Redhawks make their claim

Prologue
Now for one of the circled games on the schedule.  Back to Minneapolis North for the 1 vs 2 showdown in AA vs Minnehaha.  I expected a zoo and this was anything but that.  Good seats still available.  Quality hot dog and Gatorade keep the counters moving.  In honor of Elton John being here on his farewell tour this week, this week's tunes will all be from his catalog.  I'll be off Thursday for that at Target Center and then I'll see it again in Las Vegas in September.

Song of the Day: Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Number of Teams I've Seen: 155 (125 games, 49 buildings, 22 online)

Beverage Ticker: 919.2 ounces (10120 calories)

• A&W Root Beer: 24 ounces (340 calories)
• Barq's Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)
• Coke: 149.8 ounces (1780 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 44 ounces (550 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 225.8 ounces (1580 calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Pepsi: 322.7 ounces (4030 calories)
• Sprite: 128.9 ounces (1510 calories) 

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 27
• Pizza: 9
• Walking Tacos: 3
• Extras
• French Onion Sun Chips (210 calories)
• 6 Lays Chips (900 calories)
• 1 Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar chips (230 calories)
• 2 Kit Kat (420 calories)
• 4 Snickers (1000 calories)

Game Time:
This reminded me some of Saturday's North game vs Waseca in terms of points but not in terms of how.  Chet Holmgren swatting away everything early on.  Both teams turning the ball over and there's only 1 score in the 1st 4 and a half minutes.  North getting in foul trouble too in a game that was called fairly tight.  Jalen Suggs with a block and bonus free throws.  Holmgren block leads to a layup.  Suggs to Holmgren for a 3 point play.  20-4 Minnehaha at the 5:58 mark.  Davon Townley dunks a lob after a Minnehaha turnover to give North some life.  But North gives up the next 7 to fall behind by 19.  Townley beats the buzzer for a little momentum.  32-15 Minnehaha at the half.  13 North fouls, almost that many turnovers and shots blocked.  Holmgren 9 blocks in the half on my officially unofficial stat sheet.  Plus they shoot no free throws compared to 11-17 for Minnehaha in the half.

Suggs starts the 2nd half with a backcut for a dunk and the lead is 19 again.  But here come the mighty mighty Polars.  Omar Brown with a bucket and steal for a free throw.  Nasir El-Amin runs for a layup.  Eli Campbell for 3 to force a timeout and a tech on Minnehaha.  Campbell makes the techs and North scores on the possession.  North with a quick timeout that appears to be a strange Larry McKenzie special and MoKiller.  But they make the good move to go zone out of that timeout.  Townley with a block and runs for the reward of a 3 point play.  Then Campbell from deep and we're all even at 36.  Game on.  Its a 21-2 North run in 4:20.

Minnehaha counters with the next 7 thanks to 2 Suggs coast to coast trips for a bucket and free throws.  North right back with 8 in a row thanks to a tough floater from Campbell and a Townley putback.  44-43 North with their 1st lead of the night with 7:25 to play.  Holmgren with a reverse layup with 7:05 left to give him a triple double.  He adds a lob dunk right after that.  Townley counters with a slick spinning finish to avoid Holmgren's infinite length.  Suggs with a 3 point play and North takes timeout down 3 with 4:27 left.  Minnehaha promptly turns it over twice and Eli Campbell buries no doubt 3s on both.  Timeout Minnehaha with 3:45 left as they trail 53-50.

Kaden Johnson runs for a layup from Suggs and a blocked shot leads to a Suggs hoop.  Suggs adds a clutch 3 to push the lead to 4.  After the teams trade bonus free throws, its Suggs with 2 free throws and then an exclamation dunk to close it out.  He gets a T for that as the crowd was on him all night but it won't matter.  The run is 13-2 and puts the game away.   North makes 1 of the 2 techs and makes a 3 at the buzzer to close the final margin.  Minnehaha wins 63-59.

Post Game:
For Minneapolis North, Eli Campbell with another quality outing.  He scores 17 of his 19 in the 2nd half with 4 big 3s to help North rally.  Davon Townley struggled early with Chet Holmgren's length blocking shots but once he got going, he actually was able to get some good looks off.  Polars trailed by 19 early in the 2nd half before taking a 3 point lead with under 4 minutes left.  North was able to turn Minnehaha over a little bit and I loved the move to go to the 2-3 and 1-2-2 zones.  North with 2 league games left but they've clinched the city.  They have a trip to Eden Prairie next week and they'll end with St. Paul Central at home in the Twin Cities Game.

For Minnehaha, Jalen Suggs with another big night.  He goes for 33 points and 12 boards.  But only 3 assists on my sheet so not the big ball movement night that we've seen on other nights.  He also added 3 blocks on my stat line.  Chet Holmgren on my count ends with a triple double of 14 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocks.  Most of those rebounds and blocks in the 1st half when North kept coming back for more.  Its no easier for Minnehaha as next they have the trip to the island on Saturday night.  Arrive early for that circus doubleheader.

Last year we didn't get the rematch at state.  For this year, what message does this game leave for a rematch?  If I'm Minnehaha, yes I have the statement that I won but how big a deal is the North rally in the 2nd half?  Minnehaha is prone to turning the switch on and off.  An end to end outing here would have been a major statement especially considering the start.