Fouls good for Fowl

Prologue
Its a Northwest Suburban cross-division matchup with Osseo visiting Elk River.  These teams slot into the middle group of teams in the league that are hovering around the .500 mark.  Quality Little Caesar's pizza and extra large to appease my waistline too.  20 oz of Red Gatorade to wash it down.  I must admit I felt bad for the poor gal at the concession stand who was stuck doing her calculus homework.  I may be a math guy but yuck.  Thankfully it was youth night and we had the high quality Elk River pep band, otherwise the crowd would have been nearly empty.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 107 (34 courts)

Beverage Consumption Counter: 796.9 ounces (48 days, 68 games, 2 scrimmages added on)

• Pepsi: 472 ounces
• Coke: 100 ounces
• Dr. Pepper: 12 ounces
• Sprite: 44 ounces
• Barq's Root Beer: 20 ounces
• A&W Root Beer: 12 ounces
• Red Powerade: 60 ounces
• Red Gatorade: 60 ounces
• Water: 500 ml

Hot Dog Counter: 8

Song of the Day
Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys (courtesy of the Elk River pep band)

Game Time
Strong start for Elk River's Trent Pink inside.  He scores in the post (a zipper set that was highly effective most of the night for the Elks), hits a floater and puts back his own miss.  Elks jump out to a 12-7 lead at 9:35 with the pace in their favor.  That putback starts an 8-2 Elks run culimating with Osseo throwing the ball tipping the ball in under their own rim for an Elk River hoop.  Time Osseo trailing 18-9 at 7:50.  Elliot Kane somehow left alone for a pair of triples but Elk River counters with a pair of nice cuts for layups from Zeke Delain.  That pushes the lead back to 7.  Then Zach Ernst with a steal for a 3 point play to end the half.  32-21 Elk River in control at the half.

Osseo comes out in the second half with their run and jump pressure to try and pick up the pace.  The start is good but an Ernst putback via THE WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE and a difficult spinning lefty 2 from Jarin Haywood would give the Elks their biggest lead of the night at 36-24, 16:05 left.  Its all Osseo from there though.  Allen Anderson knocks down 4 triples in the next 6 minutes.  The 1st 3 of those are part of an 18-3 Orioles run that also includes another bomb from Kane.  The last of the 3s gives Osseo the lead for good.  46-43 Osseo with 9:50 left.  The Orioles spread the floor and proceed to live the rest of the game at the foul line (very tightly called game).  Osseo only makes 1 field goal the rest of the way but they shoot 13-24 from the charity stripe in the last 8:45.  The game was tight all the way down the stretch but Elk River couldn't stop fouling.  Pink had a pair of free throws with 1:28 left that could have tied the game at 56 but he missed both.  Then another missed free throw by Elk River with 9.7 left that prevented them from being down 3 with 1 last chance.   Osseo hangs on to win 61-57.

Post Game
Elk River falls to 7-6 overall and 3-4 in the NW Suburban.  That puts them in a dead heat with Blaine for 4th in the North Division.  Elk River shoots 12-23 from the foul line.  If they find Elliot Kane in the 1st half to stop his 3s, they end up really dominating that half.  Trent Pink effective inside with 15 points.  They ran a zipper set where he would set the down screen and then post hard and that generated multiple quality looks.  Zeke Delain with 14 and Mitchell Weege adds 12.   Frosh Jack Burger seeing good minutes off the Elks bench.  They make only 1 3 and with no real athletes they struggled to generate offense when Osseo stepped up their defense.  Next week is absolutely brutal as the Elks host Maple Grove and travel to Armstrong in league play.  Both of those are bad matchups for the Elks. 

Osseo improves to 6-7 overall, 5-3 in the NW Suburban.  That puts them 3rd in the West Division.  Elliot Kane leads with a quiet 19 points.  He hit 3 of his 4 3s in the 1st half.  Allen Anderson with 4 clutch 3s in the 2nd half on his way to 16 points.  Kyle Williams with all 12 of his points in the 2nd half.  Most of those were from the foul line where he was 8-15.  Strange instance at the end where he was pulled on offense and then put back in on a later possession and it looked like he was the guy to have the ball.  Osseo wins despite 23-42 shooting from the foul line (17-31 in the 2nd half).  The overall foul count in this was 31-20 in their favor on my sheet.  Next week the Orioles host Coon Rapids and visit Centennial in another cross-division matchup.