair of buckets countered by Tyus for 2 and then Tyus dunks a turnover.  51-44 Apple Valley 4 minutes into the half.  Hannon with a drive to start a spurt, Neumann blocks Tyus and Hannon makes 2 free throws off of it.  Then Hannon buries a 3 after a Tyus bucket and we're tied at 53 (9-2 run).  Tyus playing out of the right block finds Bertram for a layup and then goes to the reverse for 2 of his own and scores again.  Dennis Austin and Bertram add buckets and the Eagles lead is 65-57 with 6:45 left.

CDH always able to score.  Neumann for 3, Joe Rosga steals an outlet pass and no fear as he immediately drills the right wing 3.  Tyus trying to take over as he scores the next 3 but misses 3 free throws in that stretch.  Then he swats a shot away on the help side.  But there's that Hannon guy again as he takes an inside out feed from Neumann and drills the 3 and drills another on the next possession.  Then its Neumann for 3 with 1:45 left and CDH has the lead.  Tyus called for the offensive foul going to the rim with 1:36 left. Oh my.  CDH ball up 72-70.  After 2 Rosga free throws, Tyus goes straight to the rim for 2.  After a timeout, he steals the inbounds and makes 2 free throws to tie the game at 74.  CDH will hold for the last shot.  Gresham no good off the high screen, rebound no good, Rosga a great look from 10 feet with 8 ticks left is in and out.  CDH has 1 last chance from under their basket with 1.3 left but turns it over.  We'll play overtime.

CDH wins the tip and holds until they turn it over at the 2:37 mark.  Apple Valley misses 30 seconds later and now CDH will continue to hold.  They hold until a timeout with 13 seconds left.  Its Rosga off a double high ball screen to Gresham who's shot is no good and we'll play a second overtime.

Tyus opens the overtime scoring (in the 2nd OT) with a drive that's countered by another Hannon 3.  Apple Valley misses and Gresham makes 2 free throws.  Austin makes 1 free throw on an offensive board to cut the lead to 79-77 with 1:45 left.  But Apple Valley doesn't score again.  Austin and tyus go down with injuries with 58.5 left.  Big delay before Austin is stretchered off, Tyus comes back out to an ovation during the delay.  But at that point the game is over as CDH is up 10  Cretin-Derham Hall pulls the upset 89-77 in double overtime.

Post Game
Apple Valley finishes the season 27-2 and the loss breaks a 55 game winning streak against Minnesota opponents.  Tyus Jones finishes his outstanding career with 35 points.  What a pleasure to watch one of the best ever to come out of the state during these last 5 seasons.  Brock Bertram with a big double double with 19 points.  The rest of the roster only comes up with 23.  Apple Valley not showing any outside shooting in the game and didn't pound the ball inside nearly enough.  Tyus with some great success off a flat ball screen at mid-court but we only saw it late and a couple of times.  Didn't see that huge killer instinct from him that we've seen in the past either.  Almost like Apple Valley thought they could just turn it on and win.  Honestly I thought this game was more about what they didn't do than what Cretin-Derham Hall did on the strategy side.

Cretin-Derham Hall was successful running early and much to my chagrin they slowed the tempo.  But give them credit it worked.  Michael Hannon goes bezerk with 5 3s and 26 points.  Donnell Gresham also large with 22 points and a pair of 3s.  Joe Rosga 15 and Sam Neumann with 3 bombs and 16 points.  CDH managed to not get completely crushed on the glass which was a huge factor.  Seeding them for the state tourney is an interesting debate.  On 1 side you have this win.  On the other you have 2 losses to Woodbury, a team that Tartan just beat and Tartan is still scrambling to be seeded.  If Lakeville North and Champlin Park lose, maybe they're the 2 seed (Hopkins will clearly be #1).  But if those 2 win, now they're likely looking at 4.  The 5 seed is a scramble of the remaining teams.   Cretin's secondary guys stepped up big and Apple Valley's didn't and that was your difference.  CDH buries 12 3s and when they shoot it well they are extremely dangerous and difficult to guard.