2023 Big Stage Thoughts

Its the 2023 Big Stage event.  This season its at Park Center.  Chick-Fil-A at the concession stand is a major win.  Big crowd around the rails for the big nightcap.

Game 1: #2AA Holy Family 77 Robbinsdale Armstrong 45
Armstrong coming off a game at Park Center the night before and it showed.  Not having Seth Newbern doesn't help either.  Holy Family ran whatever they wanted and got great looks.  Luke Graff took advantage of that for 23 points and 5 3s.  Kole Hanson got it going in the 2nd half and ended up with 3 triples and 24 points.  They ran a shuffle set to death that got open 3s or easy post ups for Brayden Carlson.  Depth and decision making are the questions that come up for me.  Desmond Ware led Armstrong with 13 points.

Game 2: Minneapolis Washburn 64 #10AAAA Eastview 59
Another brutal 1st half for Eastview as they went 0-8 from 3 and turned it over 13 times.  That allowed Washburn to jump out to a quick 14-4 lead and keep it at 8 at the half.  Then a quick Jon Mekonnen 3rd foul send him to the bench very early in the 2nd half for a long break.  Eastview would go on a 9-0 run and take the lead.  Abdulqadir Abdulqadir with a pair of 3s, a bucket and 1 of 2 free throws off the Eastview bench for a 51-47 Lightning lead with 6:27 left.

Kyle Jorgensen took over the ending for Washburn.  Triple, bucket, triple in a personal 8-0 run to put Washburn back on top within 2 minutes.  He adds 2 free throws and then the skip pass out of the post for a dagger 3 from Blake Bergren with 1:05 left.  Jorgensen seals it with both ends of the bonus after another Abdulqadir 3 cut the margin to 3 with 5.9 left.  Abdulqadir with 17 of his 19 in the 2nd half to lead Eastview.  Jon Mekonnen added 16 points in the matchup of Colorado State commits.  Kyle Jorgensen 22 of his 34 points in the 2nd half to go with 10 rebounds on my sheet.  Clearly the MVP performance of the day.

Game 3: Cretin-Derham Hall 63 Maple Grove 54
Cretin-Derham Hall's defense was the story here.  Their man to man pressure totally took Maple Grove out of anything they wanted to run.  That forced 24 Crimson turnovers that CDH turned into 35 points.  Monteff Dixon solid work inside with 15 points while Joe Mitchell led CDH with 19 points and 3 triples from his guard slot.  Keegan Harney 16 points and 4 3s to lead Maple Grove.

Game 4: #4AAA Orono 92 Eden Prairie 72
Orono dominant in this one but like last week at the Tipoff Classic they almost let a big lead slip.  Eden Prairie cut a 23 point margin to 5 with 4 minutes left before a 8-0 Orono run finally put the game out of reach. Orono outscores EP 42-22 on points in the paint.  Eden Prairie very stagnant and 1 on 1 jump shot oriented in their offense.  Plus they put up very little resistance defensively as Orono shot 35-64 from the floor. That included 11-26 from 3 while EP was 8-32 from deep.  Nolan Groves another impressive showing with 25 points and 3 triples.  Brady Wooley adds 19.  Guard Hamze Yusuf leads Eden Prairie with 19 points.  JJ Sullivan 17 and Max Lorenson 16 for the Eagles.

Game 5: #5AAAA Minnetonka 99 #9AAAA Osseo 78
Tough matchup for anybody but Osseo's size an especially difficult task to try to guard the Skippers.  Osseo had no answers in that chess match.  Minnetonka at 1 point scored on 23 out of 28 trips down the floor.  Skippers shoot a crazy 40 of 67 on the day thanks to 22 of 32 in the second half.  Huge edge of 64-38 on points in the paint for a smaller Minnetonka lineup.  Greyson Uelmen 28 points and 3 triples.  Andy Stefonowicz another nice showing with 21 points.  De'Mari Larkins leads Osseo with 28 points of his own.  Temi Denado adds 16.

Game 6: #8AAAA Hopkins 89 #7AAAA Lakeville South 78
The scrambling Hopkins defense looked like it would run Lakeville South off the floor early as the Royals jumped out to a 22-9 lead.  But the Cougars settled down and moved the ball well to take a 2 point halftime lead.  This was a 4 point game with 5 minutes left but the turnovers reared their ugly head.  Back to back giveaways for 5 points and you can't dig out from that.  22 Lakeville South turnovers for a 22-3 points off turnover edge for Hopkins in this one.  Anthony Smith 31 points and a couple of big second half 3s to keep the Hopkins offense going.  Davie Hart adds 21.  Keaton Ressler 6 triples and 20 points to lead Lakeville South.  Ryan Johnson adds 16.  DaMarcus Burks 12 points and the unenviable task of guarding Jayden Moore who he held to 11 points.

Game 7: #1AAAA Park Center 77 #2AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's 60
Overall a pretty sloppy game as the teams combined for 35 turnovers.  BSM got off to a nice start but after the first 10 minutes, this one was mostly all Pirates.  BSM 1 FG in the last 8 minutes of the 1st half as the PC lead grew to double digits.  Park Center's defense really held down Jalen Wilson who had 12 points with a bad shooting day.  Jaleel Donley with 24 points to lead the Red Knights.  4-23 from deep for Benilde-St. Margaret's which will be an ongoing theme to watch for them.  Great balance from Park Center.  Jackson Fowlkes with 3 triples and 22 points.  Cash Chavis and Chiang Ring each add 19

All Big Stage Team
Luke Graff - Holy Family
Nolan Groves - Orono
Kyle Jorgensen - Minneapolis Washburn
Anthony Smith - Hopkins
Greyson Uelmen - Minnetonka

Notable Underclassmen
Baboucarr Ann - Maple Grove
Drew Coleman - Holy Family
Joe Mitchell - Cretin-Derham Hall
Tre Moore - Hopkins
Joel Saah - Robbinsdale Armstrong
Ty Schlagel - Eden Prairie
Hamze Yusuf - Eden Prairie

Czar Insights

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