Eagles tuning up for the Tourney

Prologue
Back to Champlin Park for my 1st opportunity to see Eden Prairie play this season.  That's very late by my standards.   No Nick Geolat for the Eagles as he's out due to injury.   Very small student section for Champlin Park.  Back to the water diet for the beverage counter (newly fixed) and the hot dogs are starting to add up.
  
Number of Teams I've Seen: 140 (53 courts, 2 new, 2 TV games, 105 varsity games)

Beverage Ticker: 704 ounces (5890 calories) + 7.5 liters (1170 calories)

• Pepsi: 344 ounces (4050 Calories) + 2 liters (840 Calories)
• Coke: 24 ounces (280 Calories)+ 500 ml (200 Calories)
• Dr Pepper: 60 ounces (750 Calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 20 ounces (260 Calories)
• Sprite: 36 ounces (420 Calories)
• Water: 4.5 Liters + 200 ounces (0 Calories)
• Gatorade: 500 ml (40 Calories) + 20 oz (130 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 14
Pizza Ticker: 10
Walking Taco Ticker: 8
Pork Sandwich Ticker: 5

Game Time:
Aaron Kloeppner back to back 3s countered by a Ryan Jacobus 3.  Then a very touchy elbowing call on Theo John at the 15:36 mark sends him to the bench with a 2nd foul.  6-5 Champlin Park leading.  Not this ref's last questionable call of the night.  Brian Smith for 3 at the 12:05 mark.  Then we hit an offensive lull before John returns at the 8:39 mark.  He promptly gets foul and makes 2 free throws.  Kloeppner with his 3rd triple for a 22-14 Rebels lead just inside the 8 minute mark.  Then Owen Chose comes to life with 2 3s in a stretch where he scores 11 straight Eden Prairie points.  That's with Brady Rudrud having 2 fouls for EP.  Will Pahl ends a 12-4 Eden Prairie run with a 3 with 2 minutes left in the half.  That pulls the Eagles within 1.  Chris Davis with 2 late free throws for a 37-35 Champlin Park lead at the half.

We're tied at 40 early in the second half when Rudrud gets going.  He scores 9 straight to help Eden Prairie open a 51-46 lead iwth 12:18 left.  Champlin Park goes 1-3-1 and Eden Prairie spreads the floor.  Champlin Park kids with a brief boring chant before starting to hum the Jeopardy theme.  Chose with a hoop to push the lead to 7.  Then its John inside for 2 and adding a free throw plus 2 swats on the other end.  Rudrud sits with his 4th foul at 8:24 and the momentum is with Champlin Park.

McKinley Wright with 2 freebies on Rudrud's 4th and then scores to tie it at 55 with under 8 to play.  Soph Kyler Kluge with a bucket off a turnover countered by a Wright putback.  63-62 Eden Prairie 4:25 to go.  Kluge 2 free throws after grabbing a miss.  Wright driving hard and stopping for 2.  Jacobus with a nice step back.  Wright 2 free throws on a dicey 5th foul call on Rudrud with 3:10 to play.  67-66 Eden Prairie leading but they look to be in trouble.

Kluge and Chose make 4 free throws around a Rebels miss.  Rebels miss again and its Chose with the dagger 3 from the right corner with just under 2 to play.  Bang!  74-66 Eden Prairie on top.  Wright adds a 3 point play and a 3 but Eden Prairie makes their free throws.  Eden Prairie goes on the road and gets the impressive road win 82-74.

Post Game:
McKinley Wright leads Champlin Park with 29 points via 16 free throws.  He scored their last 14 points in the last 5:30 trying to keep the Rebels close.  Theo John with 14 points.  The Rebels really tried to pound the ball into him in the 2nd half.  Very physical play trying to guard him and a ton of fouls called for it.  Aaron Kloppner with 11 of his 13 (3 3s) early in the first half.  10 points outside the big 2 in the 2nd half.  Plus they couldn't get a critical stop.  #5AAAA Champlin Park falls to 17-5 overall.  They're still 13-2 and 2 games ahead of Elk River in the NW Suburban North Division.  Champlin Park travels to Irondale on Friday.

Owen Chose leads Eden Prairie with 26 points.  When he got it going, Eden Prairie came to life.  Ryan Jacobus with 17, Brady Rudrud with 15 before fouling out.  Rudrud a very good glue guy who can score too.  Not your traditional lockdown defensive Eden Prairie team.  But they have a ton of quality guard play even with Geolat out.  Size will hurt them badly.  But they can shoot the 3 and get to the rim and you better not foul them.  They made 18 of 19 free throws in the 2nd half including all 14 in the last 3:48.  Eden Prairie improves to 13-10 overall, 2-3 in the Lake Conference.  But don't let the record fool you into thinking this was a huge upset.  This was a top 5 preseason team and 9 of those 10 losses are by a grand total of 24 points.  8 of those losses by 4 points or less and the last one was by 5.  Eden Prairie visits Wayzata on Friday.  Then Edina visits on Tuesday and its highly possible that the 3 seed in section 2AAAA could be on the line.  Regardless, I don't want to see the Eagles in my draw.