2019 Tartan Tourney Day 1

Its the annual trek to the eastern edge of the kingdom for the Tartan Holiday Tournament.  As in recent years, we get the 8 teams in 2 groups of 4 format.  Here's what I saw

Game 1: Farmington 63 Fridley 44
This was a close game for the 1st 11 minutes.  Then Isaac Burns picked up his 2nd foul for Fridley.  He sat and combined with Farmington's 1-1-3 zone, Fridley only scored 1 basket for the last 7 minutes of the half.  That allowed Farmington to extend a 1 point lead to 16 at the half.  Fridley would extend their defense early in the 2nd half and get 9 quick points from Burns to cut the margin to 6 with under 13 minutes left.  Farmington stops the bleeding with Isaac Ask scoring 4 buckets in an 11-0 run.  This time it's the man to man defense that holds Fridley without a FG for over 8 minutes.  The lead grows to over 20 and benches empty just under the 5 minute mark.  Isaac Ask leads Farmington with 15 points.  Soph forward Kyle Hrncir very productive with 12 points off the bench.  Farmington also fun to see push the ball out in transition which hurt Fridley.  Isaac Burns leads Fridley with 11 of his 13 in the 2nd half.  Micah Niewald adds 3 triples for 9.

Game 2: Superior (WI) 67 Park 66
Only 1 senior on the floor to start the game between the 2 teams.  Superior's shooting would see them build a 36-25 halftime lead with 7 3s.  Park rallies with a bucket, putback and 2 triples from soph guard Jack Blumberg to cut the lead to 2 with under 12 minutes left.  Superior with a couple more 3s and a 7-0 run to keep the lead.  Ethan Townsend 5 in a row, Jayden Lane for 2 and a kick to Evan Bearth for 3.  Park regains the lead 58-57 with 4 minutes left.  Great ball movement with Bearth sending drift pass to him in the corner to the wing and top and he gets it back for another big triple.  64 all with 1:25 left.  The teams trade misses and post Pharell Payne puts back a miss with 11.3 left for a 2 point Park lead.  Out of a timeout, its a baseline drive and drift pass to Johnny Rhodes.  He buries the corner 3 with 1.8 left for the win. Joey Barker 18 points to lead Superior.  They knock down 12 treys.  Ethan Townsend 17 to lead Park.  Pharell Payne 12 inside, Jack Blumberg 12 outside and 11 from Jayden Lane.  Payne is a forward to keep an eye on.  The 6'6" soph played freshman ball last year and has come a long way.  Still fairly raw but there's plenty of upside for Park to be excited about to go with their perimeter crew.

Game 3: Simley 65 White Bear Lake 48
I also saw Simley last Friday against Hill-Murray and in both games Simley's defense was the story.  Last Friday it was Simley's 1-2-2 zone that held the Pioneers down.  Against White Bear Lake, they pulled RJ Jioklow out of it and went box and 1 on frosh Jack Janicki.  That totally took White Bear Lake out of any offensive flow.  Simley ends the 1st half on an 8-0 run to lead by 10.  Then a 16-1 run early in the 2nd half blows the game open as the Bears go 6 minutes between field goals.  Breyton Buysman leads Simley with 19 points.  RJ Jioklow with 14.  Frosh Jack Janicki with 14 and Kenye Raheem with 11 for White Bear Lake.

Game 4: #9AAAA Tartan 59 Henry Sibley 41
The tone was set right away as Tartan got 2 quick steals for buckets in a 10-0 run in the 1st 1:35 of the game.  Joe Kearney flammable with all 22 (possibly 24) of his points in the 1st half with 4 3s.  23 point game at the break.  Curtis Favors with a monster dunk after the red sea of Sibley defense parted and the lead got to 31 with 9:22 left.  But Sibley dug in from there to not see the running time marker.  Joe Kearney 24 points to lead all scorers.  Langston Binns adds 11.  Dewayne Thompson 10 points, soph Edward Michaels with 11 for Sibley.  Center MJ Davis also with 10 for Sibley.  Davis the only senior on the young Sibley roster.