A Weekend of Red

No we're not talking about the big Wisconsin win over Michigan State in hoops.  Its a fun set of 3 games in 24 hours as the month of February is upon us.  I start with the 2nd round of Metro East play and a fun directional St. Paul matchup as North St. Paul visits South St. Paul.  Then closing out my AAAA list seeing the red of Rochester John Marshall at Osseo in a Saturday matinee.  It ends with a big clash on the island with #1AAAA Eden Prairie coming into #3AAA De La Salle.  Here are the sights and sounds.

Friday: North St. Paul 72 South St. Paul 59
Real sugar Pepsi to go with my meal deal.  If South St. Paul can duplicate their 5-3 1st rotation thru the metro east schedule, they'll give the program its most wins in a season since the 1970 state runner up team.  The last winning season for the program was 1999.  North St. Paul won the 1st meeting by 14.  South St. Paul would open up a 28-17 1st half lead.  Good all around play from frosh Max Wilson during that stretch.  North St. Paul's offense would finally kick in with a 14-3 run finished by 2 Shaheed Muhammad buckets.  Soph Kenny Daily with a nice lefty finish and a 3 point play in the run as well.  Wilson adds the final 2 FTs of the half.  33-31 South St. Paul at the break.

Muhammad very quiet in the 1st half until the end keeps it going with a 3 point play, a FT and a triple in the 1st 5 minutes.  44-40 NSP takes the lead.  Its a 2 point game when SSP star PG Alonzo Dodd sits with his 4th foul at the 11:07 mark.  Muhammad 2 FTs for a 51-49 NSP lead and Dodd is back in with 8:22 left.  Roll those dice coach McCollister.  Soph PF Anthony Faulk with a second BLOB bucket as SSP is within 55-53 with 6:11 left.  But NSP slams the door with a 13-1 run over the next 3:40.  Daily with a 3 point play, 4 NSP FTs and 2 driving buckets to end the run.  Shaheed Muhammad with 11 of his 16 in the 2nd half.  Kenny Daily also with 16 for NSP.  Soph PG Alonzo Dodd leads SSP with 10 of his 16 in the 1st half.  He shot 9-16 at the charity stripe.  Frosh Max Wilson adds 14 points for the Packers.

Saturday matinee: Osseo 60 Rochester John Marshall 45
Both lineups with major holes in them.  JM Center Lincoln Meister just committed to UMD.  He's out with meniscus surgery last week.  Osseo with 4 members of their star studded sophomore class out of the lineup.  They've had a different lineup every night it seems so the revolving door continues.  The Osseo D sets the tone right away as they hold JM without a FG for the 1st 7:35 of the game.   But Osseo wasn't an offensive juggernaut to begin with and they didn't blow the game open.  Its a 6 point game before JM goes on an 11-0 run starting at the 8 minute mark and going for just 1:40.  3 players with 3s in that run.  17-12 JM at 6:20.  Osseo comes back with a 9-0 run starting with the 2nd 3 from Hassan Kamara.  That helps Osseo to a 25-22 halftime lead.

Jacob Daing with a quick 3rd foul for JM and he sits.  He comes back after a 9-1 Osseo run and picks up a charge for his 4th with 12:56 left.  Osseo missing a bunch of FTs early in the half otherwise the run would have been more.  Ty Tuckner working inside for JM.  His 3 point play with 11:20 left keeps the Osseo lead at just 6.  JV wing Aballa Bagutti off the bench for JM and hits a 3 and the lead is down to 5.  Osseo misses 2 more freebies but Daing commits his 5th on 2nd miss with 9:32 left.  Osseo then hits 4 free throws as they stretch the lead to 11. PG Benard Omooria leads Osseo down the stretch.  He hits an open 3, a free throw and a layup as Osseo puts the game out of reach.  Benard Omooria leads Osseo with 13 points.  Fellow sophs Tyriece Waits and Hassan Kamara each add 12 points for the Orioles.  Will Woodford leads the Rockets with 16 points.  Ty Tuckner adds 11 for JM.

Saturday Night: #1AAAA Eden Prairie 61 #3AAA De La Salle 42
Excellent walking taco on the menu.  Long time no have, YUM!  This was really fun to watch for the discipline showed on both ends by both teams.  Plus another great defensive game plan from Eden Prairie.  They made a point of keeping length in either Connor Christensen or John Henry on Cade Haskins.  Plus they backed off most of the rest of the perimeter roster for DLS.  The talk on defense and execution of switches both during a screen and switch back to matchups off the ball when they had a chance was high level stuff that you just don't see in high school.  Great execution of the plan and attention to detail.

As to the game, Haskins answers a pair of Henry triples to keep DLS within 13-10 at the 12 minute mark.  Then a 10-0 EP run bookended by Christensen buckets.  DLS does make the game plan pay with Semaj Hart and Evan Boyd hitting 3s late in the half.  34-26 EP at the half.  Drake Dobbs for 3 off a quality set.  Then Henry with back to back 3s including another great set for the 2nd one.  Henry ends the 13-0 run with yet another bomb as he gets loose in transition.  50-30 EP with 8:43 left and this one is over.  John Henry leads Henry with 7 triples and 23 points.  Drake Dobbs with 3 triples and 15 points of his own.  The defense holds Cade Haskins to 11 points, 8 in the 1st half and a late 3.  Jalen Travis also scores 11 for the Islanders.  Keijuan White adds 8 of his 10 in the 1st half with a couple of open 3s.

De La Salle was patient on offense looking for good shots and ran good screening combinations.  Haskins was using physical screens from guys like Travis all night.  The defense switching and lower shouldering those screens to get thru was just too good from EP.  Including this game, 7 of the last 9 for EP are on the road.  That includes the monster road game at Minnehaha on Tuesday, Feb 18th.  This game starts a 5 game home stretch for De La Salle.  They have 4 league home games and the next road game is in 2 weeks at #3AAAA Cretin-Derham Hall.