2019 Southside Showcase Review

The December Saturday marathons continue with 8 games in the Southside Showcase at Minnehaha Academy.  There was also a small school section of the event at Hiawatha Academy down the street that I didn't attend.  Overall a great mix of urban, suburban and outstate teams of all different styles.

Game 1: St. Paul Central 65 Roseville 51
Central jumped out to a 16-0 lead in this one.  Kadem Doram with a nasty dunk early on to set the tone.  Central's quickness caused problems all day.  Keyshawn Payne with 5 points in a 2nd half run that would cut the lead to 5.  But Doram cuts for a dunk and adds 5 more in a row late to push the lead back to double digits.  Doram finishes with 25 points on my sheet in a breakout performance.  Keyshawn Payne leads Roseville with 19.

Game 2: Bloomington Kennedy 77 St. Paul Johnson 65
Early on the offense was all from the 3 point line.  Kennedy would stretch the lead to 8 before Julian Hodges scored the last 7 of the 1st half to cut the lead to 31-30 at the break.  Eric Dums outside and Jacob Husting inside have big second halves for Kennedy.  An 11-2 run late opens the game up and is the difference.  Dums with 5 in that run.  Dums with 18 points on my sheet, Amarion Hanspard with 19 for Kennedy.  Hodges leads Johnson with 25.  Kennedy now 5-0 on the season with wins over Holy Angels and Mayer Lutheran.

Game 3: Tartan 74 Robbinsdale Cooper 71
Lots of guard play in this one.  Back and forth in the 2nd half.  Tartan with 6 free throws in a 6-0 run to give them a 69-64 lead with 1:45 left.  Cooper with a bucket and fouled for a chance to cut the lead to 1.  They miss the free throw but get it back.  Their attempt to tie is swatted away with 35 seconds left.   3 point game with under 10 seconds to go and Tartan chooses to foul to prevent a 3 to tie. The first is good and 2nd is missed and after a scramble its a jump ball.  The arrow favors Tartan.  They make a free throw and a late heave from Cooper is no good.  Langston Binns leads all scorers with 18 points despite foul trouble all day.  Joe Kearney with 16 and Dorian Singer adds 14 for Tartan.  Davion Evans leads Cooper with 16 points off the bench.  Bo Powell with 13 despite missing a large chunk of the 1st half with foul trouble of his own.

Game 4: Cambridge-Isanti 85 Chanhassen 70
Story of this one was Cambridge-Isanti guard Henry Abraham.  He goes for 8 quick points and 2 assists for 3s (plus a screen for another layup).  Bluejackets jump on Chanhassen 19-3.  But the C-I rotation is thin with only 1 bench guy.  Plus Chanhassen started to be patient and use their strength inside.  So like last week the big lead evaporates.  Luke Gitzen with 5 points in a late run to cut the lead to 7. Ben Giles with a drive for 2 and a 3 of his own and the lead is down to 52-51 with 12:30 left.  Abraham already with 8 3s at this point.  He knocks down 2 more bombs and has a steal for an assist on another bucket.  That 10-0 run pushes the lead back to 11 with 10:16 left.  That lead holds for 5 minutes but here comes Chanhassen again.  A 3 point play inside, then Mike Shea adds 2 bunnies including a nice scoop.  Storm with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 4 with 2:30 left.  Abraham with his last bomb of the day to kill the momentum and they make 8-8 FTs to close it out as Chanhassen doesn't score again.  Henry Abraham goes for 13 triples and 50 points in a monster performance.  Micah Ladd adds 15 despite cold shooting.  Luke Gitzen leads Chanhassen with 18 points.  Mike Shea 12 points in really good inside minutes off the bench.

Game 5: Columbia Heights 62 #10AAA Hibbing 60
Jordan Jones outstanding for Heights in this one.  2 free throws and a steal for 2 more plus Muja Burton converting the bonus give Heights a 54-47 lead with 5 minutes left.  Mayson Brown with a hoop and 3 free throws cut the Heights lead to 1 with 22.6 left.  Heights make 2 free throws and Brown goes quick to the rim for 2 more.  1 free throw for Heights with 3.9 left and Hibbing can't convert a late chance to tie.  Jordan Jones finishes with 25 points on my sheet.  Heights holds Hibbing star Ayden McDonald to 7 points but you can see the talent there with his ability to get shots off and pass.

Game 6: #1AAA Minnehaha 69 Benilde-St. Margaret's 49
BSM playing without Isaiah Smith, Walker Johnson and Zach Carden.  Chet Holmgren sitting this one out for Minnehaha.  He took a mean spill in the North St. Paul game on Wednesday so that might be part of the reason why.  Minnehaha jumps out to a 15-2 lead with 5 3s.  Nick Peterson helps bring BSM all the way back.  He knocks down 3 triples and adds a couple more buckets in a 20-6 Red Knights run.  Soph forward Jack Kinsey finishes that run with a 3.  22-21 BSM at the 7:30 mark.  Minnehaha tries to pull away but even with a Suggs 3 point play just before the half, the margin is only 11.  Too much defense from Minnehaha in the 2nd half. They score the 1st 8 points of the half with 2 dunks on turnovers..  Cruise control from there.  Jalen Suggs and Prince Aligbe with 16 each on my sheet to lead Minnehaha.  Nick Peterson with 25 to lead the Red Knights.

Game 7: #7AAAA Hopkins 78 Nicolet (WI) 67
Yes that spelling is correct. Its 1 L and Nick-O-Lay for Wisconsin folks instead of 2 Ls and Nick-O-Let in Minnesotan.  Now this isn't the Jalen Johnson (Duke commit, top 10 player in nation) squad.  But they have his younger brother Kobe and D1 recruit James Graham on the roster.  Hopkins would open a 15 point 1st half lead. Kerwin Walton sat the last 9:08 with 2 fouls. That helped Nicolet cut the lead to 4 at the break. A pair of 3s sandwich a Walton bucket in an 8-0 run that pushes the lead to 61-48 with 7:30 left.  Hopkins no problems from there.  Kerwin Walton with 22 points on my sheet.  Elvis Nnaji got off to a hot start and played as well as I've seen.  15 points for the rapidly improving sophomore forward.  Graham and Johnson get theirs but don't get much help.

Game 8: #2AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall 87 Spring Lake Park 56
Spring Lake Park ran into a buzzsaw in this one.  CDH jumps out to a 22-9 lead, 40-19 at the break and its 68-38 with over 7 minutes left.  Tre Holloman with 20 points to lead Cretin-Derham Hall but he would also have a great day distributing.  The Raiders get 18 from Amari Carter, 12 from J'Vonne Hadley along with 5 triples and 19 points from Curtis Jones. With that kind of production from the top 4 guys, CDH is not going to lose very often.  Gabe Myren with 24 points to lead Spring Lake Park but nobody else in double figures.  CDH defense took everybody else away.