So back to the big events with 2021 Breakdown Tipoff Classic returning to the schedule. We did lose 1 game on the schedule with the Cretin-Derham Hall vs Totino-Grace game being called off. But overall we had 7 games on the main court. Here are some thoughts on the games I saw.
Game 1: #6AAAA Eastview 85 Maple Grove 68
Maple Grove would jump out to a 14-7 lead after 6+ minutes of this one. That's without their top guard Jon Haakenson. Dylan Omweno provides a spark off the Eastview bench and its all Lightning from there. An 18-2 run puts Eastview up for good. 49-23 at the break and they cruise from there. Kenji Scales leads the Lightning with 19 points. Jamal Ambrose with 14 points and 4 triples in the matchup vs Lincoln Palbicki. Kayser Hassan continues his breakout season with 14 points. Dylan Omweno with an energetic 13 points off the bench. Lefty Ashton Keomysy with 21 points to carry the Maple Grove offense. Eastview so good and versatile on offense. Very fun to watch.
Game 2: #4AAAA Shakopee 87 Minnetonka 79
High powered offense in this one with lots of guard scoring and not much interior play. Ibo El-Amin picked up a 2nd half technical for his 4th foul that looked like it might allow Shakopee to pull away but it didn't. Shakopee with an uncharacteristic 17 first half turnovers. That allowed Tonka to take a 39-37 halftime lead. The point guards were the story in this one. Cade McGraw with 27 points for Shakopee to lead all scorers. That's despite having a splint on his left thumb which forced him to reverse finish everything at the rim with his right hand. Soph Andy Stefonowicz tried to match him with 15 2nd half points including a couple of deep triples that kept Tonka close. He finished with 2 2points to lead Minnetonka. Yonis Mohamud and Nick Katona each with 18 points for Shakopee. Ibo El-Amin and Jalen Cain both with 18 for Minnetonka. Shakopee with 12 second chance points in the 2nd half. That included a couple of those putbacks late to stretch out a 2 point lead to 8.
Game 3: Minneapolis South 61 #2AAA De La Salle 58
Most entertaining game of the day here with Minnesota Spartans teammates going at each other. Nasir Whitlock and Randy McClendon come off the DLS bench in this one but I'm not counting that as they almost immediately come in. D would use a 14-0 run including a McClendon 4 point play to open up a 1st half double digit lead. In the 2nd half they couldn't keep the quick South guards off the foul line. The Tigers had 5 2nd half FGs and 17 of 19 FTs going into the final couple of plays.
DLS with a 5 point lead with 4:37 left. 2 of those free throws and a putback cut the margin to 1 with 2:56 left. Then star guard Jerome Williams fouls out with 2:10 left. De'Mari Larkins 2 FTs for a South 56-55 lead with 1:58 lead after a DLS turnover. Cash Chavis counters with a 3 for DLS with 1:35 left. Chiang Ring tips in a miss with 40 seconds left to tie it. Jump ball to De La Salle with 5.5 left and off the inbound they get an easy look at a wide open 3 that's no good. Its out of bounds to South with 1.4 left full court. Larkins will inbound and get it back for a heave from the top of the opposite key and ITS GOOD!! WOW! Jerome Williams leads South with 20 points, 13 of 15 FTs. Chiang Ring 14, De'Mari Larkins 12. Randy McClendon 14, Cash Chavis with 10 for De La Salle. Amir Everett 9 pts in solid bench minutes. In addition to the win at the charity stripe, 30 to 14 points in the paint with Ring controlling the paint for South.
Game 4: #8AAAA Lakeville North 56 #10AAAA Park 43
No Pharrel Payne or Jamari Walker for Park in this one. Lakeville North saw the return of Nolan Winter to the lineup. His 24 points on the day, too much for Park to deal with when their size was out of the lineup. Biggest story of the day though was the 2-3 zone that Lakeville North employed. I've seen them go 1-2-2 over the years but coach Oxton is an old school man to man guy. That defense held Park to 4 first half field goals for a 25-13 Lakeville North lead. Evan Bearth with a couple late 3s but Winter diffuses that with a couple buckets and a couple of free throws. Park never really threatens. Brayden Fick with 11 of his 16 points in the first half for Park.
Game 5: #5AAAA East Ridge 70 #7AAAA Hopkins 67
Fun battle of talented wing players in this one. Kendall Blue and CJ O'Hara had themselves a fun back and forth. O'Hara kept Hopkins close with 16 of his game high 25 points in the 2nd half to keep Hopkins close. Blue would answer with 17 of his 22 in the second half. Both players getting to the rim with a nasty dunk each but also knocked down a pair of 3s. Alex Mattes adds 21 points for East Ridge. Max Wilson with 16 for Hopkins. I'll be interested to watch the Hopkins offense this season. Lots of excessive dribbling in this one and that's not the Ken Novak way. Expect that to be cleaned up along with getting Elvis Nnaji more involved. He had only 5 points but also spent time guarding Kendall Blue.
Game 6: #3AA Minneapolis North 84 #1AA Minnehaha 81
Biggest crowd of the day for this one. Minnehaha turns it over 20 times for 20 points in the first 35 possessions of the game. Looks like they're going to be run out of the building. North's 1-2-2 3/4 press making it difficult to even get the ball across half court. Minnehaha ends the game with 35 turnovers to lose the points off turnovers 33-12. But they hang around by hammering the offensive board (17-6 2nd chance pts advantage). Minneapolis North leaves a ton of points out there by going 16-37 at the charity stripe. That include 7 late misses that gave Minnehaha a chance. Prince Aligbe with 27 points to lead Minnehaha as he was a force inside. Mercy Miller adds 22, 17 in the first half. I was surprised how quiet he was late. Willie Wilson leads 4 North starters in double figures with 21 points. The Polar 1-2-2 press was fearsome and will be a nightmare in Minneapolis City play.
Game 7: #2AAAA Park Center 66 #1AAAA Wayzata 62
Bragging rights in AAAA also at stake with the top 2 teams in the polls going at it in this one. Braeden Carrington and Carter Bjerke both pick up their 2nd foul midway thru the first half. Bjerke sits the rest of the half while Carrington only gets a brief rest. Wayzata able to extend their lead to 30-21 at the break. The teams trade buckets to start the 2nd half before Park Center goes on a 14-0 run while Wayzata is mired in a stretch of 11 trips without a basket. 37-32 Pirates ahead as they take time with 12:06 left.
Wayzata responds out of that timeout with a 10-2 run. Hayden Tibbits ends that with a layup with 8 minutes left, 42-39 Trojans. Leo Torbor with a triple and 3 FTs in a 11-2 run that allows the Pirates to break out of a tie game. 4 missed chances at the line late help Wayzata rally back to 1 possession. But Torbor makes 1 of 2 free throws to seal the victory.
Park Center only 8-25 from 3 but they held Wayzata to only 15 attempts from 3 with their defense. Love the improvement of James Spencer inside for Park Center. He's a guy they can go to in the post from time to time. Not needed for this team with their firepower, but not sure it was expected either. Carter Bjerke played far more in the post than I expected. Probably a case of all of us talking about his top notch shooting and forgetting he can play inside too.
Bjerke leads Wayzata with 15 points. Spencer Hall with 3 triples and 14 points for the Trojans. Myles Barnette with a nice night off the bench with 12 points. Park Center gets no points from their bench. Leo Torbor 18 points to lead the Pirates. Ayouba Berthe 15, Cody Pennebaker 13, Braeden Carrington 11.
Czar's All Tipoff Classic Team
Prince Aligbe -Minnehaha
Kendall Blue - East Ridge
Cade McGraw - Shakopee
CJ O'Hara - Hopkins
Nolan Winter - Lakeville North
Czar Insights
For details on exactly what the values in the charts mean, click here for the full explanation of Czar Insights.
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