2016 4AA Semifinals

Prologue
To St. Paul Arlington Washington for the 4AA semifinals.  2 of the top teams in AA represented along with a couple of dangerous programs in Roosevelt and New Life.  Very disappointing crowd turnout for both games.  Its Sprite from the concession stand and McDonald's afterwards.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 172 (65 courts, 2 new, 2 TV games, 143 varsity games)

Beverage Ticker: 930 ounces (8540 calories) + 9.7 liters (1370 calories)

• Pepsi: 432 ounces (4850 Calories) + 2 liters (840 Calories)
• Coke: 92 ounces (1080 Calories)+ 500 ml (200 Calories)
• Dr Pepper: 60 ounces (750 Calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 40 ounces (520 Calories)
• Sprite: 76 ounces (900 Calories) + 500 ml (200 Calories)
• Water: 6.2 Liters + 200 ounces (0 Calories)
• Gatorade: 500 ml (40 Calories) + 40 oz (160 calories)
• Powerade: 20 oz (130 Calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 20
Pizza Ticker: 15
Walking Taco Ticker: 12
Pork Sandwich Ticker: 6

Game 1: Minnehaha vs Minneapolis Roosevelt
Tight game early on at 11 with Elijah Hannah carrying the Roosevelt offense.  Minnehaha then goes on an 11-2 run with 2 JaVonni Bickham putbacks and a pair of 3s from their bench.  Roosevelt cuts it to 5 with a Martez Rodgers 3 but a 9-1 Minnehaha run pushes the lead to 36-25 at the break.  Bickham with a 3 after a 2nd Kaden Johnson 3 to push the lead to 13.  Bickham putback and steal for 2.  53-38 Minnehaha with 9:40 left.  TaRay Graves with a drive for 2 and a triple to cut the margin to 9 with 7:10 left.  Bickham again inside followed by Jalen Suggs to Jose Williamson for a 3 point play.  Roosevelt never gets closer than 9.  Minnehaha wins 75-59.  JaVonni Bickham with a huge night of 23 points and 21 rebounds.  That included a pair of 3s as well, 1 of those with about 4 minutes to go to kill Teddies momentum.  Jalen Suggs an off night of 13 points but a much better 2nd half than 1st.  His supreme confidence is a great asset but it also negatively impacts his shot selection.  Elijah Hannah leads Roosevelt with 22.

Game 2: St. Croix Lutheran vs New Life Academy
New Life lost to St. Croix Lutheran 65-39 in the season opener for both teams so the season comes full circle for one of them tonight.  Trenton Krueger with a block that leads to an Ade Murkey layup to start the scoring.  After a New Life bucket, its 10 in a row from the Crusaders with Murkey hitting a 3 and dunking off a turnover.  12-2 St. Croix Lutheran at 13:41.  Krueger sits with his 2nd foul at 6:14 and New Life hanging around down 14.  Its 30-17 Crusaders with 4:30 left in the half.  Then Aage Rovney knocks down 4 3s in the last 3 minutes including 1 just before the halftime buzzer.  49-23 St. Croix Lutheran and the rout is on.  New Life keeps it in the 25 range for most of the half but the outcome is never in doubt.  St. Croix Lutheran wins 81-52.  Aage Rovney 27 points with 5 3s.  Ade Murkey 22 points and 12 rebounds with the Mr Basketball crew taking a look (to me, he's a no brainer final 5 selection).  Trenton Krueger 16 points.  Ebenezer Ketema with 3 3s and 13 points to lead New Life.  New Life with no answer for the simple right wing pick and roll with Rovney and Krueger (via Euro ball screen offense).  Rovney with a bunch of jumpers off of that and a couple of drives for fouls.  Left wing though, not so much as that was going to his weak hand.  We'll see how well scouted that is.

That sets up an epic rematch for the section title.  These teams played back at the beginning of December (read about it here).  St. Croix Lutheran broke open a halftime tie to take a 21 point lead.  But Minnehaha roared back to cut the margin to 3 late.  St. Croix Lutheran pulled away at the charity stripe to win 96-83.  Minnehaha will want to force turnovers in that game.  Aage Rovney handling the ball vs pressure and providing perimeter scoring is my key to watch.