The Spiderman Meme Game

Prologue
Off to Benilde St. Margaret's for a season opening game between the #9AAA Red Knights and Mound-Westonka.  Good test for both teams to see where the stand in the always tough grind that is section 6AAA.  Not the mention This is the Spiderman meme game with both teams having Red and White for colors along with both head coaches knowing each other going back to their time with the Gophers.  Small hot dog on the menu along with the beverage delicacy known as A&W.  The Haben Center is yet another gym (see also Spring Lake Park and Cooper in recent years) that has flipped the benches to the other side.  BSM had a nice scorers table but just had a plain setup tonight with the old fashioned card for the possession arrow.  Strange.

Song of the Day: Ode to a Superhero - Weird Al

Food And Beverage Counter:
Hot Dogs: 2
Sausage Pizza: 1
Coke: 48.9 oz (boo)
Pepsi: 0 oz (hooray!)
A&W Root Beer: 12 oz - 160 calories

Game Time
Fantastic start for BSM as they score the 1st 12 points of the game.  Mound-Westonka doesn't get their first field goal until the 9:42 mark.  14-4 BSM at that point.  That's the first 16 trips without a bucket,7 of those resulting in a turnover.  But that bucket breaks the ice for 6 straight trips with a basket. Whitehawks still within striking distance at 22-15. Sam Best with a bucket and triple in an 8-0 BSM run to push the lead right back to 15 at the 4:20 mark and coach Andre Phillips needs another timeout.  Jason Spaeth with a 3 point play for Mound-Westonka to end the scoring for the half.  38-25 Benilde leading at the break.

Frosh Jalen Wilson with a couple quick buckets for BSM before an 9-0 Whitehawks run cuts the lead to 44-38 with 13:39 left.  Now coach Damien Johnson wants a timeout.  Reese Vanderwilt and Jack Eberhart with triples in that run.  Mound turns it over on 6 of their next 7 trips.  Not to mention PG Jake Dallman picks up his 4th foul.  But at 1 point its only 44-40.  Soph Xavier Lumpkin off the bench for BSM with 5 in a row off of turnovers and the lead is back to 56-43 with over 7 minutes left.  David Ijadimbola with a layup and then slams home a turnover to keep the lead at 64-51 with 5 minutes left.  Eberhart goes up and gets called for a charge with 2:45 left and comes down awfully hard and bloodied.  Hope he's OK.  BSM never in danger down the stretch.  They win 77-65.

Post Game
Mound-Westonka starts the season 0-1.  They host St. Croix Lutheran on Friday.  Then a big home rivalry game vs Orono next Tuesday.  That's another game with potentially large section section seeding implications.  Max Swanson terrific inside for the Whitehawks.  He leads all scorers with 25 points, 21 of them in the 2nd half.  Nice finishes inside out of the dribble drive offense. Good feet and the ability to go the other side of the rim and score that way for the big man.  Reese Vanderwilt adds 13.  Their extended 2-3 zone did show some promise.  Also enjoyed how they share the ball.  They shot 14/21 (66.7%) in the 2nd half mostly thanks to Swanson's layups.

Benilde-St. Margaret's starts the season 1-0.  They have a matchup of former Eden Prairie assistants when they visit North St. Paul on Thursday.  Then a big showdown on Saturday in the Southside Showcase against #4 D2 La Crosse Central (WI).  Daniel Ijadimbola with 12 of his 19 in the second half to lead the Red Knights.  Ryan Warren adds 16, Sam Best 11 of his 15 in the 1st half.  Best with 3 triples on the night. Ijadimbola and Warren with 2 bombs each.  They really got into the ball on defense and made it hard on Mound-Westonka to get into their offense.

Czar Insights

For details on exactly what the value in the chart mean, click here for the full explanation of Czar Insights. Just like we saw yesterday, another turnover battle takes care of the game and overcomes a loss of EFG. Mound-Westonka wins EFG and FT Rate but gets beat on the offensive glass and the 21-4 margin in points off of turnovers.  The Whitehawks got 12 turnovers but couldn't convert them.  They also were a bit fortunate to only give up 21 points on 25 turnovers.  29 to 11 margin on the hustle board too.