A busy January Saturday includes the 2015 Timberwolves Shootout and the state's leading scorer. Plenty of Pepsi to go around. Plenty of outstanding performances, let's get to it.
Beverage Consumption Counter: 876.9 ounces (52 days, 76 games, 2 scrimmages added on)
- Pepsi: 516 ounces
- Coke: 100 ounces
- Dr. Pepper: 36 ounces
- Sprite: 44 ounces
- Sierra Mist: 12 ounces
- Barq's Root Beer: 20 ounces
- A&W Root Beer: 12 ounces
- Red Powerade: 60 ounces
- Red Gatorade: 60 ounces
- Water: 500 ml
Song of the Day
I'm a Believer - The Monkees
Timberwolves Shootout Review
#1AAA Apple Valley blew out Omaha Central (NE) 79-49 in the opener. Omaha Central totally out of whack in the 1st half as they shoot 6-30 on the big floor. Brock Bertram played well on the interior against Isaiah Chandler on his way to a 18 and 12 day. Gary Trent with another impressive offensive day of 26 and 9. Cam Kirksey 12 points 7 boards and 3 blocks and did a nice job on Magay Agau. Agau finished with 15 and 5 for Omaha Central
Very solid 74-68 win for Cretin-Derham Hall over North Scott (IA) in game 2. A Sam Neumann putback for a 3 point play followed by a Joe Rosga spin move for 2 would give CDH a 19-11 lead midway through the 1st half. North Scott would finish the half on a 17-6 run with North Dakota commit Cortez Seales scoring 7 of those. His NBA 3 at the halftime buzzer would send North Scott to the locker room up 28-25. CDH would start the 2nd half on a 14-3 run. Joe Rosga with 7 of those and Neumann with a critical 3. North Scott would chip away with Seales and Creightom commit Marlon Stewart. But Neumann adds a pair of late assists to break pressure and Rosga makes 4 late free throws to hold on. Joe Rosga leads CDH with 20 points. Sam Neumann with 19. They combine for 28 of the 49 second half Raiders points. Donnell Gresham adds 15 as he's now back in the CDH lineup. Cortez Seales leads North Scott with 25. Marlon Stewart with a quiet 15.
Game 3 started with the Marcus LoVett show for Morgan Park (IL) against De La Salle. He goes off for 26 in the 1st half. He buried 4 3s and was able to get to the rim with difficult scores as well. "Eat Big Fella" and "Cook Him" just some of the commands from the Morgan Park bench during his ridiculous hot streak. That and a 2-3 zone allowed Morgan Park to take a 35-25 halftime lead. They ignored certain guys (very smart) but checking Jarvis Johnson at the 3 point line and not finding Sacar Anim in the middle of the zone wasn't smart. DLS gets some big 3s from the role guys in the 2nd half (0-7 to 6-9 3s in the 2nd half). Anim with a 3 off a great BLOB set and Goanar Mar ignored for 3 to end a 15-3 DLS run. 56-51 Islanders with 5:20 left. Coach Dave Thorson does a masterful job of going offense/defense with Jarvis Johnson's 4 fouls in the last 8:24. LoVett runs out of gas but keeps it interesting late. Jarvis Johnson makes 9-9 FTs in the 2nd half, Anim has a huge 2nd half. #1AAA De La Salle wins 74-66. Sacar Anim finishes with 31, Jarvis Johnson with 18. Marcus LoVett goes off for 39. Strange that Morgan Park got away from the side screen/roll action that was so effective later in the 1st half.
#1AAAA Champlin Park took on Rice Lake in the finale of the shootout. Rice Lake star and Marquette commit Henry Ellenson would pick up 2 quick fouls and his 3rd late in the 1st half. JT Gibson 4 3s in the half and a late spurt for Champlin Park would put them up 12 at half. That lead would grow to 21 thanks to an 11-2 run to start the 2nd half. Then Henry Ellenson goes off. He buries 3 triples as the Warriors cut that lead to 8. Marty Hill and Jeremy Johnson counter with 3s to push the lead back to 14. Ellenson not done. He catches the high low pass in the air and finishes in 1 motion. Then a pair of bonus FTs and a long 3. Then after the Rebels miss the front end of the bonus, he puts back 1 miss and converts a free throw on another. Finally he's fouled on a 3 with 9.1 to go to cut the lead to 2. But Gibson finally puts the game away with 2 clutch free throws. Champlin Park wins 75-71. Henry Ellenson goes for 39 and 18 (29 and 12 of those in the 2nd half). JT Gibson leads Champlin Park with 24. Jeremy Johnson with 20 despite a large chunk of the day trying to defend Ellenson. McKinley Wright with 11 of his 14 in a very impressive 1st half. He also had a fearless drive and finish at Ellenson in the 2nd half.
For the 1st time in the 19 years of the Timberwolves Shootout, Minnesota sweeps the day.
All Shootout Team
Henry Ellenson - Rice Lake
Gary Trent - Apple Valley
Marcus LoVett - Morgan Park
JT Gibson - Champlin Park
Sacar Anim - De La Salle
Then its Richfield at Holy Angels for bragging rights in Richfield. Have to love the "You Don't Live Here" chant from the students. Richfield stuggling this year as they're building for the future with a very young lineup. Holy Angels starting a stretch of what looks like a couple of down seasons. Soph Sam Boehne leading the Holy Angels offense as he controlled the paint. He finished with 21 points. Markest Brown is raw offensively but was active inside to lead Richfield with 14 points. Holy Angels wins 71-63.
Then its off to New Life Academy for their game with Bjorn Broman and Lakeview Christian Academy. New Life opened up a 14-4 lead and appeared to be doing an OK job on Broman. Broman with back to back bombs and a pair of free thows and Lakeview Christian is back within 17-14. Broman misses 4 of his next 5 as he appears to tweak an ankle and missed 34 seconds of time. New Life goes on a 17-2 run for a 34-16 lead at the 7 minute mark. Broman makes his last 6 of the half, including 5 3s. Screen and roll, transition or seriously challenged didn't matter. The Lakeview Christian run is 21-4 as then close the gap to 1. 46-43 New Life at the half. Broman with 33 of those on 11-16 shooting and 7 3s.
New Life did faceguard Broman and then double him on a touch. Conrad Engstrom with a couple of 3s to start his huge 2nd half. That stretches the lead to 9. Broman with a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 7 before Engstrom scores on a give and go and then a great look inside out to find Simon Killeen for a back breaking 3. 75-63 New Life with 5 to play. Broman scores 17 of the last 19 Lakeview points, many of tough shots and a couple cheap ones late. Engstrom with a late layup and then fouled with 7.7 to go. He makes both to reach exactly 1000 points for his career. New Life wins 90-80. Bjorn Broman finishes with 60 points on 19-38 shooting with 8 rebounds on my sheet, but only 2 assists as only 1 teammate had more than 4 points. Broman continues his pace to break his brother's single season scoring record of 1311 points. Conrad Engstrom finishes with 37 to tie the single game record for New Life Academy. He's the 6th player in school history to reach 1000 career points.
