Jett leads St. Bernard's to win in Tri-Metro clash

Jordair Jett

Another big one this week in The Kingdom as The Czar makes the trip to tiny St. Bernard's for the #1 Bulldogs big Tri-Metro showdown against #4 Minnehaha. Marc Sonnen with an appearance tonight along with Al Harris of 43 Hoops and Andy Birdsong who coached many of the Minnehaha kids for the Minneapolis Redhawks last summer. Johnson coach Vern Simmons showed up as part of his east side patrol duties tonight.

Jordair Jett off to a quick start for St. Bernard's. He makes a jumper and then a floater, finds Jordan Gittens for a layup and knocks down a 3. Timeout Minnehaha as they're down 11-4 5 minutes in. Jett with 7 quick points and an assist. Minnehaha crawls back with a David Burnham triple and then Taylor Sparkman makes 3 free throws after Gittens fouls him behind the arc. 13-10 St. Bernard's at 9:26. Jett stops and pops, Trent Davis drives for 2 and then posts up Austin Brown for 2 more. 19-10 Bulldogs at 7:25. Gittens puts back a miss to extend the lead to 28-15 with 2:22 left in the half. Burnham breaks a 5 minute drought from the field for the Redhawks with a triple at 1:45 and a twisting 2 after a Jett turnover cut it to 8. With 3 seconds in the half, Greg Meyer gets a strange T (didn't see it and he didn't understand why he got it). After the free throw, Jett goes left baseline for 2 to end the half and give the Bulldogs momentum with the last 5 over 40 seconds. 33-20 St. Bernard's at the break. Jett 6-9 shooting for 13 points. David Burnham with 10 points. Taylor Sparkman with 5 free throws and 7 rebounds.

Back and forth to start the 2nd half as St. Bernard's leads 39-28 with 14 minutes left. Lucas Taddonio now with the assignment on Jett. Jett with a jumper, Taddonio with a putback and Jett posts Taddonio for 2 at 12:45 for a 43-30 Bulldogs lead. Jett goes to the bench and Minnehaha counters with an 8-2 spurt via a Taddonio triple and a 3 point play fro mTaylor Hanson. Jett back as the lead is cut to 45-38 with 10:26 left. Then it gets chippy. Taddonio with 2 fouls in a row on Jett in the post and after the 2nd one a shove or 2 appears to happen (I couldn't really see from my vantage point on the other end). Both guys yapping and Taddonio is hot. He gets a T and he's gone with 9:18 remaining and what does this do to Minnehaha. Jett misses the bonus and Brian Sandifer only makes 1 of the free throws. Parker Hines with a steal on the ensuing possession and as St. Bernard's comes back down they have to take a timeout to avoid a turnover. Minnehaha all fired up as its 50-43 Bernard's with 8:55 left. Hanson with a triple and the lead is down to 4.

Jett with a blow by on the left baseline for a 3 point play to make it 57-50 with 5:33 left. Sparkman then loses Jett for a layup and Austin Brown makes 2 FTs after an offensive rebound. 57-54 St. Bernard's with 4:45 left and that's as close as Minnehaha will get. Trent Davis with a drive for 2. Hanson has a 3 go in and out. Davis responds a cold-blooded 3 on an assist from Jett and the lead is right back to 8 with 4 minutes left. Jett makes 7 of 8 free throws and finds Averey Duncan for a layup all in the last 2:38 as St. Bernard's holds on for a 73-66 win.

For Minnehaha, they fall to 17-2 and break a 13 game winning streak. Taylor Sparkman with 16 poitns and 9 rebounds by my count as he continues to have a nice season. David Burnham with 17 points. Taylor Hanson with a couple of 3s for 13 points and 7 rebounds.

For St. Bernard's, Jordair Jett with 31, 18 in the 2nd half. 10-13 FTs, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on my sheet. Averey Duncan with a quiet 17 points. Didn't feel like he had that many, but I was focused on his defense.

Strategy Session
This game was one of the more fun chess matches between coaches I've seen all year. Here's the progression. Minnehaha starts with Parker Hines at the point, SB counters with Duncan guarding him. In that opening 11-4 stretch, Duncan was too much for Hines to handle as Minnehaha couldn't get into anything. Out of that timeout, Minnehaha counters with 5'6 Austin Brown to be the primary handler. But he's undersized, so St. Bernard's counters by having Trent Davis post up against Brown. In the 2nd half, Taddonio comes in and he too is undersized and Jett takes him down low. Brown wasn't playing well in the 2nd half, so Hines went back to the point and we came full circle down the stretch. So we ended up with a couple of possessions of David Burnham bringing the ball up late. Minnehaha did try to add in a high ball screen to try and relieve some pressure too.

This matchup should decide that St. Bernard's will be the #1 seed and Minnehaha the #2 seed in 4AA East. Write down March 17th at Holy Angels for the rematch (and ultimately the section title game). The adjustments will be very interesting to watch. For me, I'd like to see Taylor Hanson get more post touches such as some high/low with Sparkman.

Jordair Jett picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Arlington at MN Transitions Thoughts

A Wednesday game in the kingdom as Arlington travels to MN Transitions. Last year this was a thriller with Virgil Baker nailing a buzzer beater to win it. Holy Family looking on for their game next Tuesday against MTS. And we have one of more quick trigger refs in the metro doing the game. For those of you who had him in your fantasy leagues, he tossed the MTS JV coach during the first half of the JV game.

Furious pace to start. Jerrell Washington with 7 quick MTS points and we're tied at 14 barely 3 minutes into the game. Deondre White goes right baseline and hammers one home to wake the crowd up. That gives Arlington an 18-16 lead at 13:35. Washington with a 3 point play and then Kevin Noreen with back to back triples and a hoop for 8 in a row. 29-25 MTS at 9:10. MTS then starts to pull away. Kyle Noreen with a 3, Kevin Noreen with a layup and then a 3 point play from Kyle. Kevin finds Kyle for 3 near the end of the run. 22-5 MTS over 5:30 to give the Wolves a 51-31 lead with 3:37 left in the half. Kyle then shoots a 3 that hits front iron and then settles on the bracket supporting the rim. Try that at home to see how soft a touch you have . 54-38 MTS at the break. Kevin Noreen with 17 and 7. Jerrell Washington with 15. Andre Ingram with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks for MTS. Deondre White with 13 points to lead Arlington.

After an Arlington 3 to open the half, MTS gets a Washington putback and 3 point play along with a Kevin Noreen 3 point play for an 8-0 run. 62-41 MTS at 16:37. Kevin Noreen with a couple of layups and a couple of putbacks, Washington with a dunk and then a reverse dunk as MTS blows the game open. 78-50 with 11:35 remaining. So after the 1st hoop of the half by the Phoenix, MTS on a 24-9 run over 6 minutes. Washington goes left baseline for a thunderous 2 handed dunk and the foul with 3:07 left to put MTS at the century mark. 100-76 and both Washington and Kevin Noreen are done for the night. MTS wins 104-87.

Final score doesn't reflect that MTS controlled the 2nd half. My sheet may not be right but it should be pretty close. Kevin Noreen with 31 and 13, ho hum. Jerrell Washington with 35. Andre Ingram with 7 points, 9 boards and 6 blocks patrolling the middle. DeMarkeo Jones with 30 for Arlington in the loss.

Hopkins goes triple figures on Cooper

Mike Broghammer

Welcome to the mass of humanity that is the Hopkins/Cooper showdown. Cooper side very full and we haven't even begun JV yet. Why? The Sophomore game went double OT with Hopkins winning 91-90 after Cooper game from 11 down with 3 minutes left in regulation and hit 2 triples in the last 20 seconds to send the game to OT. Terrell Clay (hope I've got that name right) with 39 for Cooper in the loss. Star 8th grader Riley Dearing (or Carpenter depending on what you believe) missed a chance to win it at the end of the 1st OT. Not only do we get the standard big players (John Millea, Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press in a rare appearance), but we even get the one and only Sid Hartman. But forget press row and those stars, as always I'm right in the middle of the crowd at the front of a bunch of students and sitting behind Robbinsdale mayor Mike Holtz.

Trent Lockett gets the assignment on Rodney as we start. 10-2 Hopkins out to the lead in the 1st 5 minutes. Royce White starts it with a dunk and then finds Mike Broghammer for a dunk to end the run. Great sequence too where Rodney Williams Jr got a block for a Cooper runout that Broghammer ran down and rejected in even better fashion on the other end. Quincy Bethea with a pair of bombs for Cooper. 15-13 Hopkins at 10:35. Kenquane Brown showing he can take Broghammer off the bounce but he's gone to the bench with 2 fouls. Broghammer and Raymond Cowles then go the bench with 2 fouls each. 20-18 Hopkins at 8:39. White with a lob dunk off an inbounds play, a steal that gives him a free throw and an offensive rebound and 2 over Rodney. That rebound was right after Rodney almost posterized Moses Sundufu on the post with a monster 2 handed slam. Sundufu fortunately put him on the line and didn't give up the dunk. After Brown drives and scores and Freddie Burton hits a pullup J, Royce gets another offensive board for a free throw and then another dunk. 30-24 Hopkins with 6:05 left in the half. Rodney picks up #2 trying to get an offensive board at 5:48 at sits for the moment. Marcus Williams then gets his 2nd at 5:02 and he sits (3 Hopkins starters down with 2 fouls at this point). Hopkins 32-30 at that point. Brown then has a 3 go in and out for the best chance of the night to get the lead for Cooper. Royce with 2 more buckets and 2 DJ Peterson FTs make it 38-33 at 2:33 and Rodney comes back in. He goes by Royce for 2 and then Royce counters on the other by going thru him for 2 more. In the last 20 seconds, Moses Sundufu with a triple and then Joe Coleman with a block and a bucket for 5 Hopkins points that give them a 49-40 halftime lead. Royce 7-11 shooting for 16 points with 7 rebounds on my sheet. Quincy Bethea with 7 and Joe Bright with 11 and 5 for Cooper. With all of Hopkins' foul issues, Cooper didn't take advantage of a great opportunity.

Rodney with a lob dunk and Bright puts back a Rodney brick to pull Cooper within 5 2 minutes into the half. Royce then scores and Cowles nails a 3 against a 2-3 zone. Lockett with a layin and just as quick as Cooper was close, the lead is back to 12, 56-44. Rodney with a double clutch 15 footer against Lockett cuts it to 8 with 13:05 left. Lockett with a 3 point play and Rodney counters with a long triple. 59-51 Hopkins outside of 12 minutes left. Hopkins then goes on a 10-2 with 6 Broghammer points and 2 buckets from Lockett. 69-53 with 10:45 left, timeout Cooper and this one is basically over. Rodney comes out of the timeout with a dunk from Bright but Lockett immediately gets a dunk of his own on the other end and the crowd can't get into it. Cooper gets as close as 13 but Cowles nails a 3 with 6:30 remaining that pops the balloon of hope. The crowd starts to file out. Hopkins tacks on an unnecessary layup from Marvin Singleton with 10 seconds left for a 100-78 win.

For Cooper, Rodney Williams with 19 points on my sheet (the scorebook may have him for 21 via 2 I gave to Bethea), 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. He shot around 50% but that's deceptive considering 3 dunks. Besides the dunks he took 1 maybe 2 good shots out of about 10. Very poor shot selection as he tried to do too much. Joe Bright was a beast for them with 17 and 11. Surprising that Cooper showed success with Bright or Brown taking Broghammer off the dribble but never really attacked that weakness. Interesting too that Freddie Burton spent a ton of time in this game off the ball with Bethea handling. Probably to avoid the pressure of Marcus Williams. Despite the loss, it will be criminal if the pollsters drop Cooper down in the polls for this loss. The only exception I might be willing to listen to is if Osseo moves up to #3 and Cooper falls to #4.

For Hopkins, Royce White very quiet in the 2nd half, but he showed up big in the 1st half. Overall I had him for 20 points on solid shooting 9-14. But he's their guy you want to put on the line as he was 2-6 tonight and has struggled there all year. Trent Lockett with a big 2nd half to finish with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Mike Broghammer with 12 points, half during the run that sealed the game, along with 8 rebounds and a pair of blocks by my counts. I was surprised that Cooper didn't try to apply any pressure, especially when Marcus Williams left the game and DJ Peterson was running the point. In-state, they've proven themselves. Will a win in New York City next Friday be a major national poll eye opener?

Mike Broghammer picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Dawson's big night leads SW to victory

A rare after Christmas visit to Minneapolis Southwest as they take on PACT tonight. The place is absolutely dead as there are barely more people in the stands than people involved in the game.

PACT's 6'6 junior center Austin Rink off to a quick start with 7 of the 1st 9 for PACT. 9-7 Panthers at 13:30. Southwest's star center Dominique Dawson (An impoverished man's Sam Dower anyone? He's gotten some lower level looks I'm told) with back to back buckets for Southwest as we go back and forth. 11-9 Southwest at 12:30. Rink with a steal and he goes all the way for a bucket and the foul. We're tied at 15 at 10:44. Southwest tries to pull ahead as they go up 28-23 at 5:20 on a Dawson layin. PACT PG Seth Mathis counters with a 3, but SW gets the lead as far as 6 at the 3:30 mark. But Rink with 4 late points and 2 late blocks in the half for an 8-2 PACT run to end the half. Tie game at 36 at the break. Dawson with 10 points (5-7 FG) and 11 rebounds. Rink with 16 points on 6-11 with 2 rebounds and 2 blocks. Mathis with 10 points and 6 boards.

The teams trade buckets to open the half and then Dawson goes off. A putback for 2, 2 lefty dunks (Time PACT) and then a nice catch on the break for a 2 handed flush. 49-43 SW and PACT needs another timeout at 13:46. Dawson isn't done as he adds on a layup after the timeout for an 8 point lead. SW on an 11-3 run and Dawson with 13 straight points for the Lakers. The Panthers right back as Rink nails a 3 and then sets a high screen that gets Mathis a triple to cut the lead to 2. Rink then finds Paul Nelson on a textbook backcut for a layup and we're tied at 53 with 9:50 left. That's a 10-2 PACT run over 3:40. Dawson with a putback and then another putback for an And 1. Rink counters with a 3 point play of his own. Tied at 59 with 7:51 left and SW wants time. Mick Hedberg with a 3 point play for PACT and they're up 62-59. Dawson fouled on the ensuing possession by Rink at 7:21 and Rink has to sit with 4 fouls. Dawson with a dunk at 6:40 on a nice feed from Antonio Wigfall. Mathis counters with a 3 point play for a 67-63 PACT lead with 6:30 left. Wigfall drives and scores with 3:30 left after 2 Rink FTs and we're tied at 69. Timeout Southwest with 2:45 left and the ball. They find Dawson on the inbounds for an easy 2. Michael Clauer counters with 2 for PACT and we're still tied. LeDarius Aaron misses the front end of the bonus, but Dawson snatches the miss and puts it back with 2:15 left. Mathis with an offensive rebound and fouled after a Rink missed 3, but Mathis only makes 1 of 2 with 1:22 left. 73-72 Southwest leads. Wigfall backdoor at 1:10 for a layin via a 1-4 high set. Rink misses again and a tie up with 52.6 left goes to the Lakers. But Mathis steals in the inbounds and is fouled with 42.5 left. He drains both of those. 75-74 Southwest. PACT almost gets a steal on the next possession too, but Elliot Matheiu with a layup with 26 seconds left. Dan Graffunder misses 2 FTs for PACT with 9.3 left and that's their last chance. Southwest wins 79-76.

For PACT, they fall to 8-9. If you believe the QRF, they're in a battle for 3rd with Spectrum in 4A's West Subsection with a head-head matchup in 2 weeks. Austin Rink finishes with 28 points on 10-21 shooting (including 3 triples), 5 rebounds and 3 blocks on my stat sheet. He's very improved from last season. Seth Mathis with 20 and 12.

For Southwest, the story was Dominique Dawson. 25 in the 2nd half. On my sheet he finished with 35 and 18 and 2 blocks. 16-24 from the field as Rink just didn't have the bulk to deal with him. Jon Berry and Antonio Wigfall add 10 points each. This is the Lakers 3rd win of the year and somehow I've managed to see 2 of them. West Lutheran (the other win I saw) and Highland Park are the other 2 wins.

Week 9 Conference Rewind

With the 1st round of conference games done or just finishing up, I figured it'd be a good time to take a look at what is going on in each of the metro leagues.

Classic Lake
The season is early but Minnetonka is already 0-2 in the league with the loss to Wayzata last Friday. A rough week for Armstrong as they were blown out at Edina and then lost a tough one in OT at Blaine. That loss to Kennedy is still baffling. Wayzata and Edina both rolling along.

Classic Suburban
Tartan, Richfield and Mahtomedi all 2 games back of Sibley. Mahtomedi hosts Richfield on Tuesday to determine who's tied for 2nd with Tartan after 1 rotation. Despite a drought against Stillwater on Saturday, they did get a nice win at St. Thomas Academy on Friday. With St. Thomas being down, section 1AAA looks wide open.

Lake
Does anyone want to win this thing? Chaska was in the thick of the race and they've lost at Rosemount and Eastview in the last 2 weeks. Burnsville has lost 3 in a row. Jefferson lost to Apple Valley. That put Eden Prairie 2 games up and then Jefferson beat them last Tuesday. Lakeville North has won 13 of 14 with the only loss at Eden Prairie. They'll host Jefferson on Tuesday.

Minneapolis City
Washburn and Henry are known teams but how about North. They won at Henry so at worst they'll be 1 game behind Washburn after 1 rotation or at best in a 3 way tie for first with those teams. As I said when they played Richfield in December, Kevin Thompson is a beast putting up 22 a night. If he would have ended up at MTS, that lineup would have been crazy good.

MCAA
Heritage lost 3 in a row this week to eliminate any chance they had in the league (1 of those was non-conference to CHOF). Heritage had the last real shot at Lester Prairie so I'm giving them the crown now. Maranatha in the driver's seat for 2nd after beating SW Christian on Friday but they still have to beat New Life on Thursday.

Missota
4 teams all 3-1 in the league and Northfield is not one of them. That should sort itself out this week. New Prague has Northfield and Farmington. Farmington also has Prior Lake. Northfield looked to be rolling after the win over Owatonna but road losses to Shakopee and Farmington left them out of the top 4.

North Suburban
A 2 horse race with Cooper and Spring Lake Park. Fridley 2 games back of Spring Lake Park for 2nd. Cooper still has a trip to Spring Lake Park at the end of the month. Fridley getting a huge season of 24 a night from Isaiah Thomas for an 11-4 start with no bad losses.

Northwest Suburban
Osseo and Champlin Park where I expected and Sam Dower is having a huge season. Maple Grove about where I would have expected. I thought Blaine wouldn't be at the top of the league, but a stretch of 1-10 was a major surprise. Hopefully the win over Maple Grove this week gets the Bengals going.

St. Paul City
The 1st rotation ends this week. The league is shaking out as the talent shows. Central at 12-4 is a surprise considering what they lost from last year but guys like Taylor Smaller, LeDarian Horton and Jordan Larson are all talented players. Como Park at 2-2 in the league is understandable, but 3-12 with their talent is the biggest surprise.

Suburban East
Mounds View at CDH for 1st place alone to end the 1st rotation on Tuesday. Hastings is the biggest surprise here as they're 9-7 and 4-4 in the league. They stole one from Roseville on Friday night as Roseville committed a foul on their own FT with a second left to lose that one. Mike Muscala having a big season for much improved Roseville but they've lost 6 of 7 now, all by 7 points or less. Stillwater with a young roster and a new coach is only 6-10 and 3-5 in the league.

Tri-Metro
Biggest surprise for me is Minnehaha being 3 games up in the West on De La Salle. St. Paul Academy much improved at 7-7 with Evan McMillan leading the way but sophomore center Gabe Mast is also having a nice season for them. Their top 3 kids return next year.

Be sure to check out my MN Preps column this week (available Monday morning in the upper right corner of the blog). I take a deeper look at the Hopkins/Cooper showdown on Tuesday, a look at a big battle of 2 of the state's top point guards and another team from the NW Suburban.

If you missed any of the games I saw this week, here's the complete list.

• 1/26: New Life at MTS
• 1/27: St. Thomas at Richfield
• 1/29: CHOF at Brooklyn Center
• 1/30: SW Christian at Maranatha (B/G)
• 1/31: Roseville at Central
• 1/31: Mahtomedi vs Stillwater
• 1/31: Cannon Valley Luth vs Concordia-Bloomington

My schedule for the week can be found on the right side in "The Czar's Schedule" section. A busy week with games every day.

Concordia flashes the diamond against Cannon Valley Lutheran

We end the night at the Target Center with Parent's Night for Cannon Valley Lutheran. Concordia Academy of Bloomington gets the guest honors for the night in a boys and girls double-dip. The CVL girls use a packed in 1-3-1 zone for a 28-18 halftime lead. But Madeline Ehrich goes off for 24 of Concordia's 35 in the 2nd half and the Lancers steal a 53-49 win. Ehrich finished with 32. 6-4 junior center Megan Quiram for Cannon Valley Lutheran with 23 points in the loss and somebody needs to find her as she's a next level player.

Matt Saemrow with CVL's first 9 points of the night to counter 6 from Concordia's Sam Fink. 10-9 Concordia at 10:44 in a slow paced game due to both teams playing zone. After Concordia's post Andrew Erdman makes a jumper to tie it at 18, CVL gets triples from Bryan Lamont and Saemorw for the biggest lead of the half, 24-18 with 55 seconds left in the half. 24-20 CVL at the break. Saemrow with 14 points and 4 rebounds. Andrew Erdman with 6 points and 5 boards for Concordia. Jacob Moe with 4 points and 5 boards for Concordia. Concordia alternated man, 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone in the 1st half. Good job by both coaches to get everybody in the game to enjoy the Target Center experience.

Concordia comes out Diamond and 1 on Saemrow in the 2nd half. Caleb Rollins with the bulk of the duty along with Nick Noethe (yes it sounds like the famous actor). Saemrow gets no touches in the halfcourt and he's frustrated. Evan Johnson with a FT line jumper against the 2-3 zone. Fink with a steal for a layup and Concordia leads 38-33 with 10:45 left after a 10-2 run. Saemrow gets a defensive rebound and goes coast to coast for 2 free throws. Lamont with another triple and we're tied at 38 with 8:30 left. Concordia executing well against the 2-3 getting the ball to the high post and looking for the baseline guy at the rim. Jacob Moe in and now he's playing the foul line spot (something that should have been done earlier). He makes 2 FTs with 4:12 left for a 44-40 Concordia lead. Saemrow with a steal but misses the front end of the bonus with 3:45 left. Moe with a couple of misses around an Erdman block. CVL can't generate any offense against the Concordia Diamond and 1. Concordia wins 47-41.

For Concordia, Jacob Moe and Andrew Erdman with 12 points each to lead the Lancers. The Diamond and 1 holds CVL to 3 points in the last 8+ minutes. CVL gets a game high 16 from Matt Saemrow but no FGs in the 2nd half thanks to the tough defense of Rollins and Noethe. His only touches were on rebounds in the 2nd half. Bryan Lamont with 3 triples for a total of 9 points. He really could have been a zone buster vs that diamond and 1. All in all a very fun night for the kids as they got their chance to play at Target Center and take all the pictures on the court along with having Parent's Night.

Steve Froemming from Steven's Sports Report had these thoughts on the game.

Stillwater puts the lid on Mahtomedi's basket

So after the Central/Roseville game I made my way to the Target Center for the evening session. I arrive at the Stillwater/Mahtomedi game with 4 minutes left in the 1st half. Jon Krebs for Mahtomedi and Ryan Duxbury of Stillwater get it done in the 1st half with 11 and 8 points respectively in the 1st half. Miles Heller and Adam Habisch with 8 points each for Stillwater as well. Back and forth in those last 4 minutes as Mahtomedi leads 38-34 at the break. To the 2nd half we go.

Matt David with a 3 and then Krebs with a nice cut behind the zone to get himself a layup at 15:40. Mahtomedi up 45-38. Then the Mahtomedi basket disappears as they get 1 offensive rebound basket and that's all for a 9 minute 40 second stretch. Paul Franklin with a crossover for 2 and a triple. Alex Oman makes a living at the free throw line as Stillwater in the bonus at the 9 minute mark. Krebs makes a jumper with 6 minutes left to break the run but the damage is done as Stillwater leads 61-49. Its a 23-2 Stillwater run with a scoreless stretch for Mahtomedi of 8:50. Stillwater only gets 1 FG in the last 6:45 but they live at the line for a 74-59 win.

For Mahtomedi, Jon Krebs with a nice game of 18 points. The Zephyrs were 2-4 in the 2nd half from the foul line. They had couldn't buy a hoop against the 1-2-2 zone that Stillwater played but they did have some good looks. Stillwater was 22-26 from the line in the 2nd half alone. All 5 starters in double figures for the Ponies with Alex Oman going 10-10 from the charity stripe in the 2nd half and finishing with 19 points to lead the way. Ryan Duxbury with 8 points and 7 rebounds in the 2nd half alone. He finished with 16 points. One of the more amazing facts of the year for me as Stillwater did not make a single substitution in the 2nd half.

Muscala's big day not enough for Roseville

Game 1 of this Saturday takes me to a non-conference showdown at St. Paul Central as the Minutemen host Roseville and Mike Muscala. Mark Klingsporn of Tartan looking at potential section foe Central. Former Como Park coach Dan Brink also looking on.

Early story is Muscala as this game goes back and forth. He gets the 1st 17 Roseville points with lefty and righty buckets. 17-16 Roseville at the 8 minute mark. Ryan Yungers knocks down a couple of triples off the bench for the Raiders (1 on an assist from Muscala) 23-21 Roseville at 6:10. The teams trade before Muscala makes a lefty banker and then a follow up dunk. 30-28 Roseville at 3:20. 33-30 Roseville at the half. Muscala with 21 points and 7 rebounds along with a block. No points in the half from any other Roseville starter. LeDarian Horton with 8 points and 5 boards for Central. Roseville effective with a 3-2 zone the last half of the half.

David Stanley knocks down a triple from Muscala and then a layup for a 9-0 Roseville run out of halftime (12-0 total). 42-30 Raiders 3 minutes into the 2nd half. Horton then gest hot for Central as he gets the 1st 8 Central points of the half with a triple over Muscala, then another triple via The Flex and then a runner. Roseville leads 45-38 with 12 minutes left. Then a 9-3 Central spurt with a couple of 3s and a Taylor Smaller steal for a layup. 48-47 Roseville with 8:40 left. Austin Hultmann on the bench for Roseville with 4 fouls and Horton takes advantage with 3 of 4 FTs. 54-50 Roseville with 5:18 left and Hultmann returns. Cameron Smith with a 3 ball and a Smaller hoop tie it at 56 with 4:07 left. Muscala then with 4 in a row. Eric Grice with 2 and the foul but he misses the free throw. DJ Johnson rebounds the miss and Smaller buries a triple with 2:10 left and Central has the lead at 61-60. Horton rebounds a wild miss by Roseville PG Kenny Farmer but Smaller misses and a tie up goes to Central at 1:27. Jordan Larson misses for Central and Muscala blocks a DJ Johnson layup with 1:10 left. But Roseville can't convert with 1 minute left. Central spreads the floor with Rosevile refusing to foul. Larson makes them pay with a layup with 26 seconds left. 63-60 Central. Roseville doesn't take a timeout and Rylee Hernandez airballs a triple with 9 seconds left. Roseville almost steals a long inbounds pass but Central does make the catch and hit 4 FTs late for a 67-60 win.

For Roseville, Mike Muscala with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks by my count. No one else in double figures but Rylee Hernandez and Ryan Yungers gave them nice bench minutes. Another tough loss for Roseville as they lost a tough one last night to Hastings as well (a foul on their own FT with 1 second left allowed Hastings to pull off an upset Friday night).

For Central, LeDarian Horton with 17, most of the them in the 2nd half. A talented player who can play some inside or out. Jordan Larson and Taylor Smaller with 12 each for the Minutemen.

Maranatha outduels SW Christian

Tonight takes The Czar to Maranatha for a boys/girls homecoming double-dip with Southwest Christian. All 4 teams in the thick of the conference races. One of the best environments of the season with a full house that had a buzz at the end of the 3 PM girls JV game. Great music, great fans and you had to love the Chicago Bulls intros with the spotlight and darkness included. Outside of the top 2 Hopkins games of the season, I haven't seen a better group of fans all season. The Noreen clan all on hand watching. A nice performance of "A High School Musical" at halftime of the girls varsity game.

The Girls Varsity game gets a nice double-double performance from MCA's 8th grade post Onye Osemenam but SW Christian wins easily after a 28-10 start. 54-37 SW Christian wins the girls game to stay in the race with New Life in the MCAA. Boys JV goes double OT with MCA missing a couple of chances to win it. On to the boys varsity game as we're way late getting started. Game didn't end until 10:30.

SW Christian decides to come out 2-3 zone with star Caleb Palkert in the middle. Josh Hanson gets the initial 1 on 1 assignment on Palkert on the other end with Jay Higgins seeing the major minutes in that role. After a couple of Palkert buckets, MCA gets 7 in a row for a 15-6 lead with 6:20 in the half. SW Christian goes on a 10-2 run late in the half thanks to 6 free throws from Palkert. Both teams fail to take the last shot so SW Christian comes back and gets blocked by Hanson who turns it into a free throw for Darian Pittman. 20 all at the half. Palkert with 10 points (2-6 FGs), 6 rebounds and 5 blocks as he's controlling the paint in the zone defense ala Chad Calcaterra. Most of his offense came off of inbounds plays when he wasn't at the foul line (6-6 in the half). Josh Hanson 1 point, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks but 0-5 FGs

Hanson starts the 2nd half with a nice dive to the hoop against the zone for 2. Palkert puts back his own miss before trading triples with Jay Higgins. 28-25 Stars at 15:05. Jamie Hammond with a triple for MCA to tie it at 30 at 13:03. SW Christian now out of the zone going man. Palkert with a post 2 at 11 and Jordan Dye with a putback for a 34-30 SWC lead. But SaVaughn Jordan counters with a layup and then Pittman goes over Palkert for 2 and the foul. 35-34 MCA at 8:18. SWC back to the 2-3 zone. Pittman then gets a steal and finds Hanson for a layup. 37-34 MCA at 6:55. Peter Sorenson with a tip in and Dye with a layup and SWC has the lead back at 5:45. Then a fast sequence with Jordan getting a layup and Pittman scoring around a Sorenson 2 all within 15 seconds. Dye then with a steal for 2 free throws 44-41 SW Christian with 4:19 left.

Then the officiating gets interesting. Pittman gets a layup and finds Jordan on a runout. Palkert goes for the block and gets a technical for slapping the backboard. Terrible call gives him his 4th foul. Josh Hanson hits the 2 technical free throws and Jay Higgins buries a left wing three on the ensuing possession. MCA back on top 46-44 with 3 minutes to play as we continue to go back and forth in the half. Collin Kruse misses a front end for SWC with 2:51 left. Higgins misses a front end at 2:10 for MCA. Palkert gets the ball on the left block and its in and out. Tie up of the rebound goes to MCA at 1:41. MCA over the top of the press. Palkert tries to take a charge on Jordan but the official doesn't think he got there and he's gone with foul #5 at 1:40. Jordan gets the crowd going. But somehow its not a shooting foul and Jordan misses the front end. SWC with a sloppy turnover at 1:24. Higgins misses the front end again at 1:10 but Jordan grabs the offensive rebound. Pittman fouled and finally somebody makes a free throw. The 2 FTs at 1:04 make it 48-44 MCA. Jordan then commits his 5th 2 seconds later on a silly reachin but Dye misses both free throws. After a Higgins FTs, Kruse is wide open and buries a 3 with 48.3 seconds left and SWC still has life. 49-47 MCA. Dye absolutely hacks someone for a steal (no call) and then gets mugged going to the basket (no call). Tie up to SWC. Sorenson with a good post up look from the right box but its no good with 30 seconds left. Pittman on an inbounds tries to throw it off someone's back and fortunately its a tie up that goes to MCA with 23.6 left. Hanson with a bucket on the inbounds but Sorenson comes right back with a strong 3 point play at 15.1. Matt Eickman makes 2 FTs including a rattle around of the 1st one with 14.1 left, SWC down 3 but I think they're out of time outs. They travel with 3.6 left and never get a look. 53-50 Maranatha in a very entertaining class A game.

Southwest Christian falls to 10-5 and they're now 2 back in the MCAA race. Caleb Palkert still not getting enough touches as I've complained about in the past. 1 FG and no FTs in the last 15 minutes. He ends up with 17, 13 and 7 blocks. Just basic post ups for him tonight. Jordan Dye with a nice night of 13 and 6. Peter Sorenson with 11. Everyone except Palkert returns next season.

MCA gets a signature win as they improve to 15-2 and stay 1 game back of Lester Praire (they beat Heritage tonight so no help for the Mustangs). Granted they really struggled against the 2-3 zone and they don't really have a dynamic shooter to bust zones. Darian Pittman leads with way with 14 points. Josh Hanson with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. Nice team, but not the MCA teams of years past. MCA also very young as they only have Matt Eickman leaving the rotation.

ESPN releases in-season class of 2009 Rankings

On January 13th, ESPN released their in-season rankings for the class of 2009 . Read the entire rankings here. Here are the changes to Minnesota players (and others of note) from the last period (August 19, 2008). Read analysis of the new rankings, including an explanation of the drop of Rodney Williams in the ESPN article here. You'll find it to be consistent with what Rivals said last August. I made some comments last August similar to these as well.

Minnesota Players

• Royce White #25, Minnesota (previous #23)
• Rodney Williams Jr #40 (previous #29)

Wisconsin Players

• Jeronne Maymon #55, Marquette (previous #76)
• Jamil Wilson #62 (previous #60)

Other players who have appeared locally

• DeMarcus Cousins #4, UAB (no change)
  
• DJ Richardson #51, Illinois (previous #56)
• Naji Hibbert #61, Texas A&M (previous #59)

CHOF at Brooklyn Center Thoughts

Nate Fiscus

CHOF making the trip to Brooklyn Center as I go to the NW metro for 2 (possibly 3) consecutive nights. Chris Carr on hand watching one of his stars, Freddie Young. Some nice folks from BC giving The Czar a warm welcome tonight. Thanks to them for stopping by and saying hello.

CHOF star Nate Fiscus tweaked his back earlier in the week and started the game in the locker room. With point guard Cole Piepkorn already out for the season with an ankle injury, the Lions can't afford an injury to Fiscus. Demarius Overton with 5 in a row as BC jumps out to quick a 7-0 lead 1:40 into the game. BC up 12-7 when Fiscus comes into the game at 10:43. CHOF with 9 turnovers already. Fiscus gets a couple of buckets to cut the BC lead to 16-15 at 7:20. After a Demetrius Anthony 3, Cody Sarbacker (Piepkorn's replacement) knocks down a pair of triples around a bucket for a personal 8-0 run that puts CHOF up 23-19 at 5:45. Freddie Young picks up his 2nd foul 17 seconds later and he sits for most of the rest of the half. CHOF taking care of the ball for now but the turnovers start up again. 31-27 before the end of the half. Fiscus puts back a miss and then freshman Mahari Wilson puts up a bad shot near the end of the half instead of playing for 1 shot. Sarbacker knocks down a 3 at the 1st half buzzer and that gives CHOF a 32-31 halftime lead. Sarbacker with 4 triples and 16 points in the half. Fiscus 8 pts and 6 rebounds. Overton with 7 for BC. CHOF with 14 turnovers on my sheet.

Freddie Young off to a quick 2nd half start. He finds Overton for a bucket, makes a free throw and then a 3 point play. BC by 7, 43-36 with 14:19 left. Donovan Schoenrock with back to back buckets to cut the BC lead to 3, but Young counters with a steal for 2. Frosh Tyler Strandlund (one of the best freshman I've seen all year) misses 2 free throws for CHOF. On the play Schoenrock picks up his 4th on a technical. Freddie Young makes the Ts for BC and then finds Antone Darrington for 3 on the possession and then drives and goes left handed for 2. 52-40 Centaurs at 11:20. After a trading of buckets, Fiscus returns after a long absence. Darrington with a 3 point play for Strandlund's 4th foul to keep the lead at 10, 59-49, with 7:39 to play. BC cuts it to 6 on a Schoenrock post up with 6:40 left and then gets a turnover but misses 2 chances to cut it to 4. Young with a free throw, Darrington with a 3 point play, Young finds Darrington for 2 more and Young makes another free throw. 66-53 Brooklyn Center with 5:15 left and CHOF never gets closer than 9 the rest of the way. BC wins 77-66.

For CHOF, they fall to 7-7. 4 games in 8 days for them coming up with 3 of those at home. Nate Fiscus not close to 100% with the bad back but he fought thru it for 21 points and 12 rebs on my sheet. Frosh Tyler Strandlund with 8 points and I had 7 rebounds and 6 blocks for him. Cody Sarbacker with 16 of his 20 in the 1st half. Donovan Schoenrock with 12 and 12. CHOF still fighting for the #2 seed in 4A East Subsection. Their problem is a head-head home loss to New Life.

For Brooklyn Center, Freddie Young with 19 points, most of them in the 2nd half. Antone Darrington with 16 clutch points, also most of them in the 2nd half. At 7-8, they still have a fair shot at the #2 seed behind Jordan in the west subsection of 4AA along with Breck and Holy Family. Nice job by the Centaurs of forcing turnovers with a halfcourt trap to get some easy points.

Nate Fiscus picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

More updates on formation of Dakota County Conference

In addition to his previous article earlier today on Hutchinson being admitted to the Wright County Conference, John Millea added this article on the discussions around the formation of a Dakota County Conference. It has all 7 of the South division of the Lake Conference members I mentioned in the previous article. Farmington would be an 8th team. Interestingly enough, Hastings is in the discussions. They're used to going that way in section play, but a move away from the Suburban East and rival Stillwater would be a bit of a surprise.

If that league happens, then the Missota is down to 6 teams split evenly between AAAA schools and AAA schools. The Lake Conference would be down to the 7 north division schools. Shakopee and Prior Lake are natural rivals and would make sense to be Lake replacements. Northfield being 4A might be an option too, but what would happen with the AAA schools. Especially Red Wing and Holy Angels. Would Holy Angels end up in the North Suburban then as a 12th team?

Western domino falls in metro realignment saga

John Millea reporting on the Star Trib preps blog that Hutchinson has been accepted into the Wright County Conference. With Hutchinson being one of the 3 smallest schools, this leaves 7 teams in the Missota. 7 of course is not an ideal number. Where would an 8th member come from? The obvious answer is the Lake which could end up with 14 teams. Having the Lakeville schools defect to the Missota to balance out the numbers (if Edina and Hopkins get sent south to the Lake) would make 9 and 12 and make some geographical sense. Of course, this makes little sense competitively for either Lakeville school. Would Faribault leave the Big 9 (10) to go north? They'd still be stuck as a AAA school in a AAAA league but the travel might be better. Would Owatonna leave to play a bigger school schedule?

If the Lake ends up at 14 with Edina and Hopkins added (why not Hopkins to the NW Suburban and Tonka to the Lake BTW?), how about these for a couple of nice divisions divided by the river.

South: Burnsville, Eagan, Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eastview, Lakeville N, Lakeville S
North: Kennedy, Jefferson, Edina, Hopkins, Chaska, Chanhassen, Eden Prairie

Have Richfield leave the Classic Suburban and you'd have 8 in the Classic Suburban and 8 in the North division for its own league. The South becomes its own thing (called the Dakota County Conference by Millea, unfortunately MN River is already taken) and could do a non-conference football series with the Missota.

And just for humor value, here are links to the full realignment plans that I first posted in August 2007.

• The Czar's 4A Realignment Plan
• The Czar's Realignment plan for everyone else.

St. Thomas Academy at Richfield Thoughts

Mike Fitzgerald

Winona State and Concordia-St. Paul in the building tonight for the St. Thomas vs Richfield game. Not much of a crowd though. Nice to see John Sherman making an appearance as part of his newspaper work.

Phillip Freeman out quick with a couple of triples. St. Thomas turning it over against the halfcourt man D of Richfield. Richfield 6-4 at 15:30. But then STA settles down. After a couple of layups makes it 10-7 Richfield, STA goes on a 13-0 run over 4 and a half thanks to a pair of triples from Mike Fitzgerald. 20-10 Cadets at 8:40. Renard Robinson with 5 in a row to end an 8-0 run to get Richfield back to 20-18 at 7:05. Then STA goes bombs away from 3. Fitzgerald with 2 more triples, Billy Chapman with 2 of his own and Charlie Aslesen with 1. Jim Dimick not happy with his rotation so he puts 5 JV guys in for the end of the half. STA outscores Richfield 21-7 over the last 7 minutes for a 41-20 lead at halftime. Mike Fitzgerald with 17 points and 4 triples for STA. 8 total triples for STA in the half. Phillip Freeman and Renard Robinson with 8 each for Richfield.

Freeman smoking to start the 2nd half with another pair of triples in a 10-2 Richfield run and they're within 8. He then trades triples with Fitzgerald and makes 2 FTs as he scores 11 straight for Richfield. 48-40 STA at 12:48. Jay Sewer with a circus 2 and its 53-44 with 10:28 left. Then STA goes on a 11-4 run. That gives STA a 64-48 lead with 7 minutes left. The Cadets keep the lead there until the final 2 minutes when Richfield knocks down a handful of 3s to make the score more respectable. 84-75 when I leave with 40 seconds left.

For Richfield, 6 triples and 22 points for Phillip Freeman. Renard Robinson adds 18 and 8 rebounds. Very small lineups for both teams in this one with basically all guards. STA gets 27 from Mike Fitzgerald on 7-16 shooting with 5-9 from 3. I also had him for 11 rebounds. Lefty Billy Chapman with 18 on 4 triples. Charlie Aslesen with 14 points off the bench in a productive night. STA with a nice job in their motion offense.

Mike Fitzgerald picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Scapegoats in the Conference Realignment?

More from John Millea on the conference realignment as the leagues got together again today. Read it here.

My thoughts

• Nobody can agree. HA! Should that really be a surprise.
• No surprise that no one wants to really take a hard look at this and realign everything. That'd be much too difficult and people don't like change. Its a shame the MSHSL couldn't step in and take care of that instead of forcing square pegs into the current round holes.
  
• The NW Suburban should take Wayzata for 12, but Minnetonka makes no sense for a whole bunch of reasons.
  
• Very disappointing that the Lake appears to be really stubborn here. They'd be doing their members a service by working to reach an agreement instead of sitting back and laying blame and having a bad situation for all the schools. Minnetonka and Edina and Hopkins need to go south and the Lake/Missota schools need to make something intelligent happen. Well said by Millea that the Lake needs to step up and make something good happen instead of waiting for something (almost certainly bad) to happen.
  

New Life at MN Transitions Thoughts

A chance to finally see a full game at the deaf dome (the new MTS gym). Yes the drum line was out in full force again tonight. Unique entertainment, but after a couple of these games and an AC/DC concert I've lost 95% of my hearing. Caleb Palkert and Peter Sorenson of SW Christian took in some of the action as they have to play both of these teams coming up.

NLA point guard Ryan Furlong with 3 offensive rebounds that result in buckets. 15-6 New Life at 12:50. A Robbie Anderstrom jumper at 11:15 keeps the NLA lead at 9, 19-10 with 11:15 left in the first half. But the turnovers and rebounding problems set in for NLA. MTS goes on a 24-2 run over the next 8 minutes. Kevin Noreen knocks down back to back triples to push MTS over the top once they got back to even. Anderstrom put back a miss to keep it respectable at the half. 40-26 MTS at the break. NLA went 8 minutes without a field goal and I had them for at least 12 turnovers. MTS effective with their 1-2-2 half court pressure. Not doing anything in the full court.

Joe Mann knocks down 1 of his 6 triples, MTS turns it over for a Kory Kiekhofer layup. NLA back within 8, 43-35 MTS, with 15 minutes left. Mann with another triple at 9:11 to keep it at 10 points, 59-49. But NLA can't get any closer. MTS goes on a 21-6 run with a couple of big dunks and a layup from Jerrel Washington to put it away. Kevin Noreen with a steal and dunk sandwiched by a couple of Washingtion jumpers at the end of the run. Minnesota Transitions wins 84-67.

For NLA, Joe Mann with 6 triples for 20 points. Robbie Anderstrom with 10 points and I had him for 16 rebounds. There were plenty of openings to find him at the high post against the zone that NLA didn't take advantage of. They still have trips to Maranatha and Bethlehem Academy on the schedule as well as a home game with SW Christian on the schedule.

For MTS, Kevin Noreen with 24 points, 8 of them during the 1st half run that ultimately put MTS ahead for good. Jerrell Washington got it going in the 2nd half for 27 points. The MTS trapping defense really keeps a team from getting into any kind of sets. I liked how Kyle Noreen showed some aggressiveness taking the ball baseline for a couple of layups. Andre Ingram was a real force inside too. 8 points and I had 6 rebounds and 6 blocks for him. I'll see them again in an interesting battle vs Arlington next Wednesday night (and I'm bringing my earplugs).

Day 2 at the 08-09 East Metro Showcase

6 games with The Emperor on day 2 of the 3rd Annual East Metro Showcase. Here's what caught our attention.

Game 4: Barron vs Richfield
Phillip Freeman continues to have a big year for Richfield. They use a 13-0 1st half run to take a 15 point lead. Barron gets no closer than 12 the rest of the way. Kyle Rose with 22 inside for Barron against the small Richfield lineup. Richfield wins 73-55. Barron now 0-5 against their non-conference schedule.

Game 5: Milwaukee Northwest vs St. Paul Central
Central outscores Northwest 13-3 over the last 5 minutes for a 13 point halftime lead. NW closes to 11 in the 2nd half before Central blows it open with a 13-0 run in the 2nd half. The Minutemen roll 91-67. Jordan Larson with 15, LeDarian Horton with 14. Keith Townsend playing all 5 spots for NW with 23 points. Soph Eric Allen showed his potential with 21 points. Northwest will be very happy with the lanky 6'6 forward the next 2 seasons.

Game 6: Milwaukee Marshall vs Minneapolis Washburn
Marshall gets a bucket from Eric Allison and then a Chauncey Williams 3 for a 12-8 lead at 14:15 before the cold sets in. A 26-0 run over the next 8 minutes for Washburn. Allison hits a 3 at 5:15 for the 1st Marshall FG in 9 minutes. 47-27 Washburn at the half. Alfreeman Flowers puts back a miss with 12 minutes left to cut it to 11, but Marshall gets no closer. 92-77 Washburn wins. Chauncey Williams with a big 2nd half for a total of 20 points. Dylan Hale with 22. But Jordan Osberg was the Washburn story as he was huge off the bench with 25 for the Millers. Biggest story for Marshall was the red warmup suits with baby blue warmup hoodies underneath and they all come out with the hoods up and tied as tight as possible. Hilarious.

Game 7: La Crosse Aquinas vs Hopkins
Let's just say this was ugly. Aquinas doesn't get on the board until 11:20 left in the 1st half. The Hopkins size and pressure D lead to easy shots as the lead gets out to 31-4. Royce White with all 12 of his points in the 1st half with a couple of nice dunks. Minimal time for him in the 2nd half. The entire starting group is out before the mercy rule sets in. 66-27 Hopkins wins. Jimmy Whitehead with all 10 of the 1st half points for Aquinas.

Game 8: Milwaukee Vincent vs Eastview
Star frosh big Phillip Nolan gets the start for Vincent in this one in a surprise. Eastview out to an early 8-3 lead before they can't buy a hoop. Vincent goes on a 26-4 run over 11 minutes for a 29-12 lead inside of 4 minutes. Jordan Kuhn with a couple of triples and a bucket late in the half for Eastview to cut the lead to 32-22 at the half. Michael Weems with 10 for Vincent. Eastview comes out Diamond and 1 on Weems in the 2nd half. Drew Johnson with a couple of hoops to cut it to 6. Then Johnson and soph Frank Veldman (watch him) hit back-back triples to cut it to 5 with 11:12 left. But Vincent figures out the junk defense by finding Steve Stovall and Steve Durham inside for 10 of their next 12 points. That pushes the Vincent lead back to 11, 55-44 with 4:25 left. Vincent goes on to a 61-47 win. 4 guys in double figures for a balanced Vincent lineup. Weems with 12 points but only 1 bucket against the diamond and 1 in the 2nd half. Drew Bjordal cold on this night for Eastview. Rough 0-3 week for them as they also lost to Jefferson by 7 and at Eagan by 4 on Friday. Tim Massie with a nice night of 12 points inside.

Game 9: Milwaukee Lutheran vs Wayzata
Lutheran out quickly to an 8-2 lead before Wayzata counters with a 10-0 run of their own. The lead grows to 7 before Lutheran closes within 31-28 at the half. Great 1st half line for Wayzata. Jarrod Peterson, Kellen Taylor, Nolan Odland all with 8 points, Jamar Franks 7 points. Iowa State recruit Chim Kadima 9 points on 3-5 shooting and all 3 were tough in your face fading jumpers for Milwaukee Lutheran. After the 1st bucket of the half by Lutheran, Wayzata goes on a 21-7 run over the next 10 minutes. 52-37 Trojans with 7:12 left. Lutheran point guard Mike Jones on the bench for most of that time forcing Kadima to handle the ball more. They really missed him. Odland with a deep 3 to push the lead to 17 with 5:40 to go. That lead is too much as Wayzata wins 67-55. Kadima finishes with 14 points and a cold 2nd half shooting. Tough to defend on the bounce, but he still needs work on his handle. Nolan Odland with 22 for Wayzata. He was fearless going to the rim. Free throws a huge story in this one. Wayzata 23-31 including 12-12 from Kellen Taylor. 9-14 FTs for Lutheran. Taylor really physical inside getting his hands up prompting more than 1 discussion with the refs.

Overall, a surprise that most of the games weren't competitive. But a nice group of teams and players to watch in this year's event.

Day 1 at the 08-09 East Metro Showcase

The Czar welcomes The Emperor to The Kingdom for a special visit to see the 3rd annual East Metro Showcase at St. Paul Johnson. A nice job by Johnson coach Vern Simmons in putting this event together. From our perch high above the action, here's what I saw.

Game 1: St Paul Johnson vs Milwaukee Northwest.
Northwest out to a 6-4 lead thanks to a putback and 2 free throws from 6'6 soph Eric Allen. Johnson's own star soph Estan Tyler then gets it going. He knocks down a jumper and 4 free throws in a 13-0 Johnson run. 17-6 Johnson at 12:38. The lead seesaws around this the rest of the half. 40-29 at the break. Tyler with 18 and Northwest not taking care of the ball with turnovers. Johnson then uses a 2nd half 15-4 run over 3 minutes of the 2nd half to blow the game open. The Governors win easily 93-69. Estan Tyler with 21 and Lamar Anderson with 15 points for Johnson. Keith Townsend with 24 for Northwest.

Game 2: St. Paul Arlington vs Milwaukee Marshall
Best game of the day was this one. Marshall gets out to a 15-10 lead 4 and a half in to the game, but Arlington comes back to lead 31-30 at the break in a very back and forth game. Very fast pace the 1st 10 minutes that slowed down the rest of the half. Arlington gives up the 1st 5 of the half but then goes on a 9-0 run to take a 40-35 lead with 14:37 left. London Love with a couple of buckets for Marshall to break a 47 all tie, 51-47 Marshall with 9:40 left. Arlington uses an 11-2 run thanks to turnovers from Marshall for a 58-53 lead with 7:20 left. Charles Langhorne with a tip in at 5:30 to keep the lead at 5, 64-59. Marshall star Chauncey Williams gets a 4 point play at 5:20 and that's the beginning of the end. Arlington turns it over for a Love bucket, Williams then grabs an offensive rebound and finds Reggie Hearn for 2. That's the start of a 13-2 run for Marshall. Joseph Brooks cuts lead Marshall lead to 72-68 with a bucket at 1:55. Hearn them misses a dunk but grabs the miss and is fouled for 2 free throws at 1:32. Deondre White has 2 triples go in and out and Marshall goes on to win 77-68. They out score the Phoenix 18-4 over the last 5:30. DeMarcko Jones with 19, Deondre White with 15 for Arlington. Alfreeman Flowers with 22, Reggie Hearn with 11 and I had 19 rebounds on my sheet. Chauncey Williams with 12 points on cold shooting and a very quiet 2nd half (only the 4 point play).

Game 3: Hopkins vs Milwaukee Vincent
Vincent gets 1 field goal in the 1st 7 minutes as they can't get into any offense thanks to the Hopkins man-man D. By that time its 23-5 Hopkins. Royce White with a dunk but out of sync on the offense end. Trent Lockett with a couple of nice dunks. White and Lockett with 13 in the half. 51-26 Hopkins at the break and The Emperor and I call it a day since we'll see enough of Hopkins in the La Crosse Aquinas game.

Fans be warned that some of the Wisconsin rosters are from last year and not totally accurate. Check Wishoops.net for current accurate rosters for the Wisconsin teams.

Towle leads Concordia to Roseville bragging rights

Zach Towle

The battle for bragging rights in Roseville tonight as Concordia made the hop, skip and jump across town. Soph guard David Stanley getting the start tonight for Roseville to defend Zach Towle. Concordia comes out 1-2-2 and we get to see if their zone offense is any better tonight than it was against Cretin-Derham Hall 9 days ago. Muscala at the foul line and it looks like the top guy (Jordan Schneidermann) in the zone is playing man-man due to the lack of movement.

Back and forth early as soph Lucas Brown with a couple of layins early. 7-6 Roseville at 12:55. Towle then starts to heat up. A triple at 12:40, a pullup for 3 at 10:05, an assist to Lorenzo Davis who beat the Roseville D back and then another bomb at 8:50 to make it 17-9 Concordia. After a Austin Hultman layup for Roseville, Towle finds Chad Koepke for 2 and then makes another three. 22-11 Beacons. 16-4 is the run over 6 minutes with Towle involved in all 16. Roseville claws back. Ken Farmer with a jumper (the only Roseville outside shot of the half not by Muscala), Hultman with 2 free throws and Farmer with a steal for 2. That cuts it to 23-18 Concordia with 4 minutes left in the half. But Muscala picked up his 2nd foul going over the back at 4:21 and he's done for the half. Towle has another bucket and another triple in the half. 28-20 Concordia at halftime. Towle with 19 on 7-14 shooting and 5 treys. Muscala with 5 and 3 and 3 blocks.

Lucas Brown banks home a triple to start the half. Oh my. Towle still going with a runner and 2 free throws. 32-23 Concordia at 15:59. Brown with a free throw and a tap in before a Towle hoop makes it 35-28. Muscala with back to back blocks, a free throw and a putback. Ryan Yungers also puts one back to cut the Beacons lead to 37-33 with 11:15 left. David Michaelson off the bench for Roseville and he provides a spark. He bookends a 9-1 Roseville run over 2:20 with triples. That gives Roseville a 42-40 lead with 8:40 left. Schneidermann and Stanley trade triples. Towle then with another triple and then a short floater on the left baseline. 48-45 Concordia back on top with 6:10 left. Muscala with 2 free throws after grabbing his own miss. 49-48 Concordia at 5:02. Schneidermann a big 3 on a pick and pop from Towle. Muscala counters with a nice drive from the foul line and lefty finish. 52-50 Concordia with 3:30 remaining. Towle with 2 FTs. Muscala with a pretty feed to Hultman for a layup at 2:15. 54-52 Concordia. Schneidermann with 4 FTs sandwiched around a Muscala missed putback. 58-52 Concordia with 1:08 left. Michaelson has a 3 go in and out with 52 seconds left. Towle tacks on 4 more free throws before David Stanley makes a 3 at the buzzer that doesn't matter. 64-62 Concordia wins the battle of Roseville.

For Roseville, Mike Muscala with 20 points. I also had him unofficially with 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 9 blocks as he controlled the inside defensively in the 2nd half. 6-15 shooting is what I had for him. I like that Roseville had him running the baseline a bit tonight in their zone offense. But Concordia didn't do much in the 2nd half to keep him from touching it at the high post or on the dive from the high post like he did in the CDH game. Tough spot for Roseville tonight with needing Stanley for defense on Towle but also need the shooting of Rylee Hernandez at that spot. No real outside game again tonight. David Michaelson with 3 triples in limited minutes (also played extensive JV minutes) with a nice night.

For Concordia, Zach Towle with 36 including 6 treys. I had him with 11-23 shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 assists 5 turnovers. Roseville didn't get out on him enough but hard to get out on a guy that quick and he had it going tonight. Jordan Schneidermann with 15 and 7. Nice job by Concordia of backing off the non-shooters (Stanley, Farmer) and of finding Muscala at the high post or in the corner in the 1st half. They showed man with Muscala out, but were exclusively in that 1-2-2 with Muscala in. With the way that Roseville runs their zone offense, you could have the top guy be the post cover and it would almost look like a box and 1 or like a flat 3-2.

Zach Towle picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

08-09 Week 8 Tuesday Night Scoreboard Club

Here's a look at what caught my eye from Tuesday's games (1/20/09).

• No real surprises in the Classic Suburban. Mike Bruesewitz dominant in a big win to put Sibley alone on top of the Classic Suburban.
• Jefferson over Eastview in the Lake. The Jaguars get 23 from Moses Alipate in the win. They stay 1 game behind Eden Prairie.
• Burnsville easily defeats Eagan. They too are 1 game back of EP and host EP on Friday night.
• Henry lost 2 in Chicago over the weekend and then got drilled by Hopkins 101-28. No Jordan Hughes for the Patriots in that one though. I didn't see anything from Marcus Williams for Hopkins in the box either. If Williams doesn't go on Saturday and Broghammer is visiting Notre Dame, maybe my hometown Aquinas Blugolds have a glimmer of hope.
• How about Matt Zager of Shakopee putting up 50 on Farmington last night. Against guys like Josh Zitzmann and Jake Lippert that's a big time performance.
• Nathan Johnson with 35 for Heritage, but SPA gets 24 and 11 from Evan McMillan to hang on for the 4 point road win. (Czar's Note 1/21/09, Heritage won that game by 4)
  
• 29 from Trey Scott as Spring Lake Park goes to Cooper and gives all they want in a 4 point loss. Rodney Williams Jr with 22 in the win that gives Cooper sole possession of 1st.
  
• Irondale loses by 8 at BSM and they've lost 10 of 11, but there's hope. 6'3 Soph Bryan Sprang put up 31 on Rodney Williams last Friday and had 21 last night. But they gave up 25 to Darren Glover while holding Peter Crawford to 12. Irondale with 13 triples in that game.
  
• Jacob Thomas with only 14 but Columbia Heights still manages to survive 46 from Fridley's Isaiah Thomas. Back-to-Back 46 point games for the 6'6 wing. Monster season for him and the reason they're 9-4. This loss puts them 3 back of Cooper and 2 back of Spring Lake Park.
• What a night in the NW Suburban. Park Center gets a buzzer beater to win in OT at Blaine. Elk River gets clobbered at Centennial and they're now 0-4 in the league. Ho hum, Sam Dower with 33 as Osseo wins again. Centennial goes to Maple Grove on Friday as both teams only have 1 league loss. Look for the size of MG to be a factor in that one as I think they win easily.
• Hastings gives up 41 to Woodbury's Nick Quicksell, but they get the OT win at Woodbury.
• Mike Muscala with 35 as Roseville defeats Forest Lake. Roseville staying right in the thick of the Suburban East race.
  
• St. Paul Harding gets their 1st win of the year with a 2 pt home OT win over Southwest. Dominique Dawson with 30 for the Lakers and they give up 34 to Ernest Mang.
  
• Spectrum goes on the road and upsets New Life Academy with Grant Spark only getting 8 points and allowing Robbie Anderstrom to get his 22. NLA now 6-7. Spectrum has now defeated NLA and they won at MCAA leader Lester Prairie at Christmas. They're now 6-4. Could they be making a run at a high seed in the west subsection of 4A. They'll have their chance with games against West Lutheran, Heritage, PACT and Meadow Creek.
• Some outstate flavor too. Triple OT as Bethlehem Academy hangs on for a 76-73 road win over the Awesome Blossoms of Blooming Prairie. That wins puts the #4A Cardinals in control of the Gopher Conference (head-head wins over the 2 teams they're tied with).