Wildcats win critical section matchup

Prologue
To Minneapolis Henry where the #9AAA Patriots hosts #6AAA Waconia in an important 6AAA matchup.  Henry already with a critical loss to another Wright County team, New Prague, this season.  Smallish crowd on hand but we do get De La Salle head man Dave Thorson looking ahead to sections.  No concessions so the beverage counter remains lonely.

Song of the Day
One Direction - That's What Makes You Beautiful

Number of Teams I've Seen: 139 (52 courts, 2 new, 2 TV games, 103 varsity games)

Beverage Ticker: 588 ounces (3250 calories) + 7 liters (1080 calories)

• Pepsi: 304 ounces (3550 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: 24 ounces (280 Calories)
• Water: 4.5 Liters + 160 ounces (0 Calories)
• Gatorade: 500 ml (40 Calories) + 20 oz (130 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 9
Pizza Ticker: 10
Walking Taco Ticker: 8
Pork Sandwich Ticker: 5

Game Time:
6 in row from Henry break a 5 all tie and force a Waconia timeout at the 14:07 mark.  Josh Rands with 3 early 3s on his way to the 1st 11 Waconia points.  He buries another 3 and its Waconia on top 18-15 at the 10:15 mark.  The Wildcats run is 13-4.  Jordan Lynn with a pair of hoops for Henry.  But Waconia keeps raining 3s.  Joey Korteum with one and Connor Schultz with 3 of them.  Waconia getting those trailing the break or on kickouts.  33-29 Waconia at 3:45.  Julian Jackson 2 hoops to counter yet another Rands triple.  Henry goes to the break up 40-38.  Waconia 8 triples in the half.

Rands 2 more 3s and another Korteum 3.  Jackson counters that with a hoop and then he makes a pair of free throws at the 12:34 mark.  That puts him over 1000 points (not in the game, that would be a record) for his high school career.  51-49 Waconia with the lead.  Then the Wildcats pull away.  Korteum 4 free throws and a drive, soph forward Nick Fulford a 3 point play, forward Jordan Notch with a pretty reverse layup and he scores in the post.  The Waconia run is 15-2 for a 66-51 lead inside 8 minutes to play.  Jordan Lynn with a pair of hoops and a free throw to keep Henry within 70-58 with 4:44 left.  Demetrius Edwards-Brown with 2 late 3s and a free throw but Henry can't rally.  Waconia makes 10 straight free throws to seal it.  Waconia wins 91-72.

Post Game:
Julian Jackson with 21 points inside and Demetrius Edwards-Brown 21 outside to lead Henry.  Jordan Lynn adds 13.  Henry did have some success trying to get the ball inside and pounding the offensive glass.  But getting to shooters was a problem.  Then they give up the 1 big run right after the Jackson 1000 pt free throw.  That run was the difference.  Henry falls to 17-6 overall.  They are 9-2 in the Minneapolis City.  They visit Como Park on Friday.  Then a trip to rival North next Thursday.

Josh Rands lights it up for Waconia with 27 points.  He made 7 of Waconia's 12 3s on the night.  Joey Korteum 2 3s and 21 points.  15 of those came in the 2nd half.  Connor Schultz 3 triples and 13 points from his big man spot.  Quality 5 man motion from Waconia.  Nice job finding guys trailing the break, or driving and throw back to the same spot for open 3s.  Waconia is now 16-5 overall.    The Wildcats are 4-2 in the Wright County East but done with the 1 of the 2 league leaders (Delano).  Rival Holy Family visits on Friday.

Section 6AAA Race
What a race we have in loaded section 6AAA.  Mound-Westonka and Blake clearly get 7 and 8.  Henry due to losses to New Prague and Waconia right now still has to sit at 6.  The rest is a real mess.  If you seed the 3 Wright County teams right now it has to go Delano, Waconia and Orono.  Then what do you do with Benilde-St. Margaret's?  They beat Waconia and De La Salle but lost to Orono.    I don't think you can put Delano any lower than 2 right now.  De La Salle's doesn't have any head-to-head matchups in section play besides the Benilde-St. Margaret's loss (no Goanar Mar).  But you can't discount the losses are all quality and they have nice out of state wins (Milwaukee Washington and La Crosse Central).  Orono has the most to gain with games remaining against New Prague, Delano, Waconia and Henry.  Though the Delano game is the final night and seeding might be done by then.