Court Storming at the Lakes

Prologue
Its a slick and snowy winter evening on the trip to Minneapolis Southwest.  The Lakers taking on Washburn in the rivalry battle of the southwest corner of the city.  Blah cheese pizza on the menu with Coke, a very meh combination.  Big crowd on hand and it was about 3/4 students.  Augsburg and Carleton also in the building looking on.  KB and the Sunshine Band with special guest The Old Spice Guy on the whistles. 

Season Ticker:

• Number of Games: 105
• In Person: 74
• Online: 31
• Number of Teams: 144
• 4A: 51
• 3A: 32
• 2A: 22
• 1A: 19
• Non-Minnesota: 10 (6 Wisconsin)
• Girls: 10
• Number of Buildings: 35
• Number of Bands: 1

Beverage Ticker: 612.5 ounces (6850 calories)

• Coke: 112.9 ounces (1340 calories) 
• Dr. Pepper: 32 ounces (390 calories)
• Pepsi: 211.6 ounces (2650 calories)
• 7-Up: 12 ounces (140 calories)
• Sprite: 76 ounces (880 calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)
• A&W Root Beer: 24 ounces (340 calories) 
• Killebrew Root Beer: 16 ounces (250 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 72 ounces (480 calories) 
• Berry Gatorade Zero: 12 ounces (0 calories)

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 16
• Pizza: 9
• Walking Tacos: 1
• Extras
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: 3 (630 calories)
• Lays Potato Chips: 3 (480 calories) 
• Doritos: 1 (150 calories)

Game Time:
Offense hard to come by for much of the 1st half.  Christo Polydorou was the exception to that.  He goes 3 point play, triple, a lefty finish for 2 and a free throw.  12-7 SW at 9:18.  Josh Rogers with a quiet 1st half but his steal and dunk followed by 2 free throws gives Washburn a 14-12 lead at 5:55.  Those were his only points of the half.  But Washburn scores only 1 FG the rest of the half after that dunk (span of 7:30).  Cam Holter scoops and scores plus a pair of freebies.  Hakeem Ford bookends the run with a 2 to start and a 3 to end it.  15-2 Lakers run to end the half.  That gives SW a 27-16 lead at the break.

Rogers gets his game going in the 2nd half.  An assist to a cutter for a layup.  He adds a drive for a bucket and another drive for 1-2 FTs to cut the lead to 4.  Then a technical on Southwest leads to 2 Rogers free throws.  He'll grab a miss and go all the way the other way for 2 more.  That puts Washburn back on top 39-38 with 8:30 left.  Game on!

Get all the kids standing for the rest of the night with under 5 min left in regulation.  Quick sidenote thanks to South coach Joe Hyser.  The heating registers on the walls were moved up because back in the day the kids would bang on them in an already loud gym.  You can actually see the original holes in the walls if you look closely.  Didn't matter tonight as we get standing on the top shelf and banging on them.  These are even low enough that I can reach them standing on the top row (but I have to stretch out my 7'4" frame).

Rogers with a putback and the foul with 4:30 left and Washburn leads by 3.  Ford a putback and Polydorou 2 free throws to put SW back ahead.  Rogers takes a dumpoff for a layup.  Ben Elias give and go in the spread floor against pressure defense.  51-50 SW with 2:15 left.  After a couple of misses and turnovers, Holter with a free throw with 43.9 left for a 2 point lead.  Rogers to the rack for 2 and the harm with 25.7 left but misses the FT.  SW will advance that miss and take timeout with 16.4 left.  They decide to go high pick and roll for Polydorou.  He turns it over and Washburn just barely runs out of time to get the winning layup.  Its after the buzzer so we'll play overtime tied at 52.

Each team with a putback to start their offense in the free session. Washburn misses 2 late free throws and has a turnover.  Southwest with their own turnover.  Then out of a timeout with under a minute left they go quick and miss. That gives Washburn the ball back with 32.7 left.  They'll take time and then hold it until their final timeout with 5.6 left.  Interesting choice as you now have to get the ball inbounds.

The final SLOB is a busted play.  It was their standard throw and go action with Rogers taking it out and immediately getting it back.  That was there all night but not on this possession.  Rogers gets denied trying to get it back from post David Worman.  Worman gives it up to somebody else, gets it back on the right block and turns for the bank at the buzzer.  Its good!  Washburn kids storm the court.  Millers win 56-54 in OT.

Post Game:
Josh Rogers with 20 of his 24 points after halftime to lead Washburn.  Nobody else with more than 7 for the Millers.  Only 2 points for Jamar Nelson but I thought he did some good things for them coming off the bench at the point guard spot.  That helped get some of the ballhandling duties away from Rogers.  Rogers also had the task of guarding Christo Polydorou for much of the night.  I liked what they were trying to do out of their chin offense.  Washburn improves to 6-7 overall, 4-2 in the Minneapolis City. That keeps them 1 game behind Henry for 2nd place.  Next up is the late game in the South Metro Showcase at Burnsville on Saturday night.  Then an important one in the city at Edison next Tuesday.

Southwest falls to 2-3 in the city, 7-7 overall.  A big loss for the Lakers in the race for the 6 seed in section 6AAAA.  They are off until next week when they face Sibley at home on Wednesday and Edison at home on Friday.  Cristo Polydorou with 16 points to lead the offense.  Soph Hakeem Ford chips in with 15 from his forward spot. Soph wing Cam Holter adds 10.  Lakers had plenty of chances late plus the 11 point lead at the half.  Good game to learn from for the young squad.