Pride of the Lions is strong

Prologue
To the eastern shore of The Kingdom for the 4AA 7 vs 10 matchup between St. Paul Humboldt and St. Croix Prep.  SCPA going with a beach theme for the student section.  Blow up palm trees included but I didn't see a beach ball.  Some overzealous admin probably would have confiscated it anyway.  Coach Matt McCollister in a dapper black outfit as always.  I on the hand didn't have time to properly prepare so no bow tie and dapper get up for The Czar.  I walk in right at opening tip so no concessions tonight either.  The Beverage Counter and I are about to have a fight.  Gustavus and Hamline amongst the colleges looking on.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 157 (65 courts)

Beverage Consumption Counter: 1545.8 ounces (97 days, 132 games, 2 scrimmages added on)

• Pepsi: 760 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

Hot Dog Counter: 20

Song of the Day:  Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Game Time:
SCPA star Michael Gutierrez with a 3, an assist for 3 more and a steal for 2 to get the Lions off to a 8-2 start.  He then trades 3 point plays with Humboldt star Demond Dawson then Quinn Fisher with the wild behind the back dribble to split the defense and its coast to coast for a 3 point play.  17-10 Lions at 13:03.  Dawson with a pair of hoops for Humboldt.  Soph Matt Kaul with a pair of 3s off the SCPA bench.  Sam Richardson adds another bomb and its 28-17 SCPA at 7:52.  Jared Shea sits with 2 fouls and Humboldt is faceguarding Gutierrez.  That means the Lions offense struggles.  Soph Guadalupe Tovalin off the Humboldt bench with all 5 of his points to ignite a 10-0 Hawks run.  Terel Haughton-Lyons converts a turnover and Dawson uses a ball screen to score.  Haughton-Lyons ends the half with a 3.  Tie game at 34 going to the halftime break.

Shea scores the 1st 6 of the half for SCPA and we stay tied at 40.  Shea's hoops start a Lions run.  Gutierrez with a steal for 2 free throws, Kaul with another 3 and Shea ends it with a layup.  54-44 SCPA with 9:20 left after their 18-4 run.  Dawson 5 in a row, Marion Moore a problem off the bounce for 2, Haughton-Lyons with a bomb and Moore finishes the 12-0 run with 2 free throws.  56-54 Humboldt 5:59 left.  Shea drives for a layup and Moore counters off the screen and roll with the left hand for 2.  Humboldt adds a free throw to go up 65-61 with 2:11 left.    Gutierrez with a clutch 3 with 1:50 left and that's his 1st FG of the half.  Moore on another isolation for 2 more, SCPA misses and Humboldt has it back up 3.  Gutierrez picks up Dawson on defense, the off arm comes up and Gutierrez is the 1st nominee for the 2016 Oscars.  His world-class flop gets the call and of course he ends up making the tying 3 on the ensuing possession.   Dawson misses with 15 seconds left and Gutierrez will hold for 1 at the horn but that's no good.  67 all to OT.

In OT, Dawson opens the scoring off a ball screen.  Kaul gets run off the line but takes 1 bounce to avoid the defense and buries the jumper.  Moore gets a breakaway layup with 1:55 left.  Dawson misses 2 critical free throws with 1:30 left.  This was after Shea made 2 moves to the hoop and didn't get a call.  SCPA can convert after those charity stripe misses but Humboldt walks on the other end.  High ball screen and its Gutierrez with the long 3 for the lead.  72-71 SCPA with a minute left.  Dawson gets to the rim but can't finish with the right hand (weak hand).  Gutierrez makes 3 of 4 free throws around a Dawson turnover.  St. Croix Prep wins 75-71 in overtime.

Post Game:
Humboldt finishes their season 8-17.  They lose their last 12 games of the season.  Demond Dawson leads the Hawks with 22 points.  The 5'8" lefty would be a nice pickup for some body in the MCAC.  Marion Moore adds 17 points.  Terel Haughton-Lyons with 14 points.  Nice work by Humboldt out of their 1-2-2 faceguarding Gutierrez.  When he was in a player's area, it was a faceguard.  Different concept but it was effective.

St. Croix Prep is now 14-13 with the win.  Michael Gutierrez was quiet for about 30 minutes in the middle of the game.  But he had 7 quick points and then 2 huge 3s to force overtime plus the one to put them over the top in OT  He ends up with 26 points to lead all scorers.  Jared Shea picked up his game in the middle of the Humboldt zone in the 2nd half to fill in during that Gutierrez lull.  Matt Kaul 3 critical bombs off the bench on his way to 11 points. Sam Richardson with a pair of 3s and 10 points for the Lions.  They will play at 2 seed St. Croix Lutheran on Saturday.