2017 Holiday Kickoff

The 2017 Holiday Tournament Season kicked off with the TCO Holiday Classic at Augsburg.  Since I'll be doing that for day 2, I only watched the 1st game of the day there which was the highlight game.  Then a cross metro trip to the eastern fringes of The Kingdom for a local rivalry game. 

Game 1: #1AA Minnehaha 82 #5A Mayer Lutheran 69 (Augsburg Quarterfinal)
All Minnehaha right out of the gate.  Jalen Suggs with the 1st 5 points for the Redhawks and an assist for a lob dunk to Kaden Johnson.  Johnson adds another bucket and triple.  16-3 Minnehaha at the 13:49 mark.  A ton of fouls called early in this game made it ugly.  That would get Mayer Lutheran to the bonus quickly but they couldn't convert.  6 triples and sloppy play allow Mayer Lutheran to hang around with 7 at the half.  Then Jalen Suggs with his 4th foul with 12:46 left.  He comes back with 8:27 left and none of the 10 point margin lost.  He fouls out with 4:41 left and the lead at 9.  Minnehaha goes the stretch run without Suggs (fouls), Lockett (injury in the 2nd half) and Bickham (DNP).  A Kobey Woolhouse 3 with 4:20 left would cut the margin to 6 but the Crusaders would get no closer.  Lorenzo Smith and Johnson carry the weight down the stretch.  Kaden Johnson with 23 points, Jalen Suggs with 15.  Baden Noenning with 18 to lead Mayer Lutheran.  They make 10 3s but only shoot 9-25 from the charity stripe.

Game 2: White Bear Lake 76 Mahtomedi 65
Tight fit on 1 side at White Bear Lake for this one.  But the wonderful Donatelli's pizza makes it all worth it.  Zac Centers with an early hoop, free throw and triple as Mahtomedi goes up 6.  Sam Schwartz with the answers for that with a pair of triples and a nice scoop finish of his own.  Mahtomedi would get the lead to 7 before the Bears trim it to 2 at the half.  White Bear Lake quickly takes the lead but Mahtomedi immediately counters with a 9-0 run with a triple, 2 free throws and 2 hoops all from different players.  43-36 Zephyrs inside 12 minutes left.  Then the big run for White Bear Lake slams the door.  Schwartz converts a turnover and adds 2 free throws.  Jeremy Beckler for 2 and a cross court pass for a Isaac Tessier triple.  Schwartz 2 freebies and converts another turnover, this time for a 3 point play.  He knock down a triple off a double stagger BLOB for 8 in a row.  Beckler adds 2 hoops to finish it off.  That's a 23-2 Bears run in under 6 minutes.  59-45 with 6:12 left when Mahtomedi takes another timeout to try and stop the run.  That ends my night.  Sam Schwartz goes off for 32 points for White Bear Lake to lead all scorers.  Center Jeremy Beckler with 12.  Blake Charles and Isaac Tessier each add 11.  Only 1 field and a total of 3 points from the Bears bench.  J'Vonne Hadley leads Mahtomedi with 15 points but 11 of those were after the big run.  Zac Centers with 12 of his 14 in the 1st half.  Jack Shay adds 11.  So nice balance from both squads.  7 of the 10 starters plus 4 of the 6 rotation reserves will be back for these teams next year.