A day of bragging rights. First to the heavyweight showdown in the Twin Cities Game with Johnson at North. The grill was going outside but I couldn't wait long enough for a burger. Then a full house at Nova Classical for the EMAC Tournament championship. Christian Life pulled the upset at regular season champ Community of Peace last night. That means they get 2 seed Hope Academy in the final.
Number of Teams I've Seen: 155 (63 courts)
Beverage Consumption Counter: 1525.8 ounces (92 days, 129 games, 2 scrimmages added on)
- Pepsi: 740 ounces
- Coke: 192 ounces
- Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces
- Sprite: 200 ounces
- Sierra Mist: 12 ounces
- Barq's Root Beer: 20 ounces
- A&W Root Beer: 60 ounces
- Red Powerade: 120 ounces
- 0 Calorie Fruit Punch Powerade: 20 ounces
- Red Gatorade: 96.9 ounces
- Water: 500 ml
Song of the Day
Kanye West - Amazing
Game 1: #2AAA St. Paul Johnson at #2A Minneapolis North (2015 Twin Cities Game)
Off to Minneapolis North for the 2015 Twin Cities Games. Harding defeated Washburn 56-44 to win the Freshman title. Central defeated North 69-49 to win the JV title. Look for North next year to be in both games again as their varsity and JV rosters will be almost unchanged due to all the high quality youngsters in the program. Now to the big show, the varsity game. A battle of heavyweights that did not disappoint.
Fast pace to this one. Jamil Jackson 5 in a row before Eric Elliot dunks a turnover and gets a soft T. North getting pounded on the glass early as Johnson got 4 offensive boards on the 1st possession. Later its Justus Murphy with a layup and a putback . 15-12 North at 13:30. Isaac Johnson with a 3 point play and an inside 2. He adds another hoop to push the North lead to 32-23 at the 9 minute mark. Jalen Mobley stops the bleeding (foreshadowing) with a 3. Jamil Jackson picks up a loose ball and puts it back. 36-26 North at 6:50. Then Elliot picks up another T in a scrum. He'll sit the rest of the half but after checking around it sounds like he should have been tossed. Tyler Johnson dunks a turnover and Jamil Jackson with his 3rd bomb of the half. 41-29 North at 5:40. Johnson won't go away. Murphy inside for 2, Mobley with a steal for 2 and coast to coast for 2 more. Savion Benton with a putback, Saivon Parker with a triple. Mobley makes a free throw and Murphy puts back the miss of the 2nd to tie it. A late putback puts North up 49-47 at the break.
Andre Smith for 3 and Mobley converts a turnover as Johnson scores the 1st 6 of the half in 1 minute. North would gain momentum with an Isaac Johnson 3, post Philip Scott off the bench with a pair of layups and Jackson also adds a layup and a pair of free throws to put North up 5. Mobley and Parker with 3s. Issac Johnson with a long bomb before a 2 handed tip dunk from Jackson. 70-66 North with 11:25 left. Mobley picks up 2 charges and commits a turnover. Jackson with another dunk in that stretch. Eric Elliot with a layup and a steal for 2 more. 77-76 Johnson with 7:52 left as the teams continue to trade blows.
Mobley spins for 2 and then a 3 after a North turnover and pops for 2 more. 86-80 Johnson with 6 minutes left. Mobley going nuts. Jamil Jackson going nuts too. He scores a tough 2. Tyler Johnson with a layup and a putback. 89-87 Johnson with 3:35 left. Mobley with a 3 point play and he follows it with a free throw. After a horrid illegal screen call against Murphy, Tyler Johnson makes a free throw. Mobley counters with a putback. Isaac Johnson with a clutch 3 and North isn't done yet. 95-93 Govs with the ball and 37 ticks left. Johnson barely avoid a 10 second call and then misses a layup. Tyler Johnson converts to tie the game with 15 seconds left. 95 all and we'll head to overtime.
Jackson and Mobley trade a pair of free throws. Then the teams trade bunnies. JaQuan Sanders-Smith to the rack to put North up 2. Then its Mobley with 1 free throw and Elliot puts back the miss to put Johnson up 102-101 with 1:20 left. Malik Jones then scores off a turnover. Jackson counters with 2 free throws and North gets the offensive foul call to get the ball back. Might have been a flop. North misses but Johnson misses 2 free throws. Tyler Johnson with a layup to put North back on top. Sanders-Smith then converts a turnover and Johnson is down 3. Mobley makes 1 free throw and Sanders-Smith makes 1 free throw. Then its Mobley with the straight away 3 with 8 seconds left to force a 2nd OT tied at 108.
Mobley with the 3 point play to start the 2nd OT and he's just unguardable at this point. Jackson with 2 free throws, Mobley with a tough 2. Sedrick Clark on the break behind the back to Savion Benton for a 3 point play, oh my. That's after he didn't give it up to Mobley. But Johnson can't keep the lead. Jackson with a free throw and converts a turnover for 2. 116-115 Johnson with 2:09 left in 2OT. Ahzerik Rodgers then strips Mobley and takes it for a hoop. Elliot makes 1 of 2 free throws with 1:18 to tie it. Mobley with a steal for 2 and Murphy with a block on the defensive end. Carlin Clarke makes both freebies for a 3 point Johnson lead. Jackson drives with 15 seconds left to cut the lead to 1. Then Johnson misses 2 free throws with 7 seconds left and here we go. But its a scrum and Mobley picks up the loose ball. He smartly throws it toward the hoop to kill time and it goes in at the horn. Why not?! It initially gets put up as a 3 and that's how it is online so I'll keep it that way eventhough the scoreboard changed it later. Johnson wins the highest scoring Twin Cities Game ever 123-119 in double overtime. (Czar's Note 2/23/15, upon further review, it was also the highest combined score in Minnesota history surpassing the 241 combined points between MTS and International School in 2010). Despite the lack of defense, this was high intensity and as entertaining a game as you'll see. Fans were into it and big names making big plays.
Jalen Mobley goes off for 52 points, 17 in the overtimes and 20 in the 2nd half. Eric Elliot with 17 and 3 other Govs in double figures. Justus Murphy with quality minutes in the paint. Jamil Jackson plays the best game I've seen from him all year as he goes for 41. He had the shooting stroke going in the 1st half. Isaac Johnson with 4 3s and 22 points. Tyler Johnson adds 21. Keep an eye on his freshman brother down the line too.
Game 2: Hope Academy vs Christian Life (2015 EMAC Tournament Championship)
Thankfully there's still time to make the 7 PM tip at Nova. A full house on hand for another entertaining game. Christian Life takes control right away with a 13-2 run in the 1st 3:20. Hope would claw their way back with soph Johnny Erickson scoring a couple of hoops and an Adonis Sturdivant 3. 18-12 Christian Life with the lead at 9:12 as they take time. Erickson with another hoop and Tobias Griffin for 3 to end an 11-0 run. Caleb Wochnick stops that with a hoop and foul. Erickson gets Hope back to even at 24 with another hoop. He makes 2 free throws before sitting with his 3rd foul at the 3:05 mark. Wochnick with 6 in a row to end the 8-0 Christian Life run after that foul. 36-31 Christian Life at half. Wochnick cleaning up all the misses.
Erickson with a couple of 2nd half hoops but Hope stays with their 5 in 5 out rotation which means he'll foul out with 10:55 left. Not to mention Griffin was able to play the last 16 minutes with 4 fouls. Wochnick with a pair of hoops and the Christian Life lead is 62-50. Soph Nate Elifson ice cold for Hope in the 1st half but his back to back 3s cut the lead to 6. Then its Elifson and Griffin with back to back bombs to tie the game at 67 with 5:40 left. Then its Griffin with the deep 3 for the lead and Hope doesn't look back. Wochnick counters with a hoop but Sturdivant knocks down another Hope 3. The lead is 6 and Christian Life has to come out of their 2-3 and play man. Hope makes enough free throws to counter some late Wochnick offense. Hope Academy wins the EMAC Championship 87-77. Hope makes 14 3s, 9 in the 2nd half. Nate Elifson 5 of those for 16 points, Tobias Griffin with 5 as well for 20 points. Johnny Erickson 14 before fouling out early. Caleb Wochnick goes for somewhere in the neighborhood of 34 points and 22 rebounds for Christian Life.
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