An old Lake Conference tilt

Prologue
To the south metro to see one of the teams that I think can surprise this year.  That's Eastview hosting #8AAAA Eden Prairie.  The Eden Prairie students in rain gear with umbrellas.  St. Olaf, Crown and Hamline at minimum were looking on from the college perspective.  I had to rush to finish the slice of sausage pizza before game time but it was worth it.  The beverage counter clocks in with a bottle of Powerade.  AC/DC on the public address tonight but we'll use a more basketball like term from their catalog.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 26

Beverage Consumption Counter: 224 ounces (15 days, 13 games, 2 scrimmages added on)

Pepsi: 52 ounces
Coke: 80 ounces
Sprite: 32 ounces
Red Powerade: 40 ounces

Hot Dog Counter: 3

Song of the Day
AC/DC - Shoot to Thrill

Game Time
Bombs away if you're Eastview.  Keegan Dickson back to back from deep. Drew Guebert follows that with a bomb and Sam Ryan completes the quad at the 13:30 mark.  Dickson adds a free throw and Obi Ibeneme makes a pair of free throws at the 11:10 mark.  15-6 Eastview and they're already in the bonus with the foul count 7-1 in their favor.  15-6 Eastview with the lead.  It isn't pretty for Eden Prairie, they have 3 chances with turnovers and they miss 2 dunks and a layup to get nothing out of those.  Amazingly enough that doesn't stall their run.  The defense cranks up and Eastview only makes 1 field goal in a stretch of 8:30.  Much of that with Dickson and Guebert sitting with 2 fouls.  Soph Owen Chose with back to back 3s during the run to give the Eagles the lead.  The run ends up at 18-4 with only 1 field goal allowed.  Eden Prairie goes to the break with a 29-23 lead.  After making 4 3s in the first 4:30, Eastview only makes 3 shots the rest of the half.

Guebert picks up his 3rd foul less than a minute into the 2nd half and he's right back on the bench after sitting about the last 9 minutes of the 1st half with 2.  Dickson keeping his offense going with 6 straight.  Ibeneme adds a 3.  Eastview gets timeout down 39-34 with 12:13 left and that gets Guebert back in the game.  He hits a quick 3 but we don't hear from him the rest of the game.  6 in a row from Eden Prairie to push the lead to double digits.  Dickson on the post for 2 free throws and then another bomb.  Martin Mitchell with 2 free throws and the lead is down to 6 and Eastview gets a stop.  Dickson called for an illegal screen, his 4th, and coach Goetz has an earful for the official.  Dickson sits at the 6:13 mark.  He's back in with 4:49 left and the lead still at 5.  Dickson gets 2 touches inside but doesn't attack the rim and Eastview gets nothing out of it.  Then the Lightning miss a pair of free throws with 3:53 left.  EP makes them pay with a long possession and a cut for a layup and the lead is back to 7.  Dickson scores, Eden Prairie turns it over but Eastview can't convert.  They looked for Guebert with him setting a high ball screen and then fake the throw back and go backdoor.  Nothing there.  Dickson fouls out at 2:02.  Grantham Gillard seals it with 7 of 8 free throws the rest of the way.  But a steal for 2 and a late 3 did cut the lead to 3 before the Eagles held on.  Eden Prairie wins 67-62.

Post Game
Eastview falls to 3-1 with the loss.  They finish up a 3 game homestand next week with a pair of challenging games against Rogers and the conference opener with Eagan.  Keegan Dickson leads the way with 22 points and 3 triples before fouling out.  He was too mobile for center John Vermedahl and too big for undersized PF Blake Cashman.  Drew Guebert 2 3s for 6, foul trouble really hurt his night.  The Lightning will need to get better games from him in league play.  Soph PG Jameson Bryan 12 points and a good job running the show.  Though Eden Prairie's pressure did get to him some in the 1st half.  He shows pass first but can score a bit too.  9-22 3s for the Lightning and they actually out shoot Eden Prairie 43.2 to 40.8.  But the rebounding margin was a huge 38-22 against them including 15 on the offensive glass (on 29 misses, a scary percentage).

#8AAAA Eden Prairie stays undefeated at 3-0.  Grantham Gillard with 19 points but only 3 field goals on 15 attempts.  13-15 at the charity stripe including the last 7-8 made up his night.  Rest of the team shoots 50%.  Owen Chose and Nick Geolat off the bench with 10 points each.  The Eagles will run 10 guys at you and be very productive.  They lacked a guy you can throw the ball to in the post like other teams they've had.  But their perimeter guys are much more offensive minded than past teams.  The Eagles host Eagan and Cooper next week before playing a depleted Stillwater squad in the Tipoff Classic.