Rosemount comes from behind for OT win.

Thomas Schalk

Prologue
There's a story that if you drive far enough, Rosemount is just before the end of the earth.  OK maybe not, but a long trip for my first varsity game viewing of stud Tyus Jones as Apple Valley visited Rosemount.  Apple Valley only 1 game out in the Lake coming in and Rosemount 7-2 coming in so there's plenty at stake.  Big concession stand operation that I had a hard time finding plus a cart going around.  Have to like anything that brings the food to me.  Great 80s variety medley tonight during timeouts.  Here's some of the playlist.  Toto-Africa, Belinda Carlisle- Heaven is a place on earth, Rick Springfield-Jesse's Girl, Michael Jackson-Thriller and B52s - Love Shack and of course you've got to have local with Prince-Let's Go Crazy.  With that said, let's go crazy.

Game Time
First field goal of the game for Apple Valley is a triple at 13:45 for a 4-3 lead.  That can't be a good sign.  Rosemount then off on a 9-0 run thanks to a pair of triples and the old 3 point play.  12-4 Rosemount at 12:10.  Then the fouls begin to add up for Rosemount.  Tyus Jones goes 9-10 from the free throw line, adds an assist and makes a buzzer beater all in the last 4:15 to keep Apple Valley close.  37-30 Rosemount at the half.  Thomas Schalk 2-9 shooting but 11 points via 6-6 FTs.  Only 5 Apple Valley field goals (with 18 FTs) in the half but Rosemount's stars Zach Vraa and Toriano Tatum combine for 4-16 on my sheet.  16-6 Rosemount in fouls and coach Schnettler was not at all pleased with the refs. 

Schalk dominating in the post early in the second half with 4 post hoops in a 12-3 run to start the half.  That puts AV up 42-40 with 14:35 left.  Rosemount smartly goes back to the matchup of Tatum posting Jones for 2 quick hoops and AV has to change defenders as that's 4 Tatum postups on Jones.  Next possession Jones gets caught inside on Matt Larson and that's a foul on Schalk for 1 FT.  45-44 Irish with 12:47 left.  Then Jones with a nice curl for 2 and he finds Schalk trailing the break for an easy triple plus an assist for 2 more.  7-0 Apple Valley run in 1 minute.  51-45 Eagles with 11:25 left.  The teams trade buckets and then Schalk picks up his 4th foul with 10:19 left and he has to sit.  The 6 point Eagle lead evaporates and Schalk has to return at 7:39 to provide some offense with the game tied at 53.  Jones with a floater and then a pair of steals leads to 2-4 FTs.  Isiah Thomas with a free throw and a steal for 2 for another 7-0 Apple Valley run.  60-53 Apple Valley with 5 minutes left and Schalk reaches over the top trying to block a putback.  He's gone with 4:50 left.  62-55 Apple Valley with 4:25 left and the ball and I was thinking of going 4 corners right here.  Jones misses with 4 minutes left as he now has to be the offense instead of starting it.  Tatum gets bumped on a 3 and makes all 3 free throws coming back the other way.  Jones with a floater countered by a Matt Larson 3.  64-61 AV with 2:15 left.  Then a wild sequence.  Jones gets mugged no call.  Back the other way and Rosemount gets mugged even worse going to the rim and no call.  Finally a foul for 2 Matt Larson FTs at 1:58.  Both coaches having to restrain themselves from getting after the refs on that sequence.  Teams trade misses.  Jones to Josh Johnson for a layup with 50 seconds left.  Behind the play Jones is down as he got nailed somewhere after the pass.  Only a foul on the other end stops play and the AV bench is about ready to riot.  Tatum with 1 of 2 freebies with 45.1 left.  AV misses the front end with 41.5 left and Matt Nelson puts back a miss with 20 seconds left.  Apple Valley comes back with no timeout.  Jones holds on the right side and comes off a high screen but his straight away 3 at the horn is no good and we'll play OT.

Rosemount with the 1st quick hoop of OT and then then board an Apple Valley miss and immediately hold the ball.  This immediately pulls AV out the 2-3 zone that they played for the last 12 minutes.  Ben Danielson with a sweet reverse layin and a Tatum straight on bank sandwich a Jones miss.  That gives Rosemount a 72-66 cushion with 2 minutes left in OT.  Then a very strange sequence.  73-68 Rosemount when an AV player fouls out.  But before he's removed the 1st of 2 FTs is given and no good.  The fouled out player is then pulled and 2 free throws are given much to the dismay of the Apple Valley bench and crowd.  Rosemount 2-8 from the line down the stretch to keep Apple Valley alive.  Zach Vraa's 2 misses with 25.5 left give AV a chance down 3.  Jones misses a stepback 3 and another chance from deep is no good.  Vraa makes 2 with 6.5 left and Rosemount wins a wild one 76-71 in overtime.

For Apple Valley, they fall to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the Lake Conference.  Now everybody in the league is at least 2 games back of  Eden Prairie.  Thomas Schalk leads the way with 22 points and 8 rebounds on 7-15 shooting.  That's after missing 7 of his first 8.  Tyus Jones finishes with 25 points and 8 assists.  Shooting was 6-18 but that's with 1 of his last 6 being no good.  That includes the buzzer of regulation and the OT   Moral of the story, AV was +7 with 10 minutes left when Schalk got his 4th.  When he sat with 4 or after he fouled out, AV was -18.  Against a man defense, playing AV is like playing an NBA team as you'll plenty of pick and roll with Jones.  Either singled up with Schalk for a horns set for Jones to go either way.    37.1% from the floor shooting and that was better of the 2 teams tonight.  With Schalk as the primary interior player, rebounding is an area of concern for the Eagles.

For Rosemount, 35.6% shooting and they get a win.  Zach Vraa 2-15 shooting for only 7 points but he had 15 rebounds..  Very quiet in the 2nd half.  Toriano Tatum took Jones to school on the post, but Rosemount's Swing Offense could have tried to exploit that more early when AV did play some man D.  16 points for Tatum on 6-13 shooting (cold outside besides the post stuff).  Great nights from Matt Larson and Matt Nelson off the Rosemount bench.  Along with Justin Larson, they were major factors on the offensive glass.  Matt Larson is 6'1 and listed as a guard, but that's a smokescreen.  He was a beast power forward for MN Southside this summer.  You can't defend him with a guard. The Irish move up into a 3 way tie behind Eden Prairie in the Lake at 5-2 and 8-2 overall.  They host Minnetonka in a good one on Thursday and travel to Eden Prairie a week from Thursday.

Thomas Schalk photo courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net