Titans jump back to top of Metro East

Prologue
To Tartan for the rematch between the top 2 teams in the Metro East as #6AAA Mahtomedi comes calling.  Mahtomedi won at their place 57-51.  Tartan needing to match that to keep pace in the league standings.  Good officiating crew works both the JV and Varsity.  Crowd ho hum, though the Tartan section next to me was boisterous, but plenty of scouting going on.  East Ridge and CDH (hello coach Kline, I see your hat) in the house to see Tartan.  De La Salle in to get an early look at Mahtomedi in possible preparation for the state tournament.  Even the entire Minnehaha squad (their game with Central was postponed) was in the building looking on.

Game Time
Mahtomedi going zone most of the night and they start 2-3.  Cole Chapman 2 early hoops and a later 3 as Tartan chose to take their chances leaving him early on.  Antawn Kimmons starts 0-5 but gets it going with an assist to Joe Kearney for 3, then coast to coast for a free throw and he'll add 2 more buckets in the 10-2 Tartan run.  That puts Tartan up 16-11 under the 8 minute mark. Mahtomedi star J'Vonne Hadley saddled with his 2nd foul at the 7:34 mark and Zac Centers already has 2 of his own.  They will still see minutes but have quiet first halves.  Kimmons with a tough finish and 2 free throws off 1 of many 1st half Mahtomedi turnovers.  Then a great hustle play by Kimmons to track down an offensive board and that leads to a Dorian Singer 3.  Mahtomedi hanging around with 4 free throws from Devin Melzer and 2 from Hadley.  But Kimmons finds Solomon Whalen for 3 for the final bucket of the half.  26-22 Tartan at the break

Mahtomedi pulls out a diamond and 1 on Kimmons to start the 2nd half.  6'10 Cole Chapman in the back of that with Sam Bell getting the 1 on 1 defensive assignment.  Hadley gets loose for a hoop to force a Tartan timeout.  Melzer puts back his own miss and buries a 3 as Tartan was trying to get a matchup switch back to Hadley.  32-30 Mahtomedi inside 15 minutes left.  Hadley buries a 3 as he looks to be heating up and Kimmons scores another hoop.  Mahtomedi out of the diamond and 1 with about 13 minutes left.  Score tied at 35  They'll go back to the regular 2-3 zone.

Singer for 3 off the inside out pass and another Tartan bucket off a turnover finishes an 8-0 run.  Titans 40-35 with 10:30 left.  Luke Ricker for 3 and Melzer with another bomb after an offensive board.  Offensive board of 2 Tartan missed freebies ends up with a long Kimmons 3.  After a Tartan timeout, Kimmons then swipes the ball from Hadley after the full court inbound for 2 more.  Tartan defensive breakdown on a Centers/Hadley screen the screener leads to a Centers triple.  6:45 left and Mahtomedi down 3.  They'll go back to the diamond and 1.

After a stop, its Hadley for 3 and we're 47 all under 6 to play.  Kimmons with a nice attacking drive and he glides under Chapman and scoops the finish for a 3 point play.  Joe Kearney picking up the defensive assignment on Hadley down the stretch but his offense stays intact.  He grabs a board and nobody stops him coast to coast for an easy hoop.  Then a right wing rainbow triple and 2 more off a turnover.  10-0 Tartan run for a 57-47 lead with about 3:45 left.  Hadley scores on a designed SLOB postup and Mahtomedi has to go man.  Kimmons shreds that to keep the lead at 10 with 2 minutes left. He'll close it out with another hoop and a pair of freebies.  Tartan wins 63-52.

Post Game
Mahtomedi sees an 8 game winning streak snapped.  They fall to 12-4 overall, 7-1 in the Metro East and tied for 1st with Tartan.  J'Vonne Hadley with 10 of his 15 points in the 2nd half to lead the Zephyrs offense.  I also had him for 10 rebounds.  Tartan ran 3 guys at him tonight (Weems, Kimmons and Kearney) and all they were pretty solid.  They would also double him in the backcourt to make him give it up.  I only had him with 9 shots and 5 makes including 3 bombs.  Devin Melzer very nice outing with 14 points and he probably had double digit boards of his own.  Rest of the roster was pretty quiet.  Zac Centers with 1 triple and nothing else.  Cole Chapman 7 points early but nothing after Tartan decided to guard him.  Its a brutal 6 day stretch for Mahtomedi as they play #5AAA Mankato East in the Community Clash at St. Michael on Saturday.  Then St. Thomas comes calling on Tuesday.  That's all with no prep time this week due to the weather.  But after that, the only real remaining test in the final 8 games is at North St. Paul in 3 weeks.

Tartan has now won 7 in a row.  They improve to 14-2 and also 7-1 in the Metro East.  Tartan has 3 winnable league games next week.  Then the rivalry game at North and they host St. Thomas Academy the following week.  North with home wins vs both these teams during this 2nd rotation could end up making the league race a 3 way tie.  Antwan Kimmons 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Titans.  Kimmons did his usual bit scoring but he was also a major factor on the offensive glass, particularly against the diamond and 1.  I counted 8 of his 10 boards on the offensive end, though some of that was of the Moses Malone grab your own miss variety.  He also added 3 1st half assists that turned into 8 points.  Joe Kearney comes up big down the stretch and finishes with 12 points.  Dorian Singer adds a couple of 3s and 10 points and that's enough offense.  Tartan's half-court man pressure really made it hard for Mahtomedi to effective run their sets.  Plus with it being 2nd time thru league, teams know what you run and the preparation was definitely there.