Running with Horses

Prologue
Its a trip to Breck to see the Mustangs take on the Brooklyn Center Centaurs.  A restaurant quality mascot indeed.  The concession stand is out of hot dogs and I'm impatient.  Therefore I settle for 250 calories worth of Snickers bar.  Vocal crowd on hand and a busy night at the Breck campus.  Breck's building is the old home of the Golden Valley Vikings (1957-1980).

Song of the Day
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses

Number of Teams I've Seen: 34 (7 courts)

Beverage Ticker: 164 ounces (1720 Calories)
16 days, 17 games, 2 scrimmages added on

• Pepsi: 40 ounces (500 calories)
• Coke: 40 ounces (480 calories)
• Sprite: 20 ounces (240 calories)
• Red Gatorade: 64 ounces (500 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 2
Walking Taco Ticker: 2

Game Time:
Its an ugly start.  Breck goes 2-3 zone and Brooklyn Center settles for a bunch of 3s.  The only one that goes in is from Lu'Cye Patterson.  That was on a kickout of a rebound which often leads to a great look.  Meanwhile Breck struggling to take care of the rock as they turnover it over a ton.  Breck finally gets on the board with a run out for a layup at 13:30.  A quiet half for Breck star David Roddy but he scores on UCLA cut to a post up.  Sam Willey puts back a miss and that cuts the Brooklyn Center lead to 12-7 at 9:34.  Patterson with a layup off a turnover before a possible flop is Roddy's 2nd foul on a charge.  Deshawn Pickford buries a 3 and takes a steal for a free throw.  The run is 10-2 over 3:25.  That allows Brooklyn Center to take a 31-17 lead to the break.

Down 14, Breck is forced to come out of their 2-3 zone.  Brooklyn Center attacks that with their dribble drive motion.  Adreone Sprinkles buries a pair of 3s via kick-out and an elevator BLOB.  Devonta Prince with a putback, free throw and a dunk.  That blows this one open.  Brooklyn Center up 48-25 with 10:30 left after a 10-2 run.  Roddy gets going with a pair of baseline drives for easy dunks.  They with 4 fouls he strips Prince on an isolation and takes it for another dunk.  He fouls out on another dicey charge call.  Breck coach Marcus Hill gets 2 quick technicals for that and he's tossed.  Brooklyn Center wins 67-44.

Post Game
This was Breck's opener so they fall to 0-1.  They have another critical section game at home on Thursday vs Southwest Christian.  Then its trips to Kennedy and Holy Family on the next 2 Saturdays.  David Roddy with 13 points to lead the Mustangs.  Freshman Kerwin Walton with 10 off the bench.  Breck going with 4 in and 4 out with Roddy staying on the floor for their rotations.  3 of those 4 bench guys being underclassmen.  When Roddy touched the ball, good things happened.  Otherwise the night was an adventure keeping possession.

Brooklyn Center improves to 2-0 with 2 road wins.  Soph Adreone Sprinkles leads the way with 16 points and 5 triples.  Freshman PG Lu'Cye Patterson with 11 points and a handful of assists.  All 7 members of the rotation score and 6 players end up with at least 6 points.  They hit enough shots and forced enough turnovers to take control.  But they aren't big and they showed struggles with shooting.  Next up is the home opener on Friday vs Spectrum.  Then they play in the St. Paul Johnson event on Saturday.