Buzzing Eagles too much for Elks

Prologue
After 3 nights of small schools, its time to get back to the big boys.  So I take in a NW Suburban cross-division game between Elk River and Totino-Grace.  Gotta love the meal deal math.  Gatorade $2, Hot Dog $1.50.  But if you get the meal deal its only $3 and you get chips with it.  Granted the chips were French Onion Sun Chips but they do have more calories so that helps I guess.  Minnehaha AD Josh Thurow on the whistle tonight. With him stepping down as girls coach, he's wearing only 2 hats now.

Song of the Day: Raspberry Beret - Prince

Number of Teams I've Seen: 65 (41 games, 22 days, 17 buildings, 4 online)

Beverage Ticker: 269.8 ounces (2980 Calories)

• A&W Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 12 ounces (150 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 68.9 ounces (480 calories)
• Pepsi: 128 ounces (1600 calories)
• Sprite: 48.9 ounces (580 calories) 

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 7
• Pizza: 1
• Walking Tacos: 2 
• Extras
• Lays Chips (160 calories)
• French Onion Sun Chips (210 Calories)
• 3 Snickers (750 calories)

Game Time:
The 1st half was a story of runs.  Totino-Grace scores 1 FG in the 1st 8:25.  That allows Elk River to jump out to an 18-5 lead.  Devon Roberts all 5 of his 1st half points during that spurt.  Ditto that for Connor Wyse off the Elks bench.  Then its Elk River who goes cold as they go over 7 minutes without a field goal after their run.  PG DJ Akpati with a nice spark off the bench with 5 straight Eagles points.  Chase Livingston also off the bench with quality minutes for TG.  He buries a 3 for a 20-19 Eagles lead and MoKiller timeout at the 4:16 mark.  Dylan Fruth with a triple and an end of half hoop around a pair of steals for buckets by the TG bench mob.  29-28 Elk River at the break.

Totino-Grace starts out the 2nd half strong with a 9-2 run. Roberts keeping Elk River's offense afloat with the 1st 10 Elks points of the half.  His 2nd 3 of the half from the left corner ties the game at 39 with 13:40 left.  Then a mini-spurt from the Elks thanks to 2 Isaac Hultburg bunnies and a Brock Burdine 3.  46-44 Elk River with just over 9 minutes left.

Totino-Grace goes on the game clinching run.  Eric Krieger with a big 2nd half of his own and his 2nd 3 puts the Eagles back on top.  He'll finish the 10-0 spurt with a drive and lefty finish.  Livingston adds his own drive for 2 and a triple.  Devin Burger with a 3 and he'll finish the total 17-5 run with his own drive.  61-49 Totino-Grace leading under 4 minutes.  Krieger tacks on late offense but the outcome is never in doubt after that.  Totino-Grace wins 70-59.

Post Game
For Elk River, Devon Roberts with 10 of his 15 points in the 2nd half.  Dylan Fruth adds 13 points with 3 makes from deep.  Connor Wyse with 10 off the bench.  Like what I saw from frosh post Brandon Melchior in limited minutes as well.  Elk River falls to 1-4 with the loss.  This was their closest game of the year so far.  They have the quick turnaround for their rivalry game at home with Rogers.  Then over the holidays they'll make the trek to Brainerd for a single game.  A couple of important section games there.

Eric Krieger leads Totino-Grace with 24 points, 8 of them late to ice the game away.  Really good minutes from the bench duo of sophomore guards DJ Akpati and Chase Livingston.  They score 11 and 10 points respectively.  They were also able to get up into the Elk River guards and make running offense difficult.  When Totino-Grace was able to pressure in their man to man it changed the game.  Totino-Grace improves to 3-2 with the win after a couple of blowout losses.  They host Breck on Saturday afternoon.  Then they'll play Lakeville South and Big Lake in the Granite City over the holidays.