2018 Big 12 Classic Thoughts

This year the Breakdown decided to split off the boys games that used to be part of their annual Girls Tipoff Classic.  That means we have the inaugural Big 12 Classic with Cretin-Derham Hall being the hosts.  12 teams with none ranked lower than 11th in the state.  So a great field that will all be at the Boys Tipoff Classic next weekend.  3 cans of Pepsi get me thru the day and you can never go wrong with a hot dog at CDH.  The size of the building at CDH makes crowd size look deceptively small but the weather had to be a factor.  Definitely not the same kind of atmosphere that the tipoff classic has.  While the gym is a perfect size, the rest of the setup at CDH (parking, concessions, Baller.tv broadcast with no score and from the balcony etc) leaves plenty to be desired.

Game 1: #4AAAA Lakeville North 70 #11AAAA Edina 62
This game was tight into the late minutes of the 1st half.  Then Lakeville North used an 18-0 run across halftime to break the game open.  Scary thought is that it took only 90 seconds on each side of the break.  Tommy Jenson a pair of 3s in the run to go with a pair of hoops, a triple and 2 free throws from Tyler Wahl in that time.  The lead was 16 at that point and no danger for the Panthers from there.  Wahl with 23 of his 28 in the 2nd half to go with 12 rebounds.  Tommy Jenson adds 17 points with 4 3s.  Edina shoots a highly improbably 19 of 53 for the day including a shocking 6 of 22 from sharpshooter Jack Middleton.  Middleton still ends up with 24 points though thanks to 11-12 from the foul line.  Charlie Haff 4 3s on his way to 20 points for the Hornets.  Center Jacob Hutson 0-5 and scorelesss.

Game 2: #1AA Minnehaha 78 #3AA Perham 48
2 big stories in this blowout.  Jalen Suggs came to play with 30 points, 4 triples and 8 steals.  He was fantastic.  Overall Minnehaha with 15 steals.  They continually jumped the reversal pass in Perham's Euro ballscreen offense for easy layups.  Chet Holmgren 20 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks for Minnehaha as well.  For Perham, their dymanic duo of Jensen Beachy and Josh Jeziorski held to a total of 18 points.  Soph Elijah Morris with 5 of 6 3s off the Perham bench for 19 points on the day.  But the chinks in the armor are there for Minnehaha.  They still gamble a ton on defense and can give up backdoor cuts.  Plus they settle for a ton of 3s (9 of 25 in the game).

Game 3: #5AAAA Park Center 66 #6AAAA Prior Lake 64
This was a tale of 2 games, with Dain Dainja and without Dain Dainja.  Dainja with 3 early 3s as Park Center opened up a 22-6 lead.  But he missed time in the 1st half with 2 fouls.  That allowed Prior Lake to stabilize.  In the 2nd half, the 2 Pirates big men Dainja and Detavius Frierson both went to the bench with fouls with over 11 minutes left.  Dawson Garcia exploded inside from there against the Park Center guards.  That was in front of Texas head coach Shaka Smart who is in hot pursuit of him.  He scored 26 of his 32 in the 2nd half and Prior Lake was able to take the lead after trailing by 17 at the half.  Dainja would come back in for crunch time and he drew 2 fouls on Garcia for 4 FTs.  That would Park Center back on top and they hung on to win.  Dawson Garcia 32, Robert Jones 17 as the big Prior Lake front line was productive.  Dain Dainja with 15 points to lead Park Center but most in 2 quick stretches.  Tommy Chatman with 13.

Game 4: #8AAAA Wayzata 69 #7AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall 63
Wayzata would jump out to a quick 9-0 lead but with Jacob Beeninga sitting the last 9:27 with 2 fouls, CDH would recover for a 31-30 lead.  Beeninga with a nice cut for 2, a triple and 2 freebies to keep Wayzata close but CDH would still lead 63-59 with 3:40 left.  Wayzata would close the game on a 10-0 run.  Luke Paulson with 2 layups running out in that stretch.  Loved Tre Holloman's moving of the ball and you can tell he's holding back his own offense.  Plus he added a sensational block after his own turnover.  CDH was very sloppy turning the ball over and taking a ton of quick and bad shots.  Their talent will win them plenty of games but the details will bite them.  Jaeden King with 16, Tre Holloman 13 and Karsten Broadley 12 off the bench to lead the Raiders.  Jacob Beeninga leads Wayzata with 14 of his 18 in the 2nd half.  Soph Kody Williams was terrific attacking with 17 points.  Luke Paulson adds 11.

Game 5: #1AAAA East Ridge 74 #2AAAA Hopkins 65
No Kerwin Walton for Hopkins due to injury.  East Ridge used a 9-0 1st half run to take the lead  Courtney Brown with 7 points in that run for the Raptors.  But this game was tight the entire way.  A 12-3 Hopkins run mid second half would take them from 5 down to 54-50 up with 7 minutes left.  Jalen Dearring with a couple buckets during that run.   Courtney Brown with a triple to break the run.  Then Kendall Brown with a steal for a dunk, another bucket and a bomb for a 65-60 East Ridge lead with 2:20 left.  Late free throw make the final margin.  The benches combine for a big donut on the day which is a concern for both teams.  Hopkins only playing 7 guys and both bench guys are sophomores.  Zeke Nnaji 21 points to lead Hopkins.  Jalen Dearring and Andy Stafford add 17 and 14 respectively.  Soph Kendall Brown outstanding for East Ridge with 18 of his 26 in the 2nd half.  Courtney Brown adds 17.  The bigs never really went at each other in this one.  Ben Carlson 12 points but never seemed to touch the paint.

Game 6: #1AAA De La Salle 76 #3AAAA Eden Prairie 66
I caught the 1st half of this one in person before beating the weather and watching the ending online.  As expected Tyrell Terry and Jamison Battle carried the De La Salle offense.  Eden Prairie with their entire rotation ready to come back next year with 7 juniors and a soph seeing time.  Eden Prairie did throw in 1 possession of triangle and 2 in the 1st half.  That's something I would expect much more of during the season against the Islanders.  Semaj Hart looked like a player would could be that 3rd guy though.  Connor Christensen providing some offense while still getting the tough task of guarding Battle for the night.  The Dobbs guarding Terry matchup was also fun to see.