Roaming the North Metro

As we wind down the season, its a 2 night tour of the north metro and 3 leagues.

Game 1 (Monday): #2AAAA Osseo at Spring Lake Park
I begin in the Northwest Suburban.  Osseo won the 1st meeting by 44, did SLP coach Grant Guzy have any super tricks up his sleeve for this one?  Answer, not really.  Osseo's offense just too much in this one.  52 in the 1st half and they roll.  Osseo gets 14 guys in the book and only 4 in double figures.  Great balance.  Allan Anderson with 15 of his 17 in the 1st half including a 4 point play.  Dontae Jones all 17 of his points in the 2nd half.  John Bezdicek another productive night with 15 off the bench.  Aaron Flink with 12 and 4 others with 11 for Spring Lake Park.  Osseo wins 102-67

Game 2: Brooklyn Center at Fridley
Then its off to the Tri-Metro.  The early tipoff gives me a chance to sneak in a rematch of an overtime game from 2 weeks ago.  It didn't disappoint.  That was in spite of the annoying fans who decided to stand on the rail and block the view of the upper deck.  Tessy Pal with 4 putbacks and a layup early for Fridley.  Fridley would end the 1st half on an 11-2 run to lead 33-22 at the break.

Another Pal putback puts Fridley up 37-25 1 minute into the 2nd half.  But Brooklyn Center would make a comeback.  Deshawn Pickford 5 straight.  Toegar Karn with a hoop and a 3.  Lu'Cye Patterson finishes the run with a putback.  We're even at 41 with 10:15 to play  Fridley misses 5 of 6 free throws before Patterson puts BC up 1.  Shyheem Murray for 3 and a dunk to put Fridley back on top 47-43 with 5 minutes left.  Fridley up 4 inside 3 minutes left, but a turnover and an ill-advised 3, lead to a Karn free throw and a Pickford 3 to tie it up.  Very much like the previous meeting.  Fridley misses and a jump ball goes to BC.  They'll hold and its a drive and dish to 8th grader Rudwan Tahir for the game winning 3 with 4.8 left.  Brooklyn Center wins 52-49.  Deshawn Pickford with 15 for Brooklyn Center.  Tessy Pal with 18 to lead Fridley including 5 offensive rebound scores.

Game 3: Cretin-Derham Hall at Mounds View
Finally a big one in the Suburban East.  I join this one in progress tied at 10 with 7:30 to go in the 1st half.  The rest of the half is tight as Mounds View hangs around with 3 triples. 25-23 CDH at the break.  Daniel Oturu comes out and destroys the paint for the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half.  Hoop and a dunk from the right block, hoop from the left block.  2 more inside scores to give him 10 in under 4 minutes.  40-26 CDH with 13:47 left and Mounds View takes their 2nd timeout of the half to attempt to figure something out.  CDH run is 15-3 to start the half.

As you would expect, the Mustangs make a very timely adjustment and go 1-3-1.  That keeps the ball out of Oturu's hands inside.  Mounds View would claw their way back from there.  Zeke Thompson a couple hoops to get the margin to 10 . Nate Albers 5 in a row and the CDH lead is down to 46-40 with 8:15 left.    But Mounds View couldn't get stops.  After 2 Albers FTs with 2:59 left, the Mustangs are still down 6.  CDH helps the cause by missing 8 free throws after that.  Nate Albers hits a pair of clutch 3s.  Mounds View had the ball down 4 with 38.5 left but went looking for a 3 instead of attacking the rim.  That resulted in a turnover and CDH seal it from there by making their last 4 free throws.   Cretin-Derham Hall wins 68-59.  Daniel Oturu with 17 to lead the Raiders.  Chris Perry 15, Jordan Ammons 12.  Nate Albers with 27 points and 5 3s.  He went over the 1000 career point mark in the 2nd half.  CDH hangs on to the top spot in the Suburban East and pushes Mounds View 2 games back into 3rd.  Woodbury remains 1 game back and hosts Mounds View on Thursday.