Keeping pace in St. Paul

Prologue
To St. Paul Como Park for their city game against St. Paul Highland Park.  Smallish crowd on hand.  They missed a great finish to the JV game.  Como with a late stop and hoop to take a 2 point lead.  But then a 1 handed running prayer off 1 foot is nothing but net at the horn to give Highland Park the win.  A disaster on hand as all the hot dogs get taken before I get there.  So no food but a 20 oz bottle of Mug Root Beer more than makes up for it.  I had forgotten how good that stuff is. 

Song of the Day
Adele - Hello

Number of Teams I've Seen: 129 (47 courts, 2 new, 2 TV games, 87 varsity games)

Beverage Ticker: 568 ounces (4700 calories) + 5.5 liters (670 calories)

• Pepsi: 260 ounces (3000 Calories) + 1.5 liters (630 Calories)
• Coke: 24 ounces (280 Calories)
• Dr Pepper: 60 ounces (750 Calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 20 ounces (260 Calories)
• Sprite: 24 ounces (280 Calories)
• Water: 3.5 Liters + 160 ounces (0 Calories)
• Gatorade: 500 ml (40 Calories) + 20 oz (130 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 8
Pizza Ticker: 9
Walking Taco Ticker: 7
Pork Sandwich Ticker: 5

Game Time:
Como Park opens with the 1st bucket.  Then Highland Park jumps on the Cougars.  Mike Cornelious with a hoop, 2 free throws and a 3 point play.  Corneliious with 2 more free throws right before the end of the run.  Its a 21-5 Scots run for a 21-7 lead at the 9:51 mark.  Only Como Park offense early is Demetrice Mitchell.  Mitchell was honored before the game for passing the 1000 career points mark.  Como Park comes back with a 12-0 run of their own.  Donald Ventrelli with bonus free throws and a putback in the run.  Adnan Guled with 2 freebies and a steal for 2 that closed the run.  Cornell Chandler for 2 in the post and coast to coast for 2 more.  Mitchell scoring late in the half for Como.  Highland counters with a putback and pair of free throws.  That keeps the Scots on top 36-34 at the break.

Como Park hot to start the 2nd half.  Its Guled with back to back bombs and no fear.  Mitchell runs out for a dunk.  Then he almost signs a poster after a timeout.  Highland Park trying to finish inside but can't with their small lineup and no help from the zebras.  Dreem Kelly-Jabbar keeping Highland close with a putback and a 3.  Mitchell with another hoop and its 48-41 Como Park with 11:50 left.  Highland Park not done.  Khari Dennis end to end for 2, then a steal for a 3 point play and he converts a turnover for 2 more to tie the game with 10:20 left.  Mitchell puts a kid on a poster and the crowd for both sides is really alive.  Dennis with 5 more in a row.  MoKiller timeout Highland Park after a 16-4 run.  That puts them ahead 57-52 with 7:50 left. 

Jason Jett with a nice give and go cut and he dishes that to Tom Fritts for a layup to cut the Highland lead to 1 with 4 minutes left.  2 Como turnovers become Highland hoops to push the lead to 6.  Jett has 2 3s go down and come back out.  Highland closes it out from there.  Scots win 70-60.

Post Game:
Como Park head coach John Robinson at the end of the bench at the end of the game but he missed the start and an assistant ran the show.  Demetrice Mitchell leads the way with 20 points.  Adnan Guled with a couple big 3s early in the 2nd half on his way to 11 points.  Jason Jett also with 11 points.  His quickness does the name justice.  The Cougars fall to 1-3 in the St. Paul City, 6-8 overall.  They are at Washington tomorrow, then Harding and at Johnson next week.

Highland Park moves to 4-1 in the St. Paul City staying 1 game behind Central for 1st.  They move to 9-7 overall and stay right in the hunt for the top seed in the natural disaster area known as section 3AAA.  As a comparison, 6AAA has 6 teams ranked in front of anybody in 3AAA.  Dreem Kelly-Jabbar came up big for Highland Park with 22 points.  Khari Dennis big hoops in the 2nd half on his way to 13.  Mike Cornelious with 11.  Busy schedule for the Scots with 3 games in 4 days coming up.  They are at Sibley on Saturday, at Roosevelt on Monday and host Washington on Tuesday.  Then they have Central and Johnson at home in the 2nd rotation of league play.