I've been fighting a flu bug all week so I've been using writing time as rest time for the most part this week. But with the weekend, there's plenty of time for rest. I take in annual Twin Cities Series with St. Paul Johnson hosting this year. Harding wins the freshman game over Southwest 61-56. Center Juzavious Dickerson with 25 points to lead Harding. Southwest with a JV full of sophs plus 3 other sophs on varsity. Add that with a city winning freshman squad and the future looks bright. Minneapolis North no problems with Washington in the JV game as they win 59-42. Washington hard hit by graduation after this season so we'll see lots of those JV guys next year. The mandatory walking taco is also on the menu. They also had Jett's pizza too. Hard to pass that up with my Pepsi. Speaking of food, here are the final regular season ticker counts.
Season Ticker:
- Number of Games: 152
- In Person: 117
- Online: 35
- Number of Teams: 173
- 4A: 62 (everybody)
- 3A: 36
- 2A: 25
- 1A: 22
- Non-Minnesota: 11 (7 Wisconsin)
- Girls: 17
- Number of Buildings: 55
- Number of Bands: 8
- Coke: 178.7 ounces (2120 calories)
- Dr. Pepper: 52 ounces (630 calories)
- Pepsi: 380.5 ounces (4760 calories)
- 7-Up: 12 ounces (140 calories)
- Sprite: 124.9 ounces (1450 calories)
- Mug Root Beer: 32 ounces (420 calories)
- A&W Root Beer: 60 ounces (850 calories)
- Barq's Root Beer: 12 ounces (160 calories)
- Killebrew Root Beer: 16 ounces (246 calories)
- Fruit Punch Gatorade: 144 ounces (980 calories)
- Berry Gatorade Zero: 12 ounces (0 calories)
- Water: 16.9 ounces (0 calories)
- Hot Dogs: 29
- Pizza: 14
- Walking Tacos: 4
- Extras
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: 3 (630 calories)
- Lays Potato Chips: 6 (960 calories)
- Doritos: 1 (150 calories)
Now to the main event. Johnson outworking North early for a 7-2 via 3 layups. Quientrail Jamison-Travis 2 buckets as North rallies back. Johnson had no answer for him inside all day. Jamison-Travis with a putback and 1-2 free throws on another postup. 27-19 North at the 7 minute mark. Julian Hodges keeping Johnson close with a layup and steal for 2 more. Davon Townley with a drive and mean dunk for North. Hodges coast to coast for 2 more before he picks up his 3rd foul. That's on a Jamison-Travis 3 point play. North up 42-34 at the break.
The lead balloons from 5 out to 15 thanks to a quick 8-0/12-2 Polars run. 67-52 with 7:42 left and it appears North will finally pull away. 2 Johnson turnovers for conversions on the other end and the lead is 73-56 with under 5 minutes left. Earlier a foul leads to a minor scuffle that is quickly calmed down. Then the North cheerleaders come on the court for a cheer and are immediately countered by the Johnson cheerleaders who want no part of that.
Johnson won't let the game get completely away. They turn up their scrambling defense and it keeps the game interesting. Jeremiah Knox with a 3 point play, Jesse Foster dunks a turnover, North misses a front end, Knox layup off a dump off and Hodges converts a turnover. That's a quick 12-2 Govs run. 75-68 North with 3:30 left. Johnson won't threaten anymore than that though. A couple missed free throws and a couple of turnovers the rest of the way stop any further chances. North wins 86-79.
St. Paul Johnson finishes the regular season with a 16-8 record. They'll open 4AAA play at home on Wednesday vs St. Anthony. Guard Julian Hodges leads the Govs with 22 points. Jeremiah Knox terrific inside with 20 points, most of those in the 2nd half. Many of the them going right at Davon Townley. Johnson showing that when they ramp up the defense, particularly at home, they're very dangerous.
Quientrail Jamison-Travis was in beast mode all day for North. He bullied anything and anyone in his way for a total of 27 points. 17 of those were in the 1st half. That adds a total different dimension to North's game but it does take Townley out of the post. In this game, minimal touches on offense for Townley despite a major matchup advantage. He ended with 11 points. Willie Wilson with 17 points for the outside production. Sophs De'Meiko Anderson and Jacob Butler combine for 5 3s and 21 points to help loosen the Johnson defense. North effectively using 2-3 and 1-2-2 zone for a majority of the game to keep Johnson's offense at bay. North will open tourney play next Saturday at St. Michael-Albertville as the top seed in section 5AA (that won't be official until Monday but no way North drops). That will be quarterfinal play.
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