2017 Community Clash Thoughts

Its the final Breakdown Sports USA event of the season as the Community Clash visits Hopkins.  That means I'm up to 1 in every 4 games I've seen being in that gym.  A nice popurri of teams to be seen as metro teams I follow took on non-metro teams that I don't follow.  That made for a fun day.  Another wheat bun hot dog takes care of lunch.  Then leftover Papa John's for dinner.  Coke takes care of the daily beverage needs.

Game 1:  Owatonna vs Park Center
Owatonna's offense would struggle early scoring only 1 field goal in the 9 minutes.  That was off a turnover.  Park Center would get out in transition and go up by 12.  Owatonna fought foul trouble as well in the first half.  Owatonna's defense would clamp down and hold Park Center to 1 field goal in over 7 minutes late in the half.  That would cut the margin to 5. 

Owatonna would rally to take the lead and Park Center would go back up by 6.  Dalton Kubista for 3 to cut the PC lead to 2.  Then Jarius Cook with a putback and a dunk to keep the Pirates up 6.  Kubista again for 3 and banks in another 3 and gets fouled for a 4 point play.  Huskies up 51-50 with just over 3 minutes left. Owatonna would get a great open BLOB look at the buzzer in regulation but missed it. 

In the overtime, Derrick Ogechi would make 6-6 FTs in the last 30 seconds to close it out.  Park Center wins 66-61 in OT.  Dalton Kubista didn't shoot it well but ended up with 23 points and 4 3s to lead all scorers.  Great balance from Park Center. Derrick Ogechi with 16 to lead the Pirates.  Jarius Cook and Losini Kamara added 13 each.  Kamara missed 7 of his last 8 free throws in a major shock.

Game 2: Forest Lake vs Moorhead
I picked this one up in the 2nd half and not much to see.  Forest Lake was up 20 at the break and opened the 2nd half on a 10-0 run to push the lead to 30.  Forest Lake's 4 bench guys (they only dressed 9) saw a ton of time due to that.  Moorhead did cut the lead to 18 which forced the starters back in.  But the outcome was never in doubt.  Forest Lake wins 100-73.  Jake Larson with 20 of his 26 in the 1st half.  Soph John Schrader with 12 of his 16 in the 1st half.  Lefty Drew Hagen is a big point guard for Moorhead.  The freshman was the leading scorer for the Spuds with 16.  Moorhead playing only 1 senior while starting 2 sophomores and Hagen.

Game 3: Woodbury at #6 Hopkins
Jake West would keep Woodbury in this one in the 1st half with 15 points.  Hopkins would use an 8-0 run later in the half to take a 40-35 halftime lead.  Hopkins would pull away in the 2nd half thanks to a 18-6 spurt.  Anthony Davis and Zeke Nnaji with 6 points each in that spurt.  Nnaji using his size advantage to have a big 2nd half.  Davis and Nnaji combine for 26 of their 34 in the 2nd half.  Hopkins wins 89-67.  Jake West 22 and Michael Jones 21 to lead Woodbury.  Hopkins ends with 4 starters at 16 points or more.  Anthony Davis 16, Simon Wright 17, Zeke Nnaji 18 and Ish El-Amin leads with 22 (14 2nd half).  Just too much firepower for Hopkins.

Game 4: Cretin-Derham Hall vs #1AAAA Iowa City West (IA)
This was the showcase game of the day.  The appeal was Gopher commit Daniel Oturu vs Iowa commit Connor McCaffery.  CDH would stretch a 2 point lead to 10 at the half.  Then in the 2nd half CDH would extend that lead to 20.  The final was a 85-72 CDH win but it wasn't that close.  Too much Daniel Oturu as he finishes with 29 points and 14 rebounds.  Ryan Larson would jet his way to 18 points.  Connor McCaffery with 22 points and 6 rebounds to lead Iowa City West.  Patrick McCaffery with 12 points.  But they didn't have much help.

Game 5: Chaska vs St. Michael-Albertville
Due to the late game, I saw the 1st half and the last minute of the game.   This was the easy Chaska win that many expected.  STMA would grind their way to a 2 point lead at the half.  Then STMA would score to tie and have the ball in the last minute to win.  After a turnover, it was Myles Hanson going 1 on 1 out of 4 flat.  A tough foul call on his drive with 2.4 left and Hanson would make 1 of 2 to win it.  Chaska hangs on to win 63-62.  Hanson would finish with 18 points.  Cole Nicholson with a big 2nd half of 15 points to finish with 21.  Nasty last 17 days of the regular season for STMA.  At Maple Grove, Buffalo and Monticello at home, Chaska (neutral) then 4 on the road vs Edina, Rogers, Duluth East and Big Lake.

Game 6: Shakopee vs Pequot Lakes
Shakopee playing 3 freshmen as they reload for the future.  The Sabers would have no problems in this one as they win 64-48.  Forward Jacob Adelman would score 12 straight in the 1st half as the Sabers would pull away.  He finished with 19 points off the Shakopee bench.  Addison Leininger would add 11 points.  Gage Westlund would lead Pequot Lakes with 12 points.