2015 Holiday Tourneys Days 3 and 4

Its the final 2 days of the 2015 Holiday Tournament season.  I ended my time with championship day at Tartan and then the final day at Augsburg before ringing in the new year.  2 wonderful walking tacos at Tartan (1 with Fritos and 1 with Doritos).  Labor intensive to make and eat but well worth it.  The crew at Augsburg providing me with personal in-the-bleachers hot dog service so I couldn't turn that down.  1 liter + 20 ounces of Pepsi washes it all down.  That's 672.675 more calories for the calorie counter.

Tartan Championship Day
The 7th place game was a battle of depleted teams as Centennial defeated Glencoe-Silver Lake 80-69.  Freshman guard Riley Van Kirk with a pair of 3s but it was his 7-8 FTs in the last 1:24 that sealed it.  He finished with 19 points.  Jacob Popelka 14 for GSL before injuring a knee late.  Centennial playing 8 guys that will return next year not counting Alex Facon who hasn't played this season.

The 5th place game saw Spring Lake Park defeat Chisago Lakes 57-53.  Pretty close game throughout.  Chisago Lakes would be down 11 early in the 2nd half but Dylan Wood would score 16 of his 19 points in the 2nd half to keep the Wildcats in it.  His interior war with Josh Ojile was 2 guys really banging.   Wood would score 3 straight hoops for Chisago Lakes to help cut the lead down to 2.  But a clutch 3 from shooter Mark Raihle would push the lead to 5.  Spring Lake Park makes 9 of 10 FTs in the last 48.2 to counter 8-8 FTs from Chisago Lakes.  Dylan Wood 19. Tom Gillach 17 for Chisago Lakes.  Mark Raihle 17, Erik LeVahn 15 for Spring Lake Park.

Carmel Catholic from suburban Chicago took on Forest Lake in the 3rd place game.  The Corsairs link to the event is assistant coach Sam Ryan who played at Tartan.  They win the award for best nickname I'll encounter all season.  Its a privateer or pirate (french for pirate).  Noah Alm would score 18 of his 25 for Forest Lake in the 2nd half including 13 straight.  But no other Ranger would make a field goal in the last 13:25.  Forest Lake only 1 FG in the last 7 minutes.  Carmel Catholic wins 61-48.

In the championship game, Tartan hosted Lakeville South.  Let it be noted that were only short spurts where Jordan Horn and Jack Sorenson guarded each other.  Sorenson goes nuts in the 1st half with 22 of the 27 (and he assisted on 1 of those 2 other field goals).  Horn counters with his own late spurt to end the half with 16.  31-27 Tartan at the half.  Sorenson give and go and a another hoop to put Lakeville South ahead early in the half.  Inside/out Horn for 3 and Jarvis Thomas with a tip dunk but a Sorenson 3 keeps Lakeville South ahead.  Noah Whalen back to back 3s and Tartan is up 5 with 10 left.  Horn couldn't buy a hoop in the 2nd half after the 3.  Shae Mitchell with 2 nice assists late and its 57 all inside 2 left.  Sorenson to the rack to put South up after a Horn miss.  Another Tartan miss and then they lose soph Cooper Jackson on an inbounds for a wide open layup with 33.8 left.  Mitchell and Sorenson seal it with free throws.  Lakeville South wins 65-59.  Jack Sorenson goes off for 41 points to lead Lakeville South.  Jordan Horn with 25 for Tartan.

Tartan All-Tournament Team
Josh McGreal - Centennial
Dylan Wood - Chisago Lakes
Mark Raihle - Spring Lake Park
Noah Alm - Forest Lake
CJ Duff and  Shareif Belser-Bailey - Carmel Catholic
Jordan Horn, Jarvis Thomas and Elijah Johnson - Tartan
Jack Sorenson, Shae Mitchell and Jack Swanhorst - Lakeville South

Augsburg New Years Eve
The 1st game of the day featured Sibley and St. Paul Johnson.  Johnson playing without Andre Smith who injured a hand late in yesterday's game.  Sibley would take a 6-3 lead but then turnovers would haunt.  Johnson would go on one of their big runs, 16-0 in this case, and blow the game open.  Johnson too athletic and too tough.  Governors win 67-42.  Saivon Parker 18 points with 4 3s for Johnson.  Carlin Clarke added 15 for the Govs. 

Game 2 was Eastview taking on Chanhassen.  Martin Mitchell 2 quick fouls and he has to go to the Eastview bench.  That was after Mitchell hit a pair of 3s in a 9-0 run. Sean Ryan takes over from there.  Eastview would have a 17 point lead in the 1st half.  Mitchell would pick up 2 quick ones to start the 2nd half and go right back to the bench.  Raevon Davis for 3 and a steal for 2 more and the Eastview lead is 18 with 13 minutes left.  Chanhassen would rally with a 12-2 run.  Jordan Bonk with bonus free throws and a hoop.  Good minutes for Alex Spillum off the bench and he adds 2 free throws as Mitchell returned and quickly got his 5th.    Mike Witthus for 3 and a 3 point play from Trey Prince.  All of a sudden the Eastview lead is down to 72-66 with 4:45 left.  Eastview makes 11 of 12 free throws from there.  Eastview wins 85-76.  Sean Ryan 4 triples and 36 points, 20 of those in the 1st half.  Jack Elgren 13 of his 15 in the 1st half to lead Chanhassen.  Trey Prince added 14 for the Storm.

In the nightcap, #1AAAA Hopkins took on #5AA Minnehaha.  The teams start out tied at 4 and its all Hopkins after that.  Jalen Suggs picks up 4 fouls in the 1st half.  Hopkins makes it a track meet with Amir Coffey taking over early.  Anthony Davis off the Hopkins bench (Ish El-Amin DNP) and he ran his way to 13 1st half points (mostly layups). Vinnie Shahid banks in a long 3 at the 1st half buzzer, 63-24 Royals at half.  The 2nd half does see running time with Hopkins bench guys getting minutes.  Hopkins wins 86-53.  Amir Coffey 16 of his 18 in the 1st half..  Vinnie Shahid and Anthony Davis each add 17.  JoVanni Bickham with 16 points and 9 rebounds, Jalen Suggs with 14 points on 4-11 FGs on my sheet.  Those type of percentages will go up as his shot selection improves.  That's something most kids don't get.  The impact of nothing more than shot selection on FG%.  Suggs did show some really nice flashes splitting the pick and roll in the 2nd half.   That's incredibly advanced for any high school player, let alone one as young as him.