Birds of a feather flock together

Prologue
I continue to check off teams that I haven't seen yet with a trip to see Chaska at St. Louis Park.  Its a Minnesota Fury reunion night with multiple players from each team being members of the Fury over the summer.  Pregame McDonalds was a huge disappointment.  A can of A&W Root Beer at the game makes up for it though.  Squealing kids everywhere with it being 3rd and 5th grade travel night.  Alex Conover in the house from Prep Hoops so we can do another Czarcast after the game.  But he steps up his game by correctly naming this tune during a timeout.

Song of the Day:  Rush - Spirit of Radio

Tickers will be updated and included in a future post.

Game Time:
Its a depleted St. Louis Park lineup with no Mykal Howard (wrist), Aidan Doherty or Erik Anderson.  So only 6 of their regular rotation available.  Myles Hanson very active on the glass.  His putback for a 3 point play puts Chaska up 6 at the 7:36 mark.  Cire Mayfield and Joey Whitlock with hoops and St. Louis Park is within 5 at the 3:15 mark.   Chaska scores 11 of the last 14 of the half thanks to a Hanson post hoop and putback,  Andrew Kallman with a triple in that run as well.  34-21 Chaska at the break.

Chaska expands that lead after the 1st hoop of the half by St. Louis Park.  Kallman layup and a 3 around a Hanson spin for 2..  41-24 Chaska with 14 minutes left.  St. Louis Park would rally with 6 in a row to cut the margin to 11.  Mayfield and Jack Lynch scoring in that spurt.  Chaska can't score but the Orioles miss 2 free throws and 3 more chances to cut it to single digits.  Chaska finally gets back to back buckets and the lead is back to 15 just past the midpoint of the 2nd half.

Kallman with a short jumper and converts a turnover.  Then Hanson chases down the break on a turnover and swats it away (possible goaltend).  Soph Cole Nicholson scores it on the other end and the lead is 54-38 with just over 6 minutes left.  Big swing there.  Lynch runs the floor for a 3 point play and a layup and we're back to the magic 11 point mark.  After a Kallman 3, Chaska takes 1 bad shot and then a turnover.  Mayfield and Whitlock turn those into triples.  Richard Green with a hoop and the run is 13-4.  Chaska lead down to 58-51 with 2:35 left.  Chaska closes it out from there with a Hanson hoop and a nice backcut for a dunk.  Chaska wins 71-57.
 
Post Game
Cire Mayfield with an outstanding game for St. Louis Park.  19 points, a bunch of rebounds and generating offense off the bounce for some assists.  He also knocked down 3 bombs.  He has enough bounce that he plays much bigger than his listed 5'10" height.  Joey Whitlock with 11 after some early struggles. Richard Green with 10.  St. Louis Park falls to 5-7 overall, 0-1 in the Metro West.  The Orioles are at Richfield on Friday.

Chaska improves to 8-4 overall, 2-0 in the Metro West.  All 4 of those losses to teams that have been ranked in class AAAA.  Myles Hanson leads the way with 21 points, 19 rebounds and 3 blocks on the Czar's officially unofficial stat sheet.  He struggled with his outside shooting but still was 7-14 from the floor.  Andrew Kallman with 12 of his 17 points in the 2nd half.  He knocked down 3 triples.  Soph Cole Nicholson with 12 points including 6 free throws.  Chaska wins the free throw battle by going 19-29 from the charity stripe vs 7-14 for St. Louis Park.  For a team that runs lots of dribble drive that won't make St. Louis Park happy.  Chaska has a big league game at home against Bloomington Jefferson on Friday before trips to Benilde-St. Margaret's and archrival Chanhassen next week.