A bleak night in the metro with only 2 bad St. Paul City games. Of course, I'm still going to 1 of the games. Since I'll probably see Central yet this season, I decided to get 1 more look at Arlington. Especially since the rumor mill says they may not have any athletics next year. Certainly the basketball program is short numbers with barely enough kids returning to field a varsity squad next year and they had no freshman program this season.
To address the problem of that nice gym at Arlington going unused (assuming that's true for a minute), how about his wacky thought. Tuesday night league doubleheaders at Arlington and then league triple headers on Saturdays. Enough daydreaming, more work.
Harding starts with a very John Gray (Arlington assistant and former Breck head coach) like backscreen triangle offense. But whenever the Knights went to it, Arlington went to a 3-2 zone on the fly. Andre Creighton hot early for Harding as he has their 1st 10 points. He ends his streak with a jumper at 11:40 that cuts the Arlington lead to 11-10. But Harding can't find the ocean from the shoreline as they only score 1 field goal in the next 9 minutes. Arlington takes advantage for a 18-2 run to bust this one open. 36-19 at the half in favor of Arlington. Creighton with 12 of the 19 for Harding.
Travon McKee with 8 points via layins off of turnovers and penetration early in the second half. 46-27 Phoenix with 13:35 left. Harding then goes cold again and after a long season, you can see the effects on the kids. Arlington goes on a 24-3 run over the next 9 minutes to put this one to mercy rule. 78-37 Arlington wins. With an early start and a quick game, we're out the door at a record time of 7:55 PM.
For Harding, their season will end next Friday in the section 4AAA quarterfinals. They're now 3-20 and they lose their 2 best kids from varsity and have a B squad that won't resupply them next year. Andre Creighton with 14 points. Ernest Mang with 4 3s and 11 of his team high 16 points in the 2nd half.
For Arlington, 4 players in double-figures with Travon Mckee's 19 leading the way. Deandre White with 17. Arlington may be 14-10 but they'll probably be the 4 seed in 4AAA behind 10-15 Hill-Murray via the Pioneers 74-64 win at Arlington on December 16th. That 4 vs 5 game is looking like it will be against Highland Park who they've beaten twice, 1 close, once in a blowout. They finish the season against Como Park on Friday.
Czar - Arlington is a team that has puzzled me this year and in the past. Their top 4 - White, Jones, McKee, and Langhorne is a nice and talented group that I've worked with before. Seems like they should be flat out better than they are. Sounds like they've a couple nice wins lately which is GREAT to see. Czar I know you've seen them a couple times - do you think they'll make a run in their section? Or finish the season as "underachievers" if you will?
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