City surprises collide

Prologue
To Minneapolis South where the upstart Tigers host Highland Park in a close Minneapolis vs St. Paul matchup.  South coming off 2 nice wins last week and Highland Park has a win over Hill-Murray under their belt.  Minnehaha, North and Fridley all scouting the game.  Big Sam from KMOJ looking on as well.  No walking tacos at South tonight, disappointing as they're usually solid there.  So I settle for a hot dog and another bottle of water.  Our tune comes into play thanks to tonight's location and this weekend's Southside Showcase.

Song of the Day
Moby (featuring Gwen Stefani) - Southside

Number of Teams I've Seen: 19 (9 courts, 2 new, 1 TV game)

Beverage Ticker: 24 ounces (190 calories) + 500 ml (210 calories) + 2 liters (0 calories) + 40 oz (0 calories.
14 days (11 possible game days), 11 games, 2 scrimmages added on, includes 1 TV replay

• Pepsi: 12 ounces (150 Calories) + 500 ml (210 Calories)
• Sprite: 12 ounces (140 Calories)
• Water: 2 Liters + 40 ounces (0 Calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 2
Pizza Ticker: 3
Walking Taco Ticker: 1

Game Time:
Pressure man from South effective early as they jump out to a 7-2 lead.  Michael Harris will run out for a couple of South layups after that.  But one thing you will see from a Jon DePerry team is that they play hard.  They make you look bad if you don't work and that's exactly what happened here.  Amitri Collins-Westlund knocks down a pair of 3s and 3 free throws.  That's in a 15-5 Highland Park run for a 17-12 Scots lead at the mid-point of the half.  Khari Dennis with a putback and a drive and Collins-Westlund knocks down a 3 off a turnover.  28-18 Highland Park at the 4:58 mark and South needs another timeout.  South responds with the next 8 points thanks to 3s from Payton Bowdry and Michael Harris.  But Highland Park matches those 3s with 2 of their own to take a 35-28 halftime lead.

South quick out of the gate in the 2nd half.  They score the 1st 9 of the half thanks to another Harris 3 and 2 Bowdry hoops.  37-35 South regains the lead with 14:20 to play.  Then after a Scots free throw, 2 big blocks on defense as the energy level rises.  Highland Park settles down between 2 putbacks and a layup from backup center Will Conzet.  45-43 Highland Park with 9:30 to play.  Harris ties it with a layup before Highland Park scores the next 6.  51-45 Scots with 6:18 left and South coach Joe Hyser wants a timeout to settle his guys down.  Lanky Elerson Smith dunks a dropoff pass out of the timeout to get the home crowd into it.  Then 2 hustle plays from their bench including rolling a loose ball to a teammate for a layup to tie it.  51 all with 4:26 left.  Highland Park not helping themselves with 3 bad shots during that stretch.  Collins-Westlund having the best night for the Scots but not getting touches here.  A Scots turnover turns into a Harris layup with 3:30 left and South is back on top 54-53. 

Another bad shot leads to a Bowdry layup.  Highland Park counters out of a timeout with a BLOB for a WIDE open layup.  Then a silly South foul and Mike Cornelius makes both ends of the bonus to put Highland Park back ahead 58-56 with 1:40 left.  South with a tough miss, followed by a missed Highland Park drive, then 2 good looks don't go down for South.  Cornelius misses 2 free throws but the criminal offensive board of a free throw rears its ugly head again.  Its out of bounds to Highland Park up 2 with 24.1 left.  No BLOB layup out of this timeout.  Cornelius is pushed in the back on the inbound, then scores and initially its called an And 1.  That would have been terrible but it does get corrected for just 2 free throws, though it easily could have been an intentional foul.  Cornelius makes the 1st and South takes time.  The 2nd is around the rim and out and here come the Tigers.  They push up the sideline, get the handoff to Harris and he buries the right wing 3 with 12 ticks left.  59 all.  Here comes Highland Park right away as they choose not to take their last timeout.  They push the ball across halfcourt and Harris steals it with 6 seconds left.  Oh My!  He gets ridden up the sideline and its out of bounds to Highland Park.  That's likely a foul at any other point, especially with the new emphasis.  Scots take their last time out with 3.4 seconds left and the ball at half court.  The initial look for Collins-Westlund in the corner is nicely taken away by South.  Cornelius catches the long skip pass on the inbounds.  He puts it on the deck and is fouled as he throws up the prayer at the arc.  Face in hands moment for a coach there  The clock runs out but the officials put 1.1 back up.  Cornelius misses the 1st, makes the 2nd and banks in the 3rd trying to miss.  Final heave by South is blocked.  Highland Park survives 61-59.

Post Game
Michael Harris with 5 bombs and 25 points to lead South and all scorers.  Payton Bowdry added 10 of his 18 in the 2nd half where he became a much bigger factor.  No one else more than 6.  Elerson Smith gives them a guy who can run and dunk and block a shot.  Johnnie Turner is quick off the dribble though he didn't have success finishing tonight.  2 really bad fouls and a defensive miscommunication for a BLOB layup in the last 2 minutes result in 6 points.  That was indicative of watching the game and wondering if anybody wanted to win it.  South falls to 2-1 overall . They open Minneapolis City play at Washburn on Friday and takes on Bloomington Kennedy in the Southside Showcase on Saturday.

Junior guard Amitri Collins-Westlund leads the Scots with 16 of his 21 points in the first half.  He also had 5 triples in the game.  Fellow guard Mike Cornelius with only 2 field goals but 14 points including the game winning free throws.  Khari Dennis 8 points and productive 2nd half minutes for Will Conzet with 7 points.  The Scots are small but they gang rebound and get after loose balls.  They didn't handle the pressure defense all that well and decision making was suspect for them as well.  They are now 2-0 and have a quick turnaround at Hudson tomorrow.  Then a week off before hosting Fridley and Simley at the end of next week.