Madness on many levels

A fun adventure the last 3 days with a couple of small school games, a couple of Tri-Metro visits and a girls game upset for good measure.

Thursday: United Christian 75 Nova Classical 40
Too much size from United Christian.  No surprise to see the 20 pts from forward Zach Corley.  But it was fellow junior frontcourt mate Jonah Anderson and his 16 pts and activity on the glass that caught my eye.  For the Knights, they have no seniors.  Soph guard Rayan Taha gives them a piece on the perimeter.  He had 15 points.  Junior forward Ben Parsonage also with 15 points for the Knights.

Friday: Columbia Heights 61 St. Croix Lutheran 54
This was a last minute selection for my schedule.  It paid off as coach Jay Wendland dug up some quality research and gifted me some Killebrew Root Beer that I missed out on earlier in the season.  Heights would open up a 10 point lead in the 1st half but St. Croix Lutheran goes 1-3-1 to hold Heights to FG in the last 8:20.  That cuts the lead to 1 at the break.

Like the 1st half, the lead grows to double figures (44-33) but the Crusaders rally with 3 bombs to cut the margin to 2 with 5:20 left.  Hylanders Sophs Muja Burton and Spencer Alvarez working inside to the tune of 4 Burton FTs and Alvarez cleaning the glass.  St. Croix Lutheran with a 5 min scoring drought after they cut the margin to 2 with Heights going zone to cause that.  Zach Longueville 24 points and 6 triples to lead St. Croix Lutheran.  Xavier Garcia 3 triples and 13 points.  PG Jordan Jones another big game for Heights with 25 points to lead all scorers.  Muja Burton and Eljiah Williams each add 12.  Spencer Alvarez only 5 points but he was the main force cleaning the glass.  Plus he could have gotten post touches for points almost at will.  It'll be interesting to see if Heights looks for that more in the home rematch next month.

Saturday:
CHOF 98 Hiawatha 48 (at Mpls Henry)
This was the opener of the Tim Williams event.  Definitely not what we expected.  CHOF opens up a 47-7 lead and forget about it from there.  Jessye Lewis with 23 of his 30 in the 2nd half for Hiawatha.  Isaac Collins with 24 for CHOF.  Preston Alleman has stepped into the 2nd scorer role for the Lions.  He finished with 28 points.  Hiawatha's performance very much like a Sunday morning 8 AM consolation game for a team that just wants to catch the plane home after staying up late.

St. Anthony 88 St. Thomas Academy 75
The St. Anthony girls took on Minnehaha in the prelude to this.  A very entertaining game with the Huskies pulling off the 73-66 double OT upset of #3AA Minnehaha.  For the boys game, we get a special appearance from Lithgow on the whistle.  Tait Nelson absolutely ridiculous in this one for St. Anthony.  St. Thomas pulls to within 4, Nelson hits a triple and scores on a Charles Barkley backdown.  Lead down to 6, Nelson fade in the post, 2 FTs, 2 steals for a pair of buckets, 2 FTs and a kickout assist for 3 to beat the halftime buzzer.  47-31 Huskies at the break.

St. Thomas comes out of the locker room on fire.  Ryan Chamberlain 7 points, John Grismer with the last 5 in a 16-2 Cadets run in just over 2 minutes.  49-47 St. Anthony with 15:53 left.  But Nelson keeps it going with a triple, 2 FTs and a bucket to end a 10-0 Huskies run.  The lead is never under double digits after that.  Nelson continues the theivery in the 2nd half.  He ends up with 44 points and unofficially with anywhere from 12-14 steals, 7-9 rebounds and a handful of assists by my viewing.  That was with Mr Basketball Committee chairman Jim Robinson looking on.  Junior foward Luke Omodt adds 14 points with a couple of 3s.  Max Kachman with 14 as well. Soph Nathan Johnson leads St. Thomas with 18 points off the bench.