Seeing Orange

Prologue
A quiet Monday night on the schedule provides a section 6AAAA matchup.  The color is orange for Robbinsdale Cooper at Minneapolis Washburn.  In a blasphemous moment, I don't do the world famous all-beef hot dog but I did have a can of Sprite.  On the whistle, we have The Rev.  Needless to say he was in full showtime form tonight.  Cooper playing without the injured Beijan Newbern.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 154 (54 courts + 5 online).  26 out of state, 13 girls

Beverage Ticker: 1179.6 ounces (12975 Calories)
98 days, 130 games (125 in person), 2 scrimmages added on

• Pepsi: 320.9 ounces (3760 calories)
• Coke: 300 ounces (3340 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces (600 calories)
• Sprite: 124 ounces (1440 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:
The offenses got off to a very slow start.  Nate Hill with a triple to open the game and a spin for 2 more for Cooper.  Terrell Adams counters that with triple of his own and a drive.  7 all just before the 11 minute mark.  Then the Washburn bench would take over.  They score 18 points in a 20-5 run to break the game open.  Albert Demmings with 8 of those as he controlled the paint.  27-12 Washburn with 3:50 left in the half.  Washburn would take a 29-18 lead to the half.  The bench scored 20 of the 29 Washburn points.

The offenses continue to struggle in the 2nd half.  35-26 Washburn at the 10:44 mark when Demmings makes his 1st appearance of the 2nd half.  Washburn extends the lead to 41-28 with a Cortez Adams hoop and conversion of 2 free throws off a turnover.  Cooper would extend the defense fullcourt and it would rattle the Millers.  Cooper would use that to go on a 14-0 run.  Nate Hill with a steal for 2, a runout for 2 more and he would putback a miss to end the run.  Jalen Miller with a steal for a 3 point play in the run as well.  42-41 Cooper with 6:25 left.  But the Cooper offense can't get a hoop in the next handful of possessions.

Demmings with 2 free throws then a great sequence.  He gets stripped on offense, Cooper can't finish it on their end and Demmings turns it into a 3 point play.  That play looks like a backbreaker.  50-44 Washburn with just under 3 minutes left.  But Cooper isn't done.  Hill with 2 more hoops and Jalen Justice adds a 3.  52-51 Washburn hanging on with 1:36 remaining.  Washburn promptly turns it over but Cooper can't convert.  Then The Rev swallows his whistle on a massive hack going to the rim and blows the out of bounds call.  Cooper has it back but Brandon Charles swats away a putback attempt.  Terrell Adams makes 2 free throws and Cooper misses.  But Cooper gets 1 last chance as they force a 10 second call with 4.1 left.  Washburn had used up their last timeout so they didn't have one to save possession here.  Hill's last ditch attempt is off the board and no good.  Washburn wins 54-51.

Post Game
Nate Hill leads Cooper with 15 points.  Soph guard Jalen Miller adds 11 points off the Hawks bench.  But without Beijan Newbern to create offense, Cooper couldn't get much going.  Cooper falls to 12-10 overall.  They have tough games at St. Louis Park and at Chaska this week.  It will be interesting to see where Cooper falls to in the 6AAAA seeding.  If they lose out, it wouldn't be out of the question to see them in the 6 seed and a 1st round rivalry game vs Armstrong.

Washburn improves to 14-10 overall, 7-7 in the Minneapolis City.  Albert Demmings leads the Millers with 15 points coming off the bench.  Terrell Adams adds 11 points.  Washburn's bench scores 31 of the 54 points.  I was surprised we didn't see more of them.  Particularly Demmings who sat for more than the 1st 7 minutes of the 2nd half after the great 1st half.  I was surprised how rattled they got by Cooper's pressure.  Their guards matchup well with Cooper so I didn't expect that as a problem.  This win would normally be huge in terms of head to head for section seeding but a close loss on the road without your best player might be enough to tilt the scales back to body of work.  Due to the head to head loss to St. Louis Park and finish in the Minneapolis City, I see Washburn ending up as the 5 or 6 seed.