Tri-Metro saints to overtime

Prologue
Off to the 2nd year of Bandas Gymnasium at St. Agnes for an early 530 varsity doubleheader in Frogtown.  Its the St. Anthony boys and girls visiting for east division play in the Tri-Metro.  Oversized hot dog well worth it.  More Barq's Root Beer to wash it down.  And no bull folks, the St. Agnes mascot (a Benny The Bull from the Chicago Bulls clone) was in the house.  A teacher schools all the students in knockout at halftime.  Let's go oldies for today's tune.

Song of the Day:  Three Dog Night - Joy To The World

Number of Teams I've Seen: 131 (44 courts + 2 online).  21 out of state, 9 girls

Beverage Ticker: 803.6 ounces (8845 Calories)
71 days, 96 games, 2 scrimmages added on

• Pepsi: 252.9 ounces (3160 calories)
• Coke: 164 ounces (1960 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 24 ounces (300 calories)
• Sprite: 52 ounces (620 calories)
• A&W Root Beer : 28.9 ounces (410 calories)
• Mug Root Beer: 20 ounces (260 calories) 
• Barq's Root Beer: 32 ounces (430 calories)
• Red Gatorade/Powerade: 201.8 ounces (1425 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 13
Pizza Ticker: 8
Walking Taco Ticker: 6

Game Time:
Rhys Langums productive early with 2 hoops and an offensive rebound for a free throw.  Brandon Plasch productive inside for St. Agnes on this night converting layups or putbacks. His bunny cuts the St. Anthony lead to 8-6 at 13:40.  Then Gary Smith sits at 12:47 with his 2nd foul.  Big loss for the Aggies.  Langums converts a turnover into a dunk to end a 7-0 run and push the lead to 9.  Then an 8-0 run with a pair of triples to push the lead to 25-12 with over 4 minutes left in the half.  St. Agnes counters with an 11-0 run to end the half over those 4 minutes.  Plasch with 2 putbacks to end that run.  25-23 St. Anthony at the break.

Langums with a hoop.  Frosh Tait Nelson converts a turnover.  Langums with a block on 1 end and finishes on the other.  36-28 Huskies with 13:13 left.  Darius Lopez picks up the St. Agnes offense.  he puts back his own miss, banks in a hoop and makes bonus free throws.  Plasch adds another putback in the run as well.  All of that counters a Langums 3 point play.  We're back to even at 39 with 8:35 left.  St. Anthony looks to put the game out of reach with Aaron Smith going backdoor for a reverse and 2 free throws.  Langums with a free throw and Tait Nelson coast to coast for 2 free throws.  Langums finishes the 9-0 run with a hoop at the 5:15 mark.  St. Anthony in control 48-39.

But its another half that they don't finish.  Plasch with yet another putback.  Aaron Smith makes 2 free throws and the lead is still 8 with under 2 minutes left and the ball.  But its Gary Smith with a steal and 3 point play.  Lopez with a steal for another bucket.  Marcus Johnson for 3 after 2 more Aaron Smith free throws and the lead is down to 2 with 50 seconds left.  St. Anthony turns it over again but the Aggies miss a layup to tie.  They get it back and a Johnson drive and shot gets stuck between the rim and backboard.  That means we go to the possession arrow and it goes to St. Agnes.  Almost feel like its destiny to score now  They take time with 18.3 left to draw up a play and its Plasch on the BLOB for a wide open layup.  St. Anthony pushes and can't score.  We'll go to overtime tied at 52.

Its Johnson with a pretty drive to start the OT.  That gives the Aggies their 1st lead since 2-0.  Plasch with a putback countered by an Aaron Smith 3 for a 1 point St. Anthony lead.  Lopez with 2 free throws before a Langums freebie.  58 all.  Gary Smith fouls out with 1:04 left in OT and Dan Carpenter converts the 2 free throws for a 60-58 St. Anthony lead.  Then Langums with the rejection of Lopez and he makes 1 of 2 free throws.  St. Anthony grabs that rebound.  They turn it over but get it right back.  That's the last chance the Aggies get to tie as Langums makes 2-4 free throws along with 2 from Aaron Smith to seal it.  St. Anthony hangs on to win 65-60 in overtime.

Post Game
Darius Lopez leads St. Agnes with 21 points.  He scored 15 of those after halftime.  Brandon Plasch working hard inside as he scored 14 points.  All of those on putbacks or dump offs.  Gary Smith sat the last 13 minutes of the 1st half and finished with only 9 points.  Marcus Johnson good bench minutes as well with 7 points.  Its a dribble drive offense that they really attack out of.  But they were very hesitant to shoot the 3 which allows teams to back off.  St. Agnes falls to 7-10 overall, 1-6 in the Tri-Metro.  5 of those losses by single digits.  The upcoming schedule is brutal with trips to Columbia Heights on Friday and St. Paul Washington on Monday.  Then St. Croix Lutheran visits next Thursday and a trip to New Life Academy.

St. Anthony improves to 14-4 overall, 3-3 in the Tri-Metro.  Rhys Langums with another big game.  27 points (11-17 FTs), 12 rebounds and 4 blocks on my sheet.  While he doesn't like his left hand, he's surprisingly effective going right and spinning left and still scoring with right hand.  Aaron Smith adds 3 triples and 8-8 FTs for 19 points.  Rest of the roster besides Langums was 14-14 from the charity stripe.  Those 25-31 FTs dwarf the 10-13 FTs for St. Agnes.  Their man to man scramble traps at halfcourt also showed some effectiveness.  The Huskies have a pair of competitive league games coming up as they go to Brooklyn Center on Friday and host Columbia Heights next Tuesday.