2017 South St. Paul Championships

To South St. Paul for championship day of their 10th annual tournament.  This tourney is both boys and girls but I only appear for the boys games.  Hot dogs back on the menu, they got lonely, with the always entertaining 500 ml bottle (that's 16.9 oz for the ticker) of Pepsi.  Quality music including the Safety Dance.  I've saw that live this fall, most excellent.

3rd Place: Red Wing 63 St. Paul Humboldt 59
Red Wing opens up the lead thanks to a 14-2 first half run.  Their initial 1-3-1 defense not terribly effective so the Wingers get out of it.  Seth Yeatman with a pair of 3s plus a couple of Humboldt turnovers adds to the cause.  That run opens up a 12 point lead.  Humboldt counters with a 7-0 run as Davionte Davis carries the Hawks offense.  Yeatman with another bomb and a nice finish for a 3 point play plus a drive just before the half.  11 point Red Wing lead going to the break. 

Darnell King with 6 in a row for Humboldt after another Yeatman triple.  That's part of a 7-0 Hawks run.  Davis adds a couple of buckets and the lead is down to 6.  43-37 Red Wing with 13:25 left.  2 turnovers become layups and the margin is right back to 10.  Yeatman with another triple countered by the 3rd triple of the night from soph Desmond Lugo.  55-49 Red Wing with 3:10 left.  A turnover sends Humboldt to the line with a chance to get it to 4, but only 1 of 2 is good..  Yeatman makes 4 late free throws to keep a 3 at the buzzer meaningless. Seth Yeatman leads Red Wing with 24 points and 5 3s.  Nathan Carlson adds 13 for the other Winger in double figures.  Davionte Davis leaqds Humboldt with 24 points.  Darnell King scores all 12 of his points in the 2nd half. Desmond Lugo with 3 triples and 11 points off the Hawks bench.


1st Place: St. Anthony 69 South St. Paul 52
Mickey Jah scores 11 of the 1st 15 for St. Anthony.  South St. Paul gets 4 3s from 4 different players.  15-12 St. Anthony at 13:40.  The margin is 4 at 12:30 when the South St. Paul triples stop falling.  They go the next 10:50 with only 1 field goal.  St. Anthony scores 17 of the next 20 during that time.  Tait Nelson with a steal for a 3 point play and a triple off an offense rebound to start that run.  Jah goes coast to coast to end it.  South St. Paul scores the last 6 of the half, including a buzzer beating 3, to keep the margin at 40-25 going to the break.

Ryan Dodd didn't play in the first half for the Packers but he starts the 2nd half.  St. Anthony promptly faceguards him.  The Packers add the 1st 5 in a row of the 2nd half for an 11-0 run.  Jah with 5 straight for St. Anthony around a Dodd putback.  Then Jah adds an assist for a triple.  Tait Nelson adds a 3 point play and the lead is back to 17.  Dodd with a pair of 3 point plays for South St. Paul.  The 2nd gets the margin to 11. But the Packers miss 3 of 4 free throws with a chance to cut the margin.  Tait Nelson adds a dagger triple with 4 minutes left to push the lead back to 15.  The rest is free throws and drives versus an extended defense.  Tait Nelson leads all scorers with 24 points including 4 3s.  Mickey Jah finishes with 22.  The Huskies played the 2nd half without guard Aaron Smith who was injured late in the 1st half.  Ryan Dodd leads South St. Paul with 12 points despite only playing the 2nd half.  Clearly their top offensive option as they gave him numerous 4 flat chances.  Trystan Patnode adds 10.  South St. Paul playing 6 underclassmen in the rotation plus a pair of juniors (Dodd being 1 of them).