2019 2AAAA Semifinals Thoughts

To a PACKED house at Prior Lake for the 2AAAA semifinals.  The rivalry between Prior Lake and Shakopee starts the night and then a 3rd meeting of Lake Conference foes Edina and Eden Prairie in the 2nd semifinal.  People 3 deep on the rails once we get goign and the stands were full 40 minutes before game when I arrived.  As much as I love a band it would have taken up a ton of needed room.  But still great music all night with Ozzy Osborne, Journey, Scorpions and the Beastie Boys.  Plus a jelly filled cupcake in the stands too.  Why not since it was too full to deal with concessions.

Game 1: 1 Prior Lake 75  5 Shakopee 59
A very tight 1st half.  Shakopee using an 11-2 run to take a 17-15 lead.  Will Cordes with a bucket and pair of free throws in that run.  Brooks Allen doing a very nice job harassing Dawson Garcia on the defensive end.  Allen also doing it on offense with a triple and late bucket in the half.  24-23 Prior Lake at the break.

In the 2nd half the Prior Lake size and defense takes over.  Robert Jones layup, Tyree Ihenacho putback, an offensive board for a Sam Nissen triple, Garcia scoring in the post. 36-27 Prior Lake with over 13 minutes left.  Ihenacho a 3 point play, Nissen a triple, Ihenacho to the reverse and a Garcia free throw.  52-37 Prior Lake with 7:30 left as Shakopee has no defensive answer.  Shakopee with a couple of 3s to hang around.  But Ihenacho with the breakaway dunk of a turnover, Garcia lays in a dump off pass and why not Robert Jones for 3.61-45 with under 4 minutes left and no real danger from there.  Robert Jones with 17 of his 23 after halftime.  Dawson Garcia adds 21 for Prior Lake.  Brooks Allen outstanding with 20 points for Shakopee.  Will Cordes adds 14 for the Sabers.

Game 2: 2 Eden Prairie 63 3 Edina 40
Story of this one was the Eden Prairie defense.  Edina goes scoreless for the last 7:30 of the 1st half as they couldn't buy a shot or many good looks.  That allows Eden Prairie to double a 10 point lead to 20 at the half and they cruise from there.  Ariel Bland was terrific with 14 of his 20 points in the 1st half.  Eden Prairie wanted to use his quickness and that of Austin Andrews to attack Jacob Hutson off the bounce.  Hutson was the only notable offense for Edina with 17 points.  Jack Middleton held to 2 1st half points and a game total of 12 with only 3 field goals.  The defensive work of Drew Edwards off the EP bench deserves a ton of praise for that.  Drake Dobbs with 14 of his 21 in the 2nd half to keep the game out of reach.  Just to show how much the Edina offense struggled.  They had only 2 games this year under 60 points (59 vs BSM a couple weeks ago when I watched and 57 vs Orono) before tonight.  The other 2 games vs Eden Prairie they scored 71 and 77.

That means Prior Lake will host Eden Prairie on Friday night for the 2AAAA championship and a trip to state.  Expect a big time grind it out defensive struggle there as both teams are really good on that end.  But how does Eden Prairie deal with the big front line of Prior Lake?  A shame that this game is a section title game because its worthy of being a state title game.  EP has now won 5 in a row including wins over Minneapolis North and Hopkins in that stretch to go with Edina and Minnetonka twice.