Island Dreaming

Prologue
To De La Salle to see the #1AAA Islanders take on #1AAAA Hopkins.  With this weather, how I wish I was on a much different island at the moment.  All the Mr Basketball big wigs in attendance.  Hamline in the house as well.  Respectable hot dog and Dr. Pepper on tonight's menu.  Not the crazy atmosphere you might have expected since it is a Wednesday night (family night for those at public schools, separation of church and state).  But expect a mad house for Minnehaha in a couple of weeks.  Lou Smith one of the fine crew on duty.  We get the D Clap right before the opening tip which is rare.  That's usually reserved for a big rally.


Number of Teams I've Seen: 143 (108 games, 45 buildings, 16 online)

Beverage Ticker: 779.2 ounces (8620 calories)

• A&W Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Barq's Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)
• Coke: 109.8 ounces (1300 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 44 ounces (550 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 185.8 ounces (1300 calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Pepsi: 310.7 ounces (3880 calories)
• Sprite: 92.9 ounces (1090 calories) 

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 22
• Pizza: 8
• Walking Tacos: 3
• Extras
• French Onion Sun Chips (210 calories)
• 5 Lays Chips (800 calories)
• 1 Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar chips (230 calories)
• Kit Kat (210 calories)
• 4 Snickers (1000 calories)

Game Time
This one stays very tight for most of the 1st half.  Hopkins working inside with a Dane Zimmer putback and layup plus a couple of Zeke Nnaji dunks.  DLS countering with soph Cade Haskins and Jamison Battle knocking down 3s.  14-13 DLS at the 11 minute mark.  Nnaji 2 more inside hoops.  Tyrell Terry zipping the ball around as he finds Kam Givens on the run for a layup.  Then its Terry to Battle for a baseline J and Terry adds his own 3 point play.  Andy Stafford 4 points countered by a Terry hoop and the lead is 29-25 De La Salle.  Then Terry to Battle for 1 3 and then Battle bombs again.  Terry finishes the half with a late hoop.  40-30 De La Salle at the break.

Givens 2 easy buckets and a Terry assist for a triple.  That's an 18-5 run for 47-30 DLS lead with 16:20 left.  Jalen Travis cuts and Terry finds him for a 3 point play.  That's Kerwin Walton's 4th foul.  Travis adds a free throw on the next possession and that's Dearring's 4th foul with 15:33 left.  Terry for 3 and assist to Givens for a layup.  Then a turnover for a Battle triple.  61-37 De La Salle with just under 10 minutes left oh my.

But Hopkins will make it very respectable.  Nnaji high low for 2 and a drive for a dunk.  Walton dunks for a 3 point play.  Terry with a 3 point play.  Nnaji fouled with 7:29 left and that's Battle's 4th foul.  Nnaji makes the bonus freebies and from 20 down here come the Royals. Zimmer with a block and Walton will score on the other end.  Walton adds his only 3 of the night and the lead is down to 13.  Stafford for 3 and converts a turnover.  Lead down to 10 with 3:43 left.  Battle returns to stop the bleeding.

Nnaji scores with 1:26 left to keep it an 8 point game.  Then its Terry to Cade Haskins and why not from deep.  Nnaji counters that and a late bucket will get Hopkins as close as 6.  But time runs out on the rally.  De La Salle wins 75-67.

Post Game
For Hopkins, Zeke Nnaji leads the way with 26 points.  He had some struggles early in the 2nd half getting post touches and finishing the few he had.  Otherwise, he was a handful down low.  Kerwin Walton plagued by foul trouble in the 2nd half scores all 10 of his points after halftime.  Dane Zimmer 10, Jalen Dearring 9, Andy Stafford 9.  Stafford got the task of guarding Terry late but interestingly that went to Walton in the 1st half.  Nnaji had the duty chasing Jamison Battle.  Hopkins falls to 18-3 overall.  After having their last 3 at home, they now have 3 more at home starting with Eden Prairie on Friday.  Then Edina and Minnetonka next week.

De La Salle improves to 14-4 overall and 12-1 vs Minnesota opponents.  Tyrell Terry was outstanding with 23 points and 9 assists (per the Mr BB guys).  Jamison Battle added 4 3s and 16 points for the Islanders.  Kam Givens with 12 points including an important jumper late.  Another solid defensive effort against a Lake Conference opponent.  The adjustment to put Jalen Travis on Zeke Nnaji was a big one.  Travis physical enough to deal with Nnaji inside and I thought he did a good job in the defensive matchup.  Plus they took Kerwin Walton basically out of the offense and kept Jalen Dearring from becoming a driver.  The rest of the Islanders schedule is league play except for 2 big Saturday showdowns vs CDH and Minnehaha coming up starting in a week.