2019 Augsburg Championships

I end my holiday travels with a snowy trip to Augsburg for the finals of their 3 day holiday tourney.  Here are some of the highlights.

Game 1: Southwest 66 Roosevelt 55
Thanks to Southwest beating Central on opening day we get the 1st of 2 extra meetings between teams on the day.  This one is a Minneapolis City Conference battle.  Christo Polydorou 2 early 3s including a trip to the bank to start the day.  The Lakers never trail in this one.  A 13-0 2nd half run pushes their lead to 20 and no problems from there.  Christo Polydorou with 18 to lead the Lakers.  Marcus Mattox adds 13.  Montgomery Booth with 12 of his game high 22 in the 2nd half to help Roosevelt keep it manageable.  Nelson Ladd adds 13.

Game 2: South St. Paul 82 St. Paul Central 76
Both of these squads featuring a ton of youngsters.  Back and forth game before South St. Paul goes on a 14-3 run midway thru the 2nd half.  65-52 Packers with 7:39 left.  Central rallies behind Kaden Doram and Caron Crowe.  Doram with a bucket, 2 free throws and then a tip dunk in their run.  Crowe's pressure defense a major factor in that as well. 73-70 SSP just under 2 minutes left.  But South St. Paul makes their free throws from there and hangs on.  Alonzo Dodd with a high level game of 22 points and creating for others off the bounce in the SSP dribble drive.  Marquis Gleb adds 16 and Max Wilson 13.  Kaden Doram with 20 points to lead Central.  Caron Crowe with 18, Gavin Gothard 15 and Billy Preston adds 13 off the bench.

Game 3: #7AAAA Hopkins 70 #6AA Minneapolis North 62
North took it to Hopkins early in this championship game.  De'Meiko Anderson for 3 and adds a bucket.  Willie Wilson with a bucket and a deep 3.  Anderson adds another bomb and Mario Sanders with a 3 point play.  34-25 North with just over 5 minutes to go in the 1st half.  North in a box and 1 on Kerwin Walton out of their 2nd timeout of the 1st half.  Then an early timeout in the 2nd half to prevent a jump ball (a very overused play).  That comes back to bite North as their offense just can't make a shot.  Hopkins goes on a 10-0 run to end the 1st half and then only 1 putback for North in the 1st 8 minutes of the 2nd half.  North finally takes their 4th timeout at the 10:06 mark.  44-36 Hopkins at that point after a 19-2 run.  You have to think they would have tried to stop the bleeding sooner had they had 1 of those early timeouts still available.

Willie Wilson breaks the run with a 3 point play then a big momentum sequence.  North misses 5 of 6 free throws.  Andrew Chisley scores, then blocks Davon Townley on 1 end and scores with the 4th foul on Townley on the other.  Hopkins picks up a T on a foul but North only makes 2 of 4 FTs and turns it over on the possession.  Hopkins counters with triples from Jalen Treml and Xavier White and the lead is 55-41 Hopkins with 6:25 left.  North goes 18 minutes with just 2 field goals but after 2 Townley free throws and a putback, they're somehow still within 55-45 with 5:11 left.  North's pressure does force a couple of turnovers to keep the final interesting.  But Kerwin Walton makes 6-6 FTs down the stretch and Hopkins wins.  Kerwin Walton 24 points but I thought North did a good job defending him.  Plus they largely held everyone else down (no one else in double figures for Hopkins).  Davon Townley even got the individual task of defending Walton.  Willie Wilson leads North with 19 points.  Davon Townley adds 12.  North missed 8 second half chances at the charity stripe.  The teams meet again at North on Monday, Feb 24th.

All-Tournament Team
Hopkins- Kerwin Walton (MVP) 
Hopkins - Cornell Richardson 
Mpls North - Willie Wilson 
Mpls North - Davin Townley 
South St Paul - Alonzo Dodd 
Mpls Southwest - Christo Polydorou