Do Hornets see Red?

Prologue
To building #50 of the season as I visit the Haben Center at Benilde-St. Margaret's.  Its a non-conference rescheduled neighbor matchup with Edina.  3 recognized but no name officials on the whistles.  Chaska getting in double duty scouting and De La Salle looking on for section play as well.  Small but reasonable hot dog and some Barq's Root Beer on tonight's calorie counter.  So with the Hornets in town, that means its time to buzz the tower.

Song of the Day: Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone

Number of Teams I've Seen: 161 (131 games, 50 buildings, 22 online)

Beverage Ticker: 988.1 ounces (10960 calories)

• A&W Root Beer: 24 ounces (340 calories)
• Barq's Root Beer: 24 ounces (320 calories)
• Coke: 169.8 ounces (2020 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 64 ounces (780 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 225.8 ounces (1580 calories) 
• Mug Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Pepsi: 339.6 ounces (4240 calories)
• Sprite: 128.9 ounces (1510 calories) 

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 30
• Pizza: 9
• Walking Tacos: 3
• Extras
• French Onion Sun Chips (210 calories)
• 7 Lays Chips (1060 calories)
• 2 Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar chips (460 calories)
• 2 Kit Kat (420 calories)
• 4 Snickers (1000 calories)

Game Time:
Hot start from Edina with the unexpected passer being center Jacob Hutson.  He assists on 5 of the 1st 6 Hornets hoops.  3 triples included so that leads to 12 points.  He adds 2 free throws and a putback as well.  Edina 19-5 after his 2 freebies at 11:06.  But Benilde will claw their way back.  Soph PG Derric Standifer for 3, 3 cuts for buckets and he beats the halftime buzzer as well.  Zach Carden adds 4 FTs off the bench.  BSM cuts the margin to 1 at the half, 25-24.  2 FGs for Edina in the last 12 minutes of the half.  That was after BSM only managed 2 FGs in the 1st 7 minutes.

The 2nd half looks like a repeat of the 1st.  Edina opens the half with a 12-0 run.  Matt Enck with an offensive board for 2 free throws then Hutson finds him for 3.  Hutson finishes the run with a nice early postup.  BSM takes their 2nd timeout of the half to stop the run.  37-24 Hornets with 13:28 left.  Isaiah Smith off the BSM bench providing a nice spark in the 2nd half after not playing in the 1st half.  He ignites a 10-0 BSM run with a drive for 1-2 FTs and another bucket.  39-34 Edina with 9:28 left.

The Hornets extend the lead again with a BLOB 3 from Middleton and a skip pass for an Andrew Enck 3.  Nels Birkeland with a nice cut for 2 and a jumper.  BSM not going away and they're still within 5 as we go under 6 minutes to play.  Middleton 2 buckets to start a 10-2 Edina run and the lead is 57-44 with 2:59 left.  Edina doesn't close it out well though.  Dylan Drees for 3 and Nick Peterson with a short jumper sandwiched between 2 Edina turnovers.  Peterson with a putback after a missed front end.  Then after another missed front end its Drees from deep.  All of a sudden its a 3 point game with 17.8 left.  BSM takes their last timeout.  Edina follows with a timeout as they can't get it in.  Then out of that timeout, its Hutson with the catch.  I thought BSM got the foul but no whistle and he finds Middleton running for a layup.  That's the final tally.  Edina wins 59-54.


Post Game:
For Benilde-St. Margaret's, what a tale of 2 sections of the game.  When combining the 1st 7 minutes of each half, BSM gets 3 FGs and outscored 33-9.  The Red Knights made runs but Edina had an answer each time.  Derric Standifer with all 11 of his points in the last 11 minutes of the 1st half to lead BSM.  Nick Peterson adds 10.  Dylan Drees with 3 triples for 9.  He had Hutson on him for most of the night, but nothing came of trying to exploit that match up off the bounce.  BSM falls to 8-16 overall.  They'll finish up with a trip to Bloomington Jefferson tomorrow and then they host Chaska on Friday night.  They could be looking at a 3rd meeting with Cooper in the 3 vs 6 game in 6AAA.  They beat the Hawks by 18 at home in the last meeting but lost by 16 at Cooper.  If they drop to 7, that would mean a rematch with Waconia who they beat on the road by 4 right after New Year's.

Edina improves to 17-8 with the win.  That's 7 out of the last 8 in the win column after 3 tough losses by a combined 11 points.  They'll close things out by hosting Minnetonka on Friday.  Jack Middleton made a couple critical shots late but overall was pretty quiet despite 16 points.  Jacob Hutson finishes with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists on my sheet.  Most of those assists in the run to start the game.  Very willing passer out of the post.  BSM decided to spread the floor with 5 out in the 2nd half and their driving and cutting with guards was something Edina didn't defend well at all.  I did like the emphasis off the pick and roll to counter the hard show by throwing back and then looking for Hutson inside.  Edina looks pretty locked into the 3 seed but if its coaches vote, Chaska will have a say with a head to head win.  Dropping to the 4 seed would be big as it means a likely game with Eden Prairie.  Prior Lake clearly gets 1, anything could happen 2-4 or 5.  Chanhassen is no picnic at 6, ditto that for Tonka at 7.  Plus Jefferson isn't your run of the mill 8 seed either.