Bird watching in the Metro West

Prologue
Its a chance to join in late and catchup on more of the Metro West with Kennedy visiting St. Louis Park.  I see the ending live online and then get a chance to catch up on the start afterwards.  Charlie Murphy (his former moniker The Old Spice Guy has been retired) on the whistles. 

Game Time
St. Louis Park bringing in the upcoming cold blast early with a 4-20 start from the field.  But Kennedy is turning it over and not making them pay.  11 all at 9:19 of the 1st half.  Then Paris Johnson with 3 straight buckets off live ball turnovers to start an 11-2 SLP run.  Jacob Holm adds a triple to end it.  22-13 Orioles at 6:45.  Another late 3 makes it 30-20 St. Louis Park at the break.  16 Kennedy turnovers in the half and 12 of them live.  9 direct points off those.

Kennedy turns it over on the 1st 2 possessions of the 2nd half to make it look like more of the same.  But these are of the dead ball variety so no points against.  St. Louis Park goes without a bucket for almost the 1st 7 minutes.  Kennedy takes advantage.  Dalton Smazal a drive for a 3 point play, 2 free throws an another bucket.  Amarion Hanspard with 2 FTs.  Kennedy's run is 18-6 in about 10 minutes.  That puts Kennedy on top 38-36 with 7:10 left.

All St. Louis Park from there.  Orioles forward Paris Johnson makes the difference late.  He converts a turnover into a layup, converts 2 free throws attacking vs the Kennedy zone and then a kickout for a dagger 3.  SLP by 7 with 2:44 left.  Kennedy turns it over and SLP dives on it for a timeout.  Johnson adds 1 more 3 point play on the final Kennedy turnover to seal it.  Orioles end the game on a 20-6 run.  St. Louis Park wins 56-44. 

Post Game
Bloomington Kennedy falls to 1-4 with the loss, all in the Metro West.  They'll host Cooper on Thursday.  Guard Amarion Hanspard leads the Eagles with 18 points.  Dalton Smazal adds 13 including 7 important ones during the Kennedy run to claim the lead in the 2nd half.  8th grader Jaleel Donley held his own coming off the Kennedy bench.  Kennedy ends up with 22 turnovers, 18 in their first 38 trips but only 4 in the last 25 trips. 

St. Louis Park gets their 1st win of the year to improve to 1-6.  The schedule has been tough with losses to Edina and Minnehaha along with league foes Chaska and Cooper.  Junior forward Paris Johnson with 2 buckets, 3 free throws and an assist for a 3 in the last 4:43.  He finishes with a game high 23 points.  Blake Anderson with 11 points including draining the 3 on the Johnson assist.  Coach Breitenbucher going to the full bag of offense with 4 out motion, dribble drive and what I call the old Breck delay game.  Once they got cutters moving the offense got better after early struggles.  The Orioles host rival Benilde-St. Margaret's on Friday.

Four Factors

FACTOR	St. Louis Park	Bloomington Kennedy
Effective FG %	37.3%	42.1%
Offensive Rebound %	27.9%	28%
Free Throw Rate	40%	36.8%
Turnover %	11.1%	35.5%
Points Per Possession	0.89	0.71

Czar's law takes the loss in this one to fall to 38-6 on the season.  But the 2nd half of it holds as St. Louis Park does win TO% with a 22-7 edge there.  St. Louis Park ends up with 17 more shot attempts and gets 4 more makes plus the end free throws for the advantage there.