2019 UST Classic Day 2

For Day 2 of my 2019 holiday viewing I made the damp but thankfully not icy trek to the University of St. Thomas.  No tournament format here just 2 games for each of the 8 teams.

Game 1: #7AAA Waconia 73 Holy Angels 57
Holy Angels with an early 10-0 run thanks to a couple of Matt Banovetz 3s.  Waconia right back in it with a 16-4 run of their own for a 20-16 lead at the 8:17 mark.  Forward Spencer Swanson with a couple of putbacks in that run.  Banovetz then draws the 2nd foul on Waconia star PJ Hayes for 2 free throws.  Then a really smart play in the backcourt to get his body into Hayes for the 3rd.  He'll make both ends of the bonus plus the technical on the Waconia bench.  Nate Kesti with a triple to complete the 7 point possession.  14-0 AHA run over 4 minutes for a 30-20 lead.  But Waconia responds with an 11-2 run to close the half without Hayes.  Connor Schwob 4 free throws in the run.  Banovetz picks up 2 charges during the spurt and he'll also end up with 3 fouls in the half.  32-31 AHA at the break.

Banovetz a putback and triple in a 9-0 run for a 41-33 AHA lead.  45-40 AHA when Banovetz picks up his 4th with 12:48 left.  2 minutes later Emmett Johnson has his 4th foul as well.  AHA goes a stretch of 10:40 with only 1 field goal, much of that with the stars sitting.  Schwob with a big 3 with just under 7 minutes to push the Waconia lead to 10 and force AHA to bring the stars back in.  But there's no danger, Waconia cruises from there.  Spencer Swanson 21 points with very effective inside work.  PJ Hayes held to 15.  Connor Schwob 12 and Connor Behrens adds 10 off the bench.  Matt Banovetz 18 points.  Junior wing Bryce Boyd adds 10 for Holy Angels.

Game 2: Eagan 50 Benilde-St. Margaret's 48
Nick Peterson with the 1st 7 points for BSM.  Derric Standifer gives them a couple of 3s off the bench as well.  28-21 BSM at the break.  Sammuel Davis with back to back 3s to pull Eagan within 2 but Peterson goes glass for 2 and buries a 3 in a 7-0 run to keep BSM up 40-31 with 10:25 left.  Eagan defense clamps down and Kurt Ohlhues heats up.  Ohlhues with a transition 3 off a turnover and Matthew Verbeke adds 2 hoops in a 12-0 run to give Eagan their 1st lead with under 8 minutes left.  Ohlhues and Dan Ijadimbola trade triples.  Standifer adds a free throw to tie it a 46 with 4:19 left.  BSM patient offense down the stretch.  A mess of a pass bounces right back to Zai Smith and he'll finish that with 40 seconds left for a 2 point lead.  Davis on the other end with a bomb and its Eagan by 1 with 31 seconds left.  BSM turns it over out of a timeout and Eagan adds 1 final free throw.  BSM can't get a good look at the end.  Kurt Ohlhues with 13 of his 19 in the 2nd half to bring the Wildcats back.  Sammuel Davis 4 3s, 3 of them in the 2nd half and the go-ahead one late, for 12 points.  Nick Peterson with 21 points carrying the BSM offense again.  Derric Standifer 8 of his 9 off the bench in the 1st half.  Peterson had 12 of the 20 2nd half Red Knights points.

Game 3: Wayzata 91 St. Thomas Academy 47
The young St. Thomas Academy roster would try to hang around but a 14-2 run over the last 4 minutes of the 1st half would blow the game open and the Trojans cruise from there.  Blowout city.  Cam Heide with 14 of his 20 in the 1st half.  Carter Bjerke adds 13.  3 other bench guys also reach double figures for Wayzata.  Frosh guard Michael Kirchner leads the Cadets with 16 points.  Frosh guard Jack Chamberlain adds 3 triples in the 1st half and 11 total points.  Coach Bryan Schnettler not entirely pleased with his team's defense in the 1st half as he used a couple of timeouts after STA buckets.

Game 4: #2AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall 64 #4AAA Totino-Grace 54
This game makes me think back to the old days of the 3 day Catholic Spirit tournament at UST. A very fitting way to end the event.  Offense was really hard to come by for Totino-Grace in this one. It took TG almost 11 minutes to get their 2nd FG and the 1st was a putback.  Tre Holloman goes FT line jumper off their under-utilized pick and roll.  J'Vonne Hadley with a 3 point play off a turnover.  Curtis Jones nice cut for a hoop.  23-7 CDH as we go under 5:30 left in the half.  TG claws their way back with a Taison Chatman 3 point play and triple to cut the margin to 10.  He'll add another jumper to end the half after a Hadley 3.  That keeps the margin at 10 going to halftime.

CDH comes out of the break with a 11-0 run.  Amari Carter runs the floor for layup.  Hadley from deep and a dunk to go with a couple of Jack Tauer buckets. 46-25 CDH in control with 11 minutes left.  CDH coasts from there and TG tries to make it interesting.  CJ O'Hara 4 FTs plus a bucket and another And 1 from Joe Alt.  58-49 CDH with 3:31 left after a 12-2 Eagles run.  But the margin doesn't get any closer than that.  J'Vonne Hadley with 23 points and 3 triples to lead all scorers.  Tre Holloman with 12 and Curtis Jones with 11 for CDH.  Freshmen CJ O'Hara and Taison Chatman lead TG with 13 points each.  O'Hara 9 of his points from the charity stripe.  Chatman with a couple of 3s.  Joe Alt another effective outing inside for the Eagles with 11 points.