Tigers put out the Blaze

Prologue
Off to Burnsville to complete the season sweep of the South Suburban.  The Blaze hosting the hot Farmington Tigers.  Farmington with 4 straight wins after 3 straight losses that were by combined 6 points.  Burnsville on the other hand in a stretch of losing 6 out of 8.  Both teams 3-6 after 1 rotation in conference play.  This game would break that tie.  The Burnsville band on hand but only 8 pregame minutes from them.  But they make up for it by sticking around all game and performing post game (a rare site, most bands leave after halftime).   A bottle of Coke washes down a quality slice of Domino's cheese pizza.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 131 (48 courts)

Beverage Consumption Counter: 1072.9 ounces (65 days, 92 games, 2 scrimmages added on)
  • Pepsi: 536 ounces
  • Coke: 152 ounces
  • Dr. Pepper: 36 ounces
  • Sprite: 116 ounces
  • Sierra Mist: 12 ounces
  • Barq's Root Beer: 20 ounces
  • A&W Root Beer: 24 ounces
  • Red Powerade: 80 ounces
  • Red Gatorade: 80 ounces
  • Water: 500 ml
Hot Dog Counter: 12

Song of the Day
Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Game Time
Matt Anderson with 2 transition 3s in a quick 8-0 Farmington run.  Burnsville rebounds but Farmington keeps a 15-9 lead thanks to a running bank for a Wyatt Ferm 3 point play and a Zach Speikers reverse layup.   8-0 Burnsville run with guard Michael Gillen turning a steal into 2 freebies and adding a floater.  19-17 Burnsville at 7:40.  Jason Gumm with his 2nd 3 of the half for a 22-19 Blaze lead at 6:30.  But its 15-6 Farmington the rest of the half.  Ferm inside out look for 3 and Speikers with a 3.  Soph Sam Wilson beats the halftime horn for a 34-28 Farmington lead at half.

Burnsville comes out strong in the 2nd half with a 16-6 run in the 1st 4 and a half minutes.  Soph PG Jackson Martens with a line drive 3 and scores after a blocked shot on the other end.  Alex Davis ends the run with 1 3 and then a set play for 2 screens on the backside and skip it for another bomb.  44-40 Blaze after the run.  Lucas Berg scoop to the hoop and cut for a 3 point play.  Ferm also cuts for an easy bucket against the Blaze D.  49-48 Farmington back on top as we go back and forth the rest of the way.  Tucker Shepley a large portion of the offense for Burnsville in the 2nd half.  He puts back his own miss and counters a Speikers reverse layup with 3 more post buckets.  58-56 Burnsville with 3:54 left.  Anderson ties it with 2 free throws with 3:26 left.  Burnsville misses a 3 and Farmington takes time with 2:55 left.  Burnsville comes out of the timeout with their only possession of the night of zone.  Farmington very patient vs the 1-3-1 and its Speikers knocking down a straight away 3 off of good ball movement from the corner to the wing and across the top guy in the zone.  Tucker Shepley blocked at the other end and Burnsville needs a block of their own to stop the break coming back.  Farmington will hold with 90 seconds left.  They make the 1st bonus free throw but miss the 1st back end, then after a Blaze miss, they miss a front end.  Burnsville fouled with 34.8 left in a 4 point game, they miss the front end.  Speikers makes the play of the game by diving on the loose rebound and getting Farmington's final timeout to save possession.  But its not over as Farmington misses another front end.  Burnsville makes 1 of 2 at the other end as Tucker Shepley slips America's inbounds play.  That makes it a 3 point game with 18.3 left but Speikers seals it with a pair of free throws.  Farmington wins 65-59.

Post Game
Burnsville falls to 3-7 in the South Suburban and 7-11 overall.  They've now lost 6 out of 7 in the new year with the only win a 2 point home win vs Rosemount.  Tucker Shepley leads the Blaze with 14 points, 12 of those in the 2nd half.  Brett Shepley adds 10 and Jason Gumm had all 10 of his in the 1st half.  The upcoming schedule is rough as they have Eagan, at Lakeville North, at Shakopee, Apple Valley, Prior Lake.

Farmington is now 7-11 overall, 4-6 in the South Suburban.  They've now won 6 of their last 9 with the 3 close losses mentioned before.  Zach Speikers leads the way with 16 points and 4 boards on my sheet.  The hustle play to dive on that missed free throw was huge.  His jump shot wasn't there and his movement is clearly limited with the bad ACL in the right knee.  But the intangibles definitely impact the team even though its not a ton of minutes.  Wyatt Ferm held to 12 points on 4-12 FGs.  He's one of the most off the radar kids out there.  Matt Anderson added 13.  Next week is a big week for the Tigers with home games vs Lakeville North and Apple Valley.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Have a different take than mine? You can provide your take here.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.