The Governors reclaim the throne

Prologue
Checking off some of the remaining teams on my list for the season this week.  That means another trip to St. Paul Johnson to see them take on a team I haven't seen yet, Highland Park.  Section 4AAA coaches out in force to see Johnson.  The walking taco always prime eating and 7-Up is the standard choice to go with it. 

Number of Teams I've Seen: 143 (133 games, 84 days, 48 buildings, 24 online)

Beverage Ticker: 1032.1 ounces (11240 Calories)
  • Pepsi: 292.5 ounces (3650 calories)
  • Coke: 189.8 ounces (2260 calories) 
  • Dr. Pepper: 48 ounces (600 calories)
  • Sprite Zero: 20 ounces (0 calories) 
  • Sprite: 188.9 ounces (2240 calories) 
  • 7 Up: 36 ounces (420 calories)
  • Red Gatorade: 140 ounces (980 calories)  
  • Red Powerade: 40 ounces (260 calories) 
  • A&W Root Beer: 36 ounces (510 calories) 
  • Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories) 
  • Barq's Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)
Food Ticker:
  • Hot Dogs: 26
  • Walking Tacos: 7
  • Pizza: 20
  • Pulled Pork Sandwich: 1
  • Chipotle: 1 (thanks to Bethel staff)
Game Time:
The teams trade pairs of 3s in the 1st two and a half minutes.  Then Johnson slowly pulls away.  Neuadeam Adam takes the pass from inside the zone for 3 and Terrel Turner does the same.  With the lead at 7, the Johnson pressure takes effect.  They score 3 of 4 hoops on turnovers in an 8-2 spurt.  That opens the lead to 13 with 4:21 left in the half.  Johnson builds that to 15 at the half.

Highland Park rallies immediately out of the locker room.  Benny Hughes with 2 triples and a layup.  Evan Brodtman starting the 2nd half after coming off the bench to start the game.  He adds a putback and a layup.  That's part of a 14-4 run in the 1st 3:10 and the Scots have the lead down to 42-37.  Mohamoud Bue with a pair of bombs and Ian Gallagher attacking off the slip and pop.  That cuts the margin to 2.  But Highland Park misses 2 chances to tie.  Adam makes them pay by burying a 3 off the extra pass.  Shemar Tucker-Adams with one of his many layups on the night (turnovers a big part of that) and the lead grows to 8 with 6:50 left.  But Highland Park has another rally in them. 

Center Abdalla Mohamed with his 3rd 3 of the night.  Then its Bue, Mohamed and Gallagher with hoops before another Bue 3.  That Bue 3 ties the game at 62 with 4:15 left.  The run is 12-4 in just about 2 and a half minutes.  Johnson guards just too much down the stretch.  Kyle Lee, Jordan Mobley and Tucker-Adams with layups.  Highland Park misses 2 critical front ends.  Brodtman puts one of them back with under a minute left to cut the margin to 4.  Highland Park only gets 1 more bucket and Johnson does enough at the line to hang on.  Govs win 77-68.

Post Game
For Highland Park, they get 4 players in double figures.  Abdalla Mohamed with 16 points to lead the Scots.  The 2nd half was about their guard trio.  Mohamoud Bue with all 13 of his points and 3 triples in the 2nd half.  Benny Hughes with 2 3s and all 10 of his points in the 2nd half.  Evan Brodtman with 10 of his 12 in the 2nd half.  In addition to coming off the bench in the 1st half, he also had to sit with 2 fouls for most of the half.  Scots just couldn't make enough plays down the stretch to win.  Highland Park falls to 8-15 overall, 5-6 in the St. Paul City.  They continue a 4 game road swing to end the regular season with a trip to Como Park on Friday.  Then then finish up at Southwest next Thursday.  Then its likely the 4 vs 5 game at Holy Angels to start section 3AAA play.

After seeing 13 years on top of the league broken last year, St. Paul Johnson clinches the St. Paul City Conference title with the win.  They'll host Minneapolis North in the Twin Cities Game 1 week from Saturday.  They've now won 11 straight to improve to 19-4 overall, 10-0 in the St. Paul City.  Shemar Tucker-Adams leads the Governors with 24 points.  Jordan Mobley adds 16, Neuadean Adam 12, Kyle Lee 11.  This was a Johnson type of game.  The pace was hectic, their traps very effective.  Their strength of guard play definitely came thru all night.  The Govs seed in section 4AAA will be very interesting.  In this section, you just don't know what you'll get after last year's train wreck of a coaches vote.  Despite what will likely be a 21-4 finish, I can't put the Govs higher than 5.  I put them in the 3rd meeting of the year with Fridley in the 4 vs 5 game.  Fridley has beaten the Govs twice this year.  Totino-Grace gets the 3 for me in front of both of them with common opponent Brooklyn Center as the case.  But the way this section voted against TG last year, don't be shocked if TG actually gets the 5 or 6 seed.

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