Hornets sting the Tigers

Prologue
The city tour continues with a single Saturday night game. Its Edina visiting Minneapolis South.  Solid walking taco on the menu.  Coke washes it down.  Former North coach Brett McNeil (now the South AD) having to deal with kids triggering the fire alarm via back doors.  Quality old music on the PA during timeouts.  That includes this TV hit.

Song of the Day: John Sebastian - Welcome Back  (Welcome Back Kotter theme)

Number of Teams I've Seen: 154 (53 courts + 5 online).  26 out of state, 13 girls


Beverage Ticker: 1167.6 ounces (12975 Calories)
96 days, 129 games (124 in person), 2 scrimmages added on

• Pepsi: 320.9 ounces (3760 calories)
• Coke: 300 ounces (3340 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces (600 calories)
• Sprite: 112 ounces (1340 calories)
• A&W Root Beer : 28.9 ounces (410 calories)
• Mug Root Beer: 40 ounces (520 calories) 
• Barq's Root Beer: 32 ounces (430 calories)
• Red Gatorade/Powerade: 241.8 ounces (1705 calories)
• Orange Gatorade: 20 ounces (140 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 20
Pizza Ticker: 12
Walking Taco Ticker:10

Game Time:
Its a good start for Minneapolis South.  Demetrius Gladney with a nice back cut for a layup to open the scoring.  He then knocks down a jumper and scores on an inbounds.  14-8 South at 10:30 and Edina calls a timeout.  Coach Joe Burger (I'll get that spelling right) not happy with his crew as he's already gone to a 2nd group of 5.  Cossy Kowouto with a nice post move inside.  Edina for 3 countered by frosh Curtis Jones for 3.  22-13 Tigers at the 7:10 mark.  Edina gets 3 starters back on the floor to go with Walt McGrory right after that.  A long stretch of no dead balls.

Then its all Edina.  Anders Nelson scores and buries a 3 off an Edina offensive rebound.  He grabs his own miss for a free throw.  He'll add another bucket, flare for 3 and another bomb in transition for 8 quick ones in a row.  He opens the 2nd half with a backdoor layup and another putback for a 3 point play.  Nelson scores 19 points of the first 26 in a 28-4 run that crosses halftime.  That takes Edina from 9 down to 15 up just after halftime.  Edina coasts from there to a 94-71 win.

Post Game
Kevin Holler with all 13 of his points in the 2nd half to lead South.  Freshman Curtis Jones with 4 3s and 12 points as well.  South finishes their regular season 5-21 overall, 5-9 (6th) in the Minneapolis City.  They will open the 6AAAA playoffs on March 8th as the 8 seed.  That means a trip to Wayzata or Hopkins in the first round.  Hopkins could make a major statement for that top seed with a home win over Minneapolis North on Tuesday.  This section is always an interesting coaches vote.

Anders Nelson with 28 points to lead Edina.  He scored 19 of those in the big run that ultimately put the game out of reach.  Center Matt Hofrenning off the bench with 21 of his 25 in the 2nd half.  He was working inside and knocking down foul line jumpers.  Walt McGrory had a cold night from the field.  He finished with 12 points and 6 assists on my sheet.  Edina improves to 16-8 on the season.  They finish the regular season with trips to Minneapolis Southwest and Wayzata next week.  The Hornets are still in a battle with Eden Prairie for 3rd in the Lake with Edina having lost both meetings badly. 

As to section, it will be very interesting to see.  Chaska looks like they should be the 1 seed regardless of coaches vote or QRF.  Edina has a neutral site win over Chaska but that was without Andrew Kallman.  Jefferson has a tight win over Edina and a split with Chaska for the Metro West title (most likely).  Eden Prairie has lost 5 of 6 but they have 2 wins over Edina and a win over Jefferson.  They end at Woodbury and at De La Salle.  Prior Lake with 2 wins to finish up could steal a 4 seed based on record if they go QRF.  Minnetonka hosts Wayzata and visits Hopkins to end their regular season.  Prior Lake and Minnetonka are teams I would not want to see as 5 and 6 seeds.  Its going to be a very tough section.