20-21 Season Opener Out Of Hibernation

Prologue
After a long delay, the 2020-2021 season is finally here.  I'm off to Blake to see a quality AA matchup with Cristo Rey making a visit to the Bears' Den.  Blake and Cristo Rey each looking to make a run in section play in a couple of months.  Only a limited number of home fans allowed at this one.  Schools varying in their policies on that.  Masks all around including uniform matching masks for Blake.  We did get 1 broken mask on the night.  Many cases of a mask below the nose.  Despite that and no on-site concessions, I do manage to smuggle in a can of Mug Root Beer.  Nick Rathmann not only doing the usual and extra crazy AD duties thanks to COVID, he's also doing color commentary on the varsity broadcast. 

Food and Beverage Counter
Mug Root Beer - 12 oz (170 Cal)

Game Time
No Jasper Liu for Blake tonight.  Both teams with small lineups.  The 1st game of year syndrome strikes as its only 4-2 CRJ at the 13:20 mark.  Scoring a problem all half.  Frosh Grayson Okoronkwo with a triple from 1 corner and then the other.  That's all part of a 14-0 Blake run over the last 10+ minutes of the half.  CRJ misses their last 13 shots of the 1st half.  That was after making 4 of their first 6.  21-9 Blake at the half.

After an Okoronkwo 3 point play to start the half, the cold spell strikes Blake.  They miss 6 in a row with 4 turnovers.  CRJ replies with a 10-1 run to cut the margin to 25-19 with 13:31 left.  Then the 1st half takes over again for CRJ.  Rob Grace with a pair of hoops and the lead is up to 11.  Theo Liu with a bucket to push the lead to 37-22 with under 8 minutes left.  Gabe Ganz adds a couple hoops of his own to complete tonight's 3 Amigos list.  That keeps the lead at 17 with 5 minutes left.  Blake wins 43-31.

Post Game
For Cristo Rey, this is the 1st of 4 games in 8 days.  Derek Burgess leads the Pumas with 12 points.  Their top guard Erick Burgess had 9 but really struggled with only 3 field goals.  Cristo Rey is 0-1 and they'll open Skyline play Saturday night at home against Concordia.  They stay home next week for more IMAC crossover games against St. Paul Academy and Mounds Park Academy.

For Blake, they're now 1-0.  Freshman Grayson Okoronkwo leads the way with 13 points.  His last points were at the start of the 2nd half.  Theo Liu with 10 and Rob Grace with 9 as they pick up the slack in the 2nd half. Blake goes on the road next week for 2 IMAC games at Breck and St. Paul Academy.

As the score would indicate, this was not pretty.  Much of that of course due to the 1st game of the year and normal layoff.  Add in the extra layoff and this will happen. CRJ was very 1 on 1 with their offense and not much movement of the ball or people.  Will be interesting to see if they add any off ball actions to try to get the Burgess brothers going down hill, e.g something like a Chicago action.  Right now their 5 out is lots of stand and watch.  Blake got a little bit out of their 5 out curls action.  But beyond a couple of nice BLOB looks, the execution of their sets wasn't as crisp as you normally see.  Good example of night 1 problems. 

Four Factors

FACTOR	Blake	Cristo Rey
Effective FG %	36.5%	29.2%
Offensive Rebound %	24.4%	22.5%
Free Throw Rate	21.2%	16.7%
Turnover %	21.9%	27%
Points Per Possession	0.67	0.51

Blake wins all 4 factors which is pretty indicative of this one.  Outside about 4 minutes early in the 2nd half when Cristo Rey cut the lead down to 6, Blake was even or in control. Lots of bunnies missed in this one that I'm sure both sides would like to have back to increase the shooting numbers.