The 2018 Holiday Spirit

So 3 events in 24 hours means lots of running around and travel.  But its that time of year and its all worth it.  Here are some quick hitters from my 3 visits.

East Ridge Tourney (Friday)
In the 1st game of the night New Prague defeated Rosemount 57-47. Too much Tyler Kemp and Hunter Nielsen for the rebuilding Irish.  Luke Loehr gave them a 2nd half spark.  In the 2nd game, a nice head to head battle between Steven Crowl (Eastview) and Ben Carlson (East Ridge). Those 2 largely equally each other out.  An off night for Courtney Brown but another outstanding effort from Kendall Brown leading all scorers with 25 points.  Tate Machecek effective vs Courtney Brown with 19 points.  I continue to really enjoy watching wing Ryan Thissen for Eastview.  Really good shooter and cuts really well off the ball.  That including cutting off Crowl in the post for feeds.  He scored 11 of 13 Eastview points as the Lightning would try to make it interesting late.  4 missed free throws were a killer when down by 6.  East Ridge wins 74-67

TCO Holiday Classic at Augsburg (Saturday)
I could have used the vending machines but my ethics forced me to buy Coke at the concession stand.  Somehow I survived.  In game 1, Southwest no real problem taking out Burnsville 64-51.  25-43 FTs for the Lakers compared to 12-22 for Burnsville was a huge edge.  Daniel Rosenbur with 18 points as the only real offense for Burnsville.  3 in double figures for Southwest.

Game 2 was a St. Paul City matchup between Johnson and Como Park.  Como Park goes the 1st 14 minutes with only 2 field goals.  Josh Ward would carry the Como Park offense with 23 points.  But ultimately the Johnson pressure wore the Cougars out on the way to a 79-59 win.  Jordan Mobley leads the Govs with 21 points.  8th grader Dewayne Givens with a bunch late to finish with 18.

Then the big rematch between #3AAAA Hopkins and #1AA Minnehaha.  Hopkins would jump out to a 13-2 lead in less than 5 minutes.  But Minnehaha controlled most of the rest of the half.  Another big half from Chet Holmgren swatting shots and scoring plus Jalen Suggs driving the offense.  Kerwin Walton with 8 late points in the half to keep Minnehaha from running away after a 13-2 run gave the Redhawks the lead.  38-33 Minnehaha at the break

A nice surprise visitor for the 2nd half as Kevin Noreen made his way up to my perch.  Zeke Nnaji once again with a big 2nd half.  His 3 point play in the post and hustle play to assist a Walton hoop give Hopkins a 5 point lead with 9:20 left.  Minnehaha gives up a layup on a BLOB after questioning a call and then a tech after a dunk. Hopkins makes the freebies and buries a 3 on the possession to keep the lead at 8.  Nnaji in the post for 2 free throws and then runs the floor for a dunk and the lead is 10 with 4:18 left.  Nnaji then adds a transition poster dunk on Holmgren with 1:58 left as the exclamation point.  Hopkins wins 97-85.  Zeke Nnaji goes for 29 points and 11 board on my sheet.  Kerwin Walton clutch with 25 points and 5 3s.  Rayquon Valentin late free throws and 3 triples for 16 points and Jalen Dearring 17 with 3 bombs.  Jalen Suggs with a couple late bombs to get to 39 points in another big outing.  Chet Holmgren outstanding again with 23 points, 10 boards and 8 blocks on my sheet.  But most of that damage was done in the 1st half.

UST Holiday Classic
Then it was the late night session at the U of St. Thomas for Eagan vs Cretin-Derham Hall.  Eagan's 3 point shooting would try to keep them close in the 1st half.  Kurt Ohlhues for 3 and the foul would have the Wildcats within 2 at the 5:12 mark. But they wouldn't score the rest of the half as CDH finished on a 12-0 run to push the margin to 14 at the break.  Finn O'Malley hot to start the 2nd half for Eagan as they quickly cut the lead to 8.  After the lead got back to 12, a couple more Eagan 3s to keep the margin at 9 with 6:20 left.  But a 12-2 run shuts the door and the benches clear with 3:24 left.  CDH wins 66-48.  Finn O'Malley with 14 of his 17 for Eagan in the 2nd half.  CDH wing Amari Carter continues to impress and definitely reminds me of Sy Chatman a year ago (though Carter is smaller and not the shot blocker Chatman was).  He attacks and runs his way to 25 points to lead all scorers and had a 3 thrown in there.  Jaeden King was cold in the 1st half but finished with 16 points..