Rogers is Tornado Proof

Prologue
A very quiet Monday night on the schedule takes me to Anoka for their non-conference game with Rogers.  After passing on pizza last week, I don't miss the opportunity tonight.  Sausage pizza always a good find.  A 20 oz bottle of Sprite to wash it down keeps the beverage counter ticking.  John Lithgow on duty tonight as part of a 3 man crew. How tight will the game be called?

Beverage Consumption Counter: 84 ounces (5 days, 3 games, 2 scrimmages added on)

Pepsi: 32 ounces
Coke: 20 ounces
Sprite: 32 ounces

Hot Dog Counter: 2

Song of the Day
Pharrell Williams - Happy

Game Time
Anoka hanging around early despite MN-Moorhead commit Cole Murray getting his inside with 7 early points.  A Rogers 8-0 run puts them up 15-6 at the 12:50 mark.  Anoka takes a timeout and temporarily stops the bleeding.  Max  Kukharchuk off the bench to score inside and the lead is down to 17-12 at the 10 minute mark.  But Anoka doesn't get their next field goal out of their Read and React offense until the 2:10 mark.  During that time, Rogers goes on a 24-4 run (all 4 Anoka points were free throws).  Steffan Musoke with 7 points during that run as the lead expands to 41-16.  Musoke ends the half with a big dunk.  43-22 Rogers at the half.  They expand the lead to 34 with 10:32 left.  But Anoka does go on a run to keep the game out of running time.  The end result is never in question.  Rogers wins 82-55

53 fouls were called which really killed the flow. But that's to be expected with the new point of emphasis.  Despite this being a Lithgow crew, I had no problem with that.  The entire crew was the most consistent with the new emphasis that I've seen so far.  The very early reports have been that its been very inconsistently implemented which speaks to a training and or implementation problem from the upper levels.

Post Game
Cole Murray leads Rogers with 23 points.  Junior wing Steffan Musoke finished with 20.  He definitely has some upside.  Will Alexander ran up a late streak of 9 in a row to reach 13.  Allen Wilson with 10.  Ky'Eric Baynes comes off the bench to lead Anoka with 12 points.  Jackson Sutton with 10.  Anoka falls to 0-1 with the loss.  The JVs and Sophs were also soundly beaten.  A top freshman left the program.  Hard to see much in the Anoka future.  They travel to St. Francis on Tuesday before jumping into NW Suburban play after the Thanksgiving holiday.  Rogers hosts Stillwater after the holiday before going on the road for 3 including a tough section night/day back to back at Moorhead and Bemidji.