Pack away the history book

Prologue
Its a day in the Metro East in The Kingdom.  2 tape delay games and then this big one live as #7AAA South St. Paul visits Tartan in a battle of the 2 league favorites. Now think about this.  Just a couple of years ago, if I told you these 2 were playing and only SSP was ranked, would you have thought you'd see that?  That's the quick turnaround that the Packers have pulled off.  Tonight's point guard matchup of DeWayne Thompson of Tartan (formerly of Henry Sibley) and Alonzo Dodd of SSP is a highlight.

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)
Pepsi - 12 oz (150 Cal)

1 Parlour Burger
4 hot dogs

Game Time
This one gave me visions of yesterday's ugliness.  But that's to Tartan's liking as they want a slow grind it out pace.  Neither team every jumps out to a big margin in this one.  8 all at 13 minutes, 16 all at the midpoint of the half.  Alonzo Dodd picks up a 2nd foul and that triggers a Tartan run.  DeWayne Thompson with a jumper to end a 6-0 run and flip the scoreboard from 3 down to 3 up.  AJ Burns adds 1 of his 2 triples of the half.  Tartan builds their biggest lead of the game 27-21.  They'll take a 31-27 lead to halftime.

Alonzo Dodd converts a turnover and that brings the Packers out strong with 9 of the 1st 12 points in half number 2.  Tartan takes a timeout and promptly scores the next 7.  That forces a South St. Paul timeout.  41-36 Tartan with 14:07 left in regulation.  Shawn West-Zimpel and Devin Newsome (the main guys behind Dodd) both go to the bench with 4 fouls with 11 minutes left.  Coach McCollister goes all out and brings them back quickly.  West-Zimpel's triple with 6:19 left puts the Packers up 53-51.  Tartan goes up 60-57.  Newsome drives and scores, then another South St. Paul layup.  Curtis Favors counters in the post and we're tied at 62 with 45 seconds left.  SSP takes a timeout and holds.  Dodd gets 1 last chance that is no good.  62 all and we'll play free basketball.

Dodd starts the extra session with 2 free throws.  Those are matched by Burns with 2:49 left.  Then a loose ball bounces SSP's way.  The next pass finds Newsome for a pure left corner triple.  Tartan sends the ball back inside to Favors.  He finds Thompson on a great cut.  That 3 point play is also the 5th foul on Newsome.  67 all with 1:12 left.  Thompson then dives on a loose ball and gets the timeout to steal the possession away with 55.7 left.  Favors converts that into 2 free throws with 36 seconds left.  Dodd comes right back down the lane for a 3 point play with 29 seconds left.  Tartan down 1 and they play it out.  Clock winds down, nobody attacking.  Fadeway 10 footer at the horn is no good.  South St. Paul wins 70-69.  Its the first win for the Packers over Tartan in who knows how long.

Post Game
Tartan falls to 2-1 with the loss and 1-1 in the Metro East.  DeWayne Thompson leads the Titans with 23 points.  AJ Burns adds 14, D'Marco Chelley 11, Marko Vukomanovich 10. Those 3 are all juniors.  The game was mostly Tartan's pace, especially in the 1st half and overtime.  They'll need this kind of offensive balance as the season goes on.  Coach Klingsporn with a couple of early timeouts as he wasn't happy with a couple of easy hoops given up.  Tartan is on the road next week for 2 league games at Hastings and Henry Sibley.

Alonzo Dodd leads South St. Paul with 23 points.  Guard Devin Newsome continues to be a major factor for the Packers as well.  He added 17 points.  Marquise Gleb with 13.  Lots of dribble weave action for the Packers.  They had a ton of chances inside that they missed.  That turned into a huge advantage on the glass as they grabbed 32 offensive boards.   Keep it close and while he missed at the end of regulation, Dodd came up with the game winning 3 point play in overtime.  The Packers are now 4-0, 3-0 in the Metro East.  They continue their 5 game league road trip with games at St. Thomas Academy and North St. Paul next week.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Tartan	South St. Paul
Effective FG %	47%	37.9%
Offensive Rebound %	41.7%	56.1%
Free Throw Rate	54.9%	40%
Turnover %	33.8%	27.6%
Points Per Possession	0.90	0.92

So a violation of Czar's law in this one as Tartan not only wins Effective Field Goal Percentage but wins it big and some how loses.  How you ask?  The Packers got up 19 more shots thanks to those 32 offensive boards and 26 Tartan turnovers.  Both teams actually had equal FT attempts so not much difference there.  South St. Paul left a bunch of points on the board with interior misses and free throw misses.