Catching Raptors at The Beach

Prologue
Nothing like that last game of the year on the road in the non-conference.  I stay in the city and visit The Beach.  That's #7AAAA East Ridge visiting Minneapolis Southwest.  A quality walking taco on the menu with Powerade.  A limbo contest at halftime.  No chance for me in that one.  Great music on the playlist tonight.  Let's go old school again.

Song of the Day: The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

Number of Teams I've Seen: 155 (56 courts + 5 online).  26 out of state, 13 girls

Beverage Ticker: 1236.5 ounces (13595 Calories)
101 days, 133 games (127 in person), 2 scrimmages added on

• Pepsi: 320.9 ounces (3760 calories)
• Coke: 300 ounces (3340 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces (600 calories)
• Sprite: 144 ounces (1680 calories)
• A&W Root Beer : 45.8 ounces (650 calories)
• Mug Root Beer: 40 ounces (520 calories) 
• Barq's Root Beer: 32 ounces (430 calories)
• Red Gatorade/Powerade: 261.8 ounces (1835 calories)
• Orange Gatorade: 20 ounces (140 calories)

Hot Dog Ticker: 21
Pizza Ticker: 12
Walking Taco Ticker:11

Game Time:
East Ridge playing without Michael Virgin and frosh star Ben Carlson due to injury.  Both teams patient on offense early plus Southwest is playing 2-3 zone.  Michael Remke with a strong first half and he converts a turnover.  East Ridge 6-0 at the 14:07 mark as Southwest needs time.  Marcus Haskins also with good first half minutes for East Ridge.  He scores 1 hoop and adds a triple.  Courtney Brown with a 3 point play to push the Raptors lead to 16-5 midway through the half.  Niko Polydorou off the bench for SW tonight due to senior night.  He scores the 1st 5 Lakers field goals.  Brown adds 2 more hoops and the lead is 26-12 at 4:11.  But East Ridge gets sloppy in the halfcourt and against the 2-1-2 Laker press.  Brennan Hawkins turns 2 turnovers into 5 points.  Coach Paul Virgin takes time to settle his guys down.  Polydorou with a block that leads to a layup.  Hawkins finishes the half with a 3 point play.  East Ridge leads 35-25 at the break.

Nick Christensen with a pair of triples.  Brown adds 4 straight hoops to counter a couple of Hawkins hoops.  That stretches the East Ridge lead to 52-38 with 10:55 left.  But Southwest is pesky.  Hawkins 5 in a row.  Then after the teams trade hoops is Hawkins on the iso for a 3 point play..  The lead is down to 6 and East Ridge turns it over.  But Southwest misses a layup and can't convert when they get that miss back.  Big swing there with 7:45 left.  East Ridge scores and then great ball movement against the zone finds Brown for a dunk.  Southwest misses 2 free throws and Haskins converts an And 1.  Then an offensive rebound for 2 free throws to push the lead back to 14.  East Ridge spreads the floor from there.  The run is 13-1 to put the game away.  East Ridge wins 70-56.

Post Game
Big game on senior night for Brennan Hawkins.  He leads the Lakers with 26 points.  Niko Polydorou adds 15 points and a few assists.  Very nice night for him.  That's 41 of the 56 points.  No other Laker with more than 2 field goals.  They did run a very interesting UCLA entry to a very WORLD'S WORST OFFENSE look.  Southwest finishes the regular season 9-17, 6-8 in the Minneapolis City.  They will open 6AAAA play most likely as the 7th seed.  That means a trip to Wayzata or Hopkins next Wednesday.

No answer for Courtney Brown Jr on this night.  He finishes with 32 points, 19 in the 2nd half.  All of that doing damage inside the zone.  Either flashing to the middle and making plays or more often along the baseline attacking the rim.  Great patience vs the zone by the Raptors.  They didn't settle for a ton of 3s against it, though not 100% patient.  Michael Remke with 10 of his 13 in the 1st half.  Marcus Haskins also in double figures with 10.  Woodbury finishes the regular season 21-5, 14-2 in the Suburban East.  Woodbury will share the league title with them with final night win over Forest Lake.  I see the Raptors getting the top seed in 4AAAA but you can make a great case for Tartan there too.