Go big but avoid the long ride home

After spending opening night in Wisconsin, its time to come back for the Minnesota season.  I took in 3 Saturday games involving teams from section 7AAA.  Definitely needed that to cleanse the palate after the disaster that was Wisconsin vs Minnesota football.  Here's what stuck out to me from those games.

Game 1: Hibbing 78 Chisago Lakes 68
Hibbing's Ray Brau had his way inside in the 1st half, but it was a hot streak from outside to end the 1st half that took a 5 point game to 18 at the break.  14-0 Hibbing going into the half.  That lead was as many as 19 in the 2nd half but Joe Couwenhoven put up 20 of his 30 points in the 2nd half.  The Wildcats would get as close as 7 but a late 3 from Jack Bottoms would slam the door.  Bottoms with 31 points for a limited Hibbing rotation.  Brau did most of his damage in the first half.  I had him with 30 points and 16 rebounds on 10 of 19 shooting, 3 offensive fouls led to 6 turnovers though.  The Chisago Lakes offense very much looking to create off the bounce.

Game 2: Princeton 97 Hermantown 78
A young lineup for Hermantown starting 3 juniors and 2 sophs.  Big man Sawyer Senst is a big body inside that is really hard to deal with.  Hermantown's 1-2-2 press got them off to a nice start.  But then Princeton's run and jump took over and it was all Tigers from there.  Senst with 2 fouls midway thru the first half and then a 3rd at the 4:29 mark.  He would foul out on a charge early in the 2nd half.  But by that point the game was already out of reach.  Big day for Princeton wing Noah Stencel.  He put up 25 of his 37 points in the 1st half.  That included all 6 of his 3s.  Matthew Hallberg added on 15 points.  Guard Ben Sundland led the way for Hermantown with 24 points.  Princeton as usual will play fast and will be very reliant on their 3 point shooting.  Soph Corbin Petcoff for Hermantown scored 11 points and is a nice future piece for the Hawks to work with as they'll return everybody for next season.

Game 3: South St. Paul 87 Duluth Denfeld 54
The first 12 minutes of this one was tight before South St. Paul stretched it out to a 14 point game at the break.   Then the Packers ramped up their defense which led to a 27-4 run.  That blew open a 10 point game and took us to running time.  Donte Branch was the main beneficiary of all the turnovers with 20 points.  Marco London added 5 triples and 21 points.  The Packers with no size had no answer for the quality size of Denfeld.  Carter Brown and Antonio Brown combined for 33 points and had their way in the paint.  That makes the Tuesday matchup vs Minneapolis Camden and their 2 young big men very interesting.

Overall Thoughts 
Not a good day to make the long trips if you were a 7AAA team.  The section is in good hands with talented junior big guys though.  Ray Brau, Carter Brown and Sawyer Senst are good group.  Will Pearson for Chisago Lakes came off the bench and gave the Wildcats their best inside minutes too.  Since its only game 1 I won't play executioner on new coach Tom Terhaar (yet, lol).  Certainly looks like the Wildcats will be able to score though.  Denfeld had a ton to replace at the guard spots and they struggled against South St. Paul's traps and pressure.  Without Mustafa Muhammed, the Packers will be more perimeter oriented.  Addison Tereau with a couple of 3s in that game to show he's more than just a drop off guy in their offense.  Things snowball for better or worse with them.  Once they got rolling in the 2nd half, the game got out of hand very quickly.