Forest (Lake) Rangers hold off (WBL) Bears

To White Bear Lake we go for a Suburban East matchup between Forest Lake and White Bear Lake. WBL trying to get back in the middle of the pack and Forest Lake trying to make a run at 3rd place Hastings. Mark Klingsporn of Tartan looking on for a possible 2 vs 7 matchup with White Bear in the 1st round of section 4AAAA. Nice blaze orange from the White Bear students as well. And you can never go wrong with the Donatelli's pizza and Green Onions on the PA system. And the old Like Mike Gatorade theme right before the opening tip. That'll get the mood going.

The Rangers start off in their good old 1-3-1. WBL counters by tryinga couple of high posts against it. 2:30 in and coach Lockwood of WBL doesn't like it and calls time. New tactic is to try and really post the backside wing on the drop to free up the backside. But we're still at a snail's pace, 7-6 Forest Lake on a free throw at the 11:43 mark. Both starting guards for WBL with 2 fouls (Dwayne Nabors and David Rademacher). Griffin Lentsch with a couple jumpers. 16 all at 6:28. Time Forest Lake at 5:46 down 18-16 after a Spencer Cummings basket. Mitch Fiereck with 2 fouls and the aforemention guards are both down with 3 fouls. Zach Riedeman with a pretty drop step from the left block at 5:20 and we're tied at 18. Interesting move by Forest Lake to go to man D here as WBL has had trouble against the zone (including turnovers) all night. Ben Hoidal with a nice crossover for a driving 2 for Forest Lake near the end of the half. 24-22 White Bear Lake at the break despite 14 turnovers. Mitch Fiereck with 7 points and 7 boards despite foul trouble. Spencer Cummings and Griffin Lentsch cancel each other out with 8 points.

Forest Lake decides to stay man to start the 2nd half, interesting. Riedeman off to a quick start to the half on the offensive end. He finds Doug Sewall for 2, puts back a miss and nails a 3. 31-27 Rangers 3 minutes into the half. Another Riedeman hoops makes it 38-34 Rangers with 13 minutes left and Forest Lake decides to go back to the 1-3-1. Fiereck gets blocked and then stripped. That leads to 2 points on the other end for John Young from Lentsch. Another Rangers bucket extends the lead to 42-34 with 10:37 left and the Bears need time. 9-2 Forest Lake over 2:40. WBL hangs around. Spencer Cummings with a layup, David Rademacher with a triple, Paul Crossett with a nice up fake for a bucket, Nabors with a 3 over Riedeman and Fiereck with 5 points including a 3 point play to tie the game just inside of 7 minutes. Nice pass over the zone from Rademacher on that old school 3 point play. 49 all. Riedeman then draws the 4th foul on Fiereck. He sits along with Cummings. Riedeman with another bucket and then 4 points from Sewell make it 56-49 at 4:33. Cummings back in the game. He promptly gets fouled on a tip and makes both free throws to cut the lead to 5. After a Forest Lake bucket they have 2 bad possession of poor shot selection. Rademacher converts 1 of the possessions, but Cummings misses 2 free throws on the other. with 2:27 left. Then a strange T on the Forest Lake bench as a player said something, not the coaching staff. Fiereck makes 1 of 2 and Cummings makes 1 of 2 as Riedeman thought he had a block. 58-55 Rangers at 1:48. Forest Lake then called for a walk with 1:16 left and Rademacher converts. 58-57 Forest Lake with 55 seconds left. For some reason they hoist up a 3 with 40 seconds left, but Rademacher misses on the other end and the tie goes to Forest Lake with 36.2 left. Ben Hoidal (guilty of 2 of the 3 bad shots) tackled by Cummings with 19.8 left misses the front end of the bonus. Out of a timeout, the Bears attempt to run a backscreen lob for Fiereck. Its not there so Rademacher attempts to drive but his pass to Fiereck is stolen by Riedeman with 7 seconds left. He bounces the 1st one in off the front iron and then after a WBL timeout, he makes the 2nd for a 60-57 lead. The Bears try to pass to Cummings at halfcourt, but Sewall steals the pass and makes 1 of 2 with 5 seconds left to seal the deal. 61-57 Forest Lake wins on the road.

For White Bear Lake, Spencer Cummings with 15 points and 8 rebounds on my sheet. Mitch Fiereck with 13 and 10 by my count. I had 21 turnovers for them, but most of their were against the 1-3-1 in the 1st half. Nice call for Fiereck late but well defensed as Fiereck set a high ball screen between the circles and then ran off a screen for the lob. A win would have gotten the Bears back to .500 but they're now 9-11 and in real danger of being the 8 seed. A home win on Tuesday over Woodbury would help the cause as would a late season home win over Stillwater. Interesting that they're now using the dribble drive motion system with Cummings being in the inside guy.

For Forest Lake, they improve to 13-7 and the current leader in the race for the #1 seed in 7AAAA. Very favorable schedule too as they're done with Mounds View (2 losses) and have Roseville and CDH at home. Short turnaround too as they go to Duluth East for a Saturday afternoon game. That game is big in the section for Duluth East if they want the #2 seed. Zach Riedeman with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Griffin Lentsch witih 17 and deadly from mid-range in their open-post motion. Doug Sewall with a productive night inside of 10 points and 9 rebounds. I was surprised they didn't use the 1-3-1 more. I thought they'd go to it for the last possession consider they had been playing man before that. They showed a litte bit of old school Hubie Brown with the Hawk set. PG on the right wing, Riedeman off a high post screen to the right block looking for a postup on a switch. Reverse the ball high and Lentsch can pop out off a stack on the left block.

Thomas leads Columbia Heights to upset of #1 St. Bernard's

Game #100 of the season is a non-conference matchup of top guards in the state as I travel to St. Bernard's for their matchup with Columbia Heights. Rene Pulley on hand to see Jacob Thomas. Al Harris and George Hemmingson from 43 Hoops watching. Minnehaha and Concordia looking on. Hamline and UW-Superior also watching. The St. Bernard's pep band even makes an appearance. Nice that you can actually find a seat in the place, but those who didn't show up missed a terrific game.

Interesting that Trent Davis gets the assignment guarding Jacob Thomas and not Averey Duncan. A Jordair Jett steal for 2 gives the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead at 15:13. After a couple of Hylanders free throws, Thomas with the rare 4 point play and Heights is up 12-9 at 14:17. Then one of the Hylanders bugaboos, turnovers, sets in. St. Bernard's takes advantage with the next 13 points. Brian Sandifer with 7 of those during the 3 minute run. 22-12 St. Bernard's leads. Columbia Heights chips away and a couple of Gerard Baptiste buckets cuts the lead to 26-23 with 6:40 left in the 1st half. Jett with a nice last 2 minutes of the half as he gets a steal, 2 free throws and then a putback to beat the 1st half buzzer. 45-35 St. Bernard's at halftime. Jett with 16, Thomas with 10. 16 Columbia Heights turnovers and 11 turnovers for St. Bernard's.

Jett with the 1st 4 points of the 2nd half for St. Bernard's to extend the lead to 12 at 16:20. Thomas with a deep 3 and Kendrick Mills quickly off the Hylanders bench with 2 free throws. Heights then goes to a 1-2-2 zone and the Bulldogs get the turnover bug. Mills with 2 more buckets that force a timeout at 13:40. Mills again and Thomas with another 4 point play to force another St. Bernard's timeout. Thomas buries another triple after a Bulldogs turnover and D'Karlos Craig with a layup to punish the press. That all part of a a 23-3 Columbia Heights run over 5 and a half minutes. 60-52 Columbia Heights has the lead and momentum with 10:18 left.

Averey Duncan with a layup and a putback then Jett is back to work with a triple from the right corner against the zone and then a drive down the left baseline for 2. Brian Sandifer nails a jumper to conclude a 11-1 St. Bernard's run. That gives them a 63-61 lead with 8:23 left. Jett with 2 more chances to extend the lead that don't fall. Jett with 2 free throws and then he finds Duncan for 2. Harold Rainey breaks the momentum with a steal and a nice lefty layup. Thomas with a catch near the right elbow. Two dribbles out and he turns and buries a 3 to tie the game at 71 with 4:30 left. After the teams trade hoops, St. Bernard's scores and then Duncan steals the inbounds for 2. 77-73 Bulldogs at 2:55. Thomas right back with a 3 point play. Jett left alone and he scores at 2:15. Rainey with a nice curl for a foul line jumper at 2:05, 79-78 St. Bernard's. Then a tie up and the arrow goes to Columbia Heights at 1:49. Duncan now picks up Thomas and he misses a 3 with 90 seconds left but Heights runs down the miss. Duncan fouls out reaching on Thomas at 1:15 and that's big. Thomas calmly drains both free throws and Heights is on top 80-79. The Hylanders extend the 1-2-2 zone a bit and Rainey gets a pair of tips that almost result in steals. Trent Davis misses a 3 badly with 20 seconds left and Thomas rebounds it. Akruo Imbu with 1 of 2 FTs with 10.2 left. St. Bernard's rebounds with 9 seconds left and call times. They have to go the length of the court and surprisingly no one is denying Jett. He makes the catch at his own foul line and off to the races we go. To the other end, the shot is up and there's the whistle. But the shot doesn't matter as Jett gets called for the offensive foul with 4.2 left. Thomas makes 2 free throws with 3.3 left for the final margin. Columbia Heights pulls the upset over #1AA St. Bernard's 83-79.

For St. Bernard's, Jordair Jett with at least 32 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on my sheet. He was used in the middle of and on the outside of the Columbia Heights zone. With the exception of baseline drives, that zone did a fair job of slowing him down. Brian Sandifer with 16 points on my sheet. Very sloppy game for the Bulldogs, especially against a 1-2-2 zone that really wasn't anything special. They had around 20 turnovers. But that head-head win over Minnehaha probably means they still keep the #1 seed in 4AA East.

For Columbia Heights, Jacob Thomas with 30 points and 7 of the last 10. 5 triples that included a pair of 4 point plays and 7-7 from the foul line. Heights takes advantage of his length by using him at the top of their 1-2-2. Kendrick Mills once again productive off the bench with 14 and 6. His game isn't pretty, but he's effective for them. Taking care of the ball continues to be an issue. I had at least 26 turnovers on my sheet for them. A big win for Heights as they look to make a run at the #2 seed in section 3AAA. A 2nd over Fridley and a home win over Spring Lake Park need to happen for that scenario to play out. They're at Hopkins next Thursday.

08-09 Week 11 Tuesday Night Scoreboard Club

Here's what caught my eye from the Monday and Tuesday games of week 11 of the 08-09 season. These are games from 2/9 and 2/10/09.

• What is up with Lester Prairie? They lose to Watertown-Mayer on Monday and then give up 33 to Grant Spark of Spectrum on the road. Back to back losses for the Bulldogs after a 15-2 start.
• Jameson Parsons getting back into form for Eagan after coming back from a stress fracture last week. 18 points at Apple Valley in a 5 point loss on Monday. Charlie Baker still out for Eagan.
  
• AJ Barker explodes for 26 as DLS gets revenge on SPA to take 2nd in the Tri-Metro west.
• Eden Prairie spanks Eastview at home and nobody in double figures for the Lightning. Eastview falls to 8th in the Lake.
  
• Edina blows out Minnetonka who played without Cole Stefan. For a team already lacking in depth, that's just too much to handle.
• Maple Grove goes on the road and defeats Champlin Park to jump into a 3rd place tie in the NW Suburban with the Rebels.
• Henry barely beats Roosevelt, Washburn barely beats North in the Minneapolis City. Jordan Hughes (Henry) and Kevin Thompson (North) continue to be out. Washburn with a full roster so I'm surprised that wasn't a blowout. Washburn for all intensive purposes locked up the league with that win as they're 2 up with a home game vs Henry as the only notable game left.
  
• MN Transitions finally gets tested with a quality 8 point win at Holy Family.
• Mounds View gives up 36 to Mike Muscala of Roseville, but only 3 other players score for Roseville. Mounds View with the home win after being 2 down at the half. Another tough loss for Roseville.
  
• Richfield loses at home to North (St. Paul). Ouch. 3 teams now in a 3 way tie for 2nd in the Classic Suburban after Tartan pounded St. Thomas Academy by holding them to 38 points. Richfield at Tartan Thursday to remove one of those teams from the tie.
  
• Osseo up 14 at half, holds off Blaine for a 4 point win. Sam Dower with 25. Are the Bengals starting to put it together in the 2nd half? They have trips to Champlin Park and Maple Grove and a home date with Centennial remaining to prove it.
  
• CHOF loses at Trinity in OT without Nate Fiscus. Freshman Tyler Strandlund with 17 for the Lions. He's one of the better freshmen I've seen all season. Trinity now 6-6 after an 0-8 start. 2 of those losses were by a total of 5 points to Maranatha and New Life. They host Lester Prairie on Friday and Humboldt next Monday before the MCAA tournament begins.
  

Johnson outlasts Central for St. Paul City Title

Tonight takes The Czar to St. Paul Central for the St. Paul City's last chance to stay in the race against Johnson. The Central pep band on hand tonight and it takes up half the Central side. Big horn section so they had to do the Chicago hit 25 or 6 to 4. Too bad the gym has a temperature of about 40 degrees.

Jordan Larson off to a quick start for Central. That counters a couple of Estan Tyler buckets. A Dion Suggs layup gives Johnson an 8-7 lead at 3:40. Larson with a triple to start a 10-0 run and he's got the 1st 10 for Central. Taylor Smaller with a 3 and then Cameron Smith with a 4 point play to end the run. 17-8 Central with 11:44 left in the half. After a Larson putback, Dion Suggs with a 3 and Tyler with another jumper. 19-15 Central at 7:15. Central with another run, this time 14-3 over 2:20 via 4 Johnson turnovers. Central up 15, 33-18 with 4:35 left in the half. But Johnson cranks it up on D too and gets back it it. They end the half on a 16-4 run in a sloppy end to the half. Central 37-34 at the half as they've lost an opportunity. Larson with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Dion Suggs with 12 points and Estan Tyler with 9 for Johnson. My sheet has Central with 11 turnovers and Johnson with 9.

Johnson with the 1st 5 out of the break to conclude a 21-4 run. Smaller throws in a running prayer that banks home to break the run and tie the game at 39 with 16 minutes left. Larson continues to go to work with a couple of buckets. Smaller with a jumper at 12:43, 48-45 Central as they look to pull away. Larson picks up his 4th on a tough call with 10:07 left and he has to sit. Maurice Thomas makes the 2 FTs for a 52-50 Johnson lead. The Governors extend the lead to 5 on a Michael Talley layin and Central needs a timeout. 55-50 Johnson with 8:13 left. 10 turnovers in the half for Central. Michael Adams with a putback at 6:35, but then a bad shot leads to a Dion Suggs layup. Adams with 1 of 2 at the stripe, but Larson cleans up the mess for a 3 point play. 60 all with 5:43 left. Nice job here by coach Howell of playing offense for defense with Larson by putting him in the game on offensive possessions and subbing him out on defense. 63 all at 4:30 on a Nathanial Kado jumper for the Minutemen. Down to crunch time we go.

Suggs with a jumper at 3:40 after a Central turnover. Larson 1 of 2 FTs and then a Suggs miss. DJ Johnson 2 FTs at 2:51 for a 66-65 Central lead. After a Michael Talley charge for Johnson, LeDarian Horton scores on a nice high/low feed from Larson with 2 minutes left and Central leads by 3. A wild scramble of misses and offensive rebounds on the Johnson end, Larson with a block in the exchange. Johnson gets nothing out of it. Larson on the other end with 2 and Central is up 70-65 wiht 1:20 left. But the wheels fall off for Central. Demitri Conwell is given a free lane to the hoop for 2 at 1:08. Larson misses 2 FTs at 1:04 and then gets called for a block on the other end and that's his 5th foul. Talley with 1 of the 2 FTs. 70-68 Central with 59.2 left. Central breaks the press for a 2 on 1 but Kado gets called for the charge with 50.1 left. Who do you go to if you're Johnson? Who else but one of the most clutch players around, Dion Suggs. They go high screen/roll with him and he converts with 37 seconds left to the game at 70. Central goes with it and Adams turns it over with 20 seconds left. Horton then commits the deliberate foul. Don't know if he thought Central was behind or if he was trying to stop a breakaway. Talley makes 1 of 2 again and Johnson leads by 1. Central again decides to play it without a timeout. Cameron Smith drives left baseline and turns it over in the last 5 seconds and Johnson steals a win over Central 71-70.

For Central, what a night for Jordan Larson. He fouls out with 27 points and 16 rebounds. No answer for him inside. Taylor Smaller with 12 points for the Minutemen. 3 late turnovers, 2 missed free throws an a blown defensive assignment did Central in in the last 1:15. Central with about 25 turnovers on the night. Central's smallish guards had trouble all night against the aggressive Johnson D. When Central did take care of the ball, their inside strength was superior. Though LeDarian Horton wasn't able to push around Johnson kids (e.g Maxie Rosenbloom) like he does other players. Central falls to 14-5 and 5-2 in the St. Paul City. I look for them to run the table and finish 20-5 against a soft schedule. Right now, they're probably looking at the 3 seed in section 4AAAA unless Tartan takes a tumble. Last year 1st with a record of 21-6 (including the Twin Cities Game), 5 seed. This year, 20-5, 2nd place, 3 seed.

For Johnson, Dion Suggs-Young leads the way with 20 points and he was the guy making the plays late. Estan Tyler with 15. They are just relentless with the number of people they play and the pressure they apply. Add in Tyler and a finisher in Suggs and there you go as they can use both of those guys to generate offense off high screen and roll. The Govs are now 16-3 and 7-0 in the league, 2 games ahead thanks to 2 wins by a total of 3 points over Central. They too should easily run the table until a likely monster rematch in the Twin Cities Game vs Washburn on March 7th. Johnson won the 1st meeting at home 86-83 in a double OT classic (maybe the game of the year anywhere in the metro) on December 16th. After that, anything but a cakewalk thru section 4AAA to state will be a surprise.

Mayer Lutheran outlasts Heritage

My first trip to Heritage Christian Academy tonight as they take on Mayer Lutheran. Interesting side note that almost all of this young Mayer Lutheran roster played together at the 43 Hoops Twin Cities Summer Classic for 16U Hoop Masters. Maranatha coach Jeff Wall looking on as the Mustangs play Mayer Lutheran on March 6th to end the regular season. Interesting that Mayer Lutheran had their JVs lineup on each side of the locker room door for the varsity to run thru.

Mayer Lutheran comes out with 5 junior starters and all 3 of their 6'7+ kids are on the bench. 6'7 soph Travis Rollo has grown 4 inches since July if you believe the programs from each time period. Back and forth early with Heritage star Nathan Johnson and Mayer Lutheran forward Luke Buttenhoff with a couple of buckets each. 10-9 Mayer Lutheran at 13:05. Johnson with back to back hoops and the Eagles are back on top 15-14 at 9:20. The Crusaders counter with an 8-0 run over the next 2:30 to jump out to a 7 point lead. Heritage right back with a bucket from Johnson and then he finds Ethan Stout for a 3 to tie the game at 24 with 4:05 left in the half. 29-27 Mayer Lutheran at halftime.

Buttenhoff continues to be a force inside with a bucket and a pair of free throws. 35-30 Mayer Lutheran at 16:17. Nick Parkhurst with a pair of buckets, Johnson coast to coast and then another 2 for a quick 8-0 Heritage run to put the Eagles up 3 at 14:45. The Crusaders respond with 14 of the next 18. 49-42 Mayer Lutheran with 8:11 on the clock. Tucker Howse with 6 points in the Heritage comeback. The last 2 on a nice feed from Alan Kiser cut the Crusaders lead to 52-50 with 5:20 left. After 2 Buttenhoff FTs for Mayer Lutheran, Johnson counters with a triple and then converts a turnover into 2 free throws to tie it. 60 all at 1:57. Steve Deckert with a great stuff block for Heritage at 1:45 but Parkhurst misses a 3 with 1:25 left. Chad Ische misses 2 FTs (after 6 of 6) with 1:02 left for Mayer Lutheran. Kiser corrals the 2nd miss and steps up and makes both ends of the bonus. Parkhurst then has a pass thrown right to him for a Mayer Lutheran turnover. Matt Tostenson 1 of 2 with 42.7 left for a 63-60 Heritage lead. Buttenhoff left all alone for a short baseline jumper with 31.7 left. Johnson then gets mugged against the press but no call and it appears he kicks the ball out of bounds but Heritage retains possession with 25.6 left, but he's out of the game with a leg injury. Parkhurst 1 of 2 with 21.7 left. Howse deflects a Mayer Lutheran pass out of bounds under the Crusaders basket with 4.5 left. Mayer Lutheran has it under their own hoop and they decide to play it without a timeout. Ische catches above the top of the circle and drives for a layup at the buzzer and we've got overtime. 64 all as we go to the extra session.

Johnson back for the overtime for Heritage. He gets a steal and then after a 45 second possession knocks down a triple. After Josh Genske scores, Heritage patient again and Johnson has another triple go in and out with about 2 minutes left. After a couple of misses each way, a held ball goes to Mayer Lutheran with 1:32 remaining. Buttenhoff 1 of 2 at the stripe to tie it at 67 with 1:17 left. Heritage turns it over with 40 seconds remaining. Out of a Mayer Lutheran timeout, Buttenhoff is left all alone for a layup on the inbounds for a 69-67 Crusaders lead with 30 seconds remaining. Heritage turns it over on the next possession. Mayer Lutheran wins 73-67.

For Heritage, Nathan Johnson with 30 points and 7 rebounds on my sheet. I had him at 12-24 from the floor. Tucker Howse with 11 points. Defensively, they struggle in both their man defense and their 2-3 zone. The loss of Sam Schwalbe to Maple Grove cost them a big guy to be a rebounder. They'll finish up the MCAA regular season on Friday with a rivalry game at Providence as they try to break a losing stretch of 5 out of 6.

For Mayer Lutheran, they were too much inside. Lucas Buttenhoff with 17 points and 11 rebounds by my count. Chad Ische with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Josh Genske with 14 points and CJ Byrne with 12 points and 5 rebounds. Nice job at the line by the Crusaders as I had them 21-27 from the line. The entire rotation except 1 limited minutes senior returns next season. The Crusaders had lost 6 of 7 coming in but the win was over Zach Towle and Concordia Academy.

Week 10 Rewind

Here's what caught my eye from the busy week that was week 10 of the 08-09 season.

Classic Lake

• Minnetonka has a week to prepare for Armstrong at home and they get beat by 36. Ouch. Cole Stefan with only 4 points after missing the Wayzata game a week earlier (or at least not in the box)
• How about Edina getting it done with a home win over Washburn. Granted no Ra'Shede Hageman in that one for the Millers.

Classic Suburban

• Sibley continues to roll with a 17 point win over Tartan. That win is their closest win in league play.

Lake

• Eden Prairie avenged an earlier loss to Chaska with a 14 point win over the Hawks on Friday. Jake White with 17 in the loss for Chaska. Ethan Wragge may have gotten his touch back with a 19 point effort. Why he's not on the Mr. Basketball list as a D1 player leading a team that's on top of 1 of the toughest conferences in the state is completely beyond me. There are at least 4 guys I'd be willing to take off the list and replace with Wragge. But in a season with 17 D1 players and 6 more playing D2 (as of now) along with talents like Cedric Martin and Jordair Jett, somebody is going to get left off.
• The race is starting to shake out now that Lakeville North knocked out Jefferson this week. Now the top 4 teams all stand alone.
• Tough year for Eagan. Jameson Parsons returns last Friday after being out almost 2 months but Charlie Baker appears to have missed all of last week.

Minneapolis City

• Washburn takes control of the race with a thrashing of Henry on Saturday afternoon. Its worth noting that Henry has been without Jordan Hughes for the last 3 games. The loss puts North in 2nd place and they play Washburn on Tuesday with a chance to tie the race. But the Polars have been without Kevin Thompson since Martin Luther King day.

MCAA

• New Life goes to Maranatha and gets a buzzer beater from Robbie Anderstrom for a 43-41 win. That win puts Lester Prairie 2 games in front of everybody and gives the conference title outright as there's only 1 league game left before the conference tournament. New Life hosts SW Christian on Friday for 3rd place. A loss would push NLA to 6th behind Heritage and Meadow Creek.

Missota

• How about Shakopee. The Sabers have won 9 out of 10 and are tied with Farmington at 5-1 on top of the league. Those teams will play in Farmington on Friday. The only loss during that time was a 1 point loss at New Prague the day after their coach Jeff Gravon passed away after a battle with cancer.
  

North Suburban

• Spring Lake Park with a statement on Tuesday with a 20 point win at Fridley to knock the Tigers out of the state poll. Spring Lake Park just 1 game back of Cooper with a head-head meeting remaining. Everybody else with 4 losses in the league.
• Speaking of teams with 4 losses in the league. Give John Moore some credit at Benilde-St. Margaret's. They lose 2 D1 kids. They'll have to survive without Peter Crawford who's out with an injured foot.

Northwest Suburban

• Centennial survived their tough week with a loss to Osseo but they did come from behind to get a home win over Champlin Park to stay 1 game behind Osseo in the league. This looks like January where they may only lose 1 game all month.
• Blaine had a stretch where they lost 9 out of 10 but they've now won 4 in a row including a win over Maple Grove. They get a shot at Osseo on Tuesday.

St. Paul City

• The 2nd rotation of league play begins this week. Arlington 4-2 in the league with 4 winnable games coming up before they play Johnson and Central later in the month.
• The bottom 5 teams in the league are under .500 and have a combined non-conference record of 8-45.
  

Suburban East

• Roseville continues to go thru a tough stretch as they've lost 8 of 10. But they can make up for it as they go to Mounds View on Tuesday and host Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday.
• Stillwater stumbled out of the gate to a 4-9 start but the Ponies have won 4 out of 5. That includes wins over Mounds View, Cretin-Derham Hall and Friday's win at Woodbury. The schedule the rest of the way is favorable as they have a trip to Forest Lake on Tuesday and only 1 other tough road game at CDH to end the regular season.
  

Tri-Metro

• Concordia limped to a 3-5 start in December but in the new year they're 8-3. Overall they won 10 of 14. Zach Towle continues to put up big numbers with 25 points per night.

Be sure to check out my MN Preps column this week (available Monday morning in the upper right corner of the blog). I look at some of the important conference and section games of the week and an east coast trip for a local team.

If you missed any of the games I saw this week, here's the complete list.

• 2/2: PACT at Mpls SW
• 2/3: Hopkins at Cooper
• 2/4: Arlington at MTS
• 2/5: Minnehaha at St. Bernard's
• 2/6: Osseo at Andover
• 2/7: Rocori at Richfield
• 2/7: DLS at Benilde-St. Margaret's

My schedule for the week can be found on the right side in "The Czar's Schedule" section.

Where are the baskets at Benilde

The nightcap of this quiet Saturday takes me to the Haben Center for my 1st look at Benilde-St. Margaret's this season. No Peter Crawford for the Red Knights as he's out with a injured foot. Not the guy you want out of the lineup when you're playing De La Salle. Sean Kruger from the MN Select and Tri-Metro coaches Lance Johnson and Eric Schutte looking on. Former Minneapolis North coach Brent McNeal watching his son light up the JV game. And...Rene Pulley.

An interesting matchup of sophomore post players as BSM's Myles Barnes and DLS's Jonah Travis get the assignments on each other. Barnes with a couple of early post buckets against Travis. Nice job for the lefty going baseline from the right block. 6-4 BSM with 13:05 left and this pace has DLS written all over it. Darren Glover backdoors and then fakes out Jalen Jaspers for a couple of hoops. 10-8 BSM at 8:54. DLS with the next 6 over 3:30 as AJ Barker gets a couple of hoops. 14-10 DLS. Freshman Isaiah Zierden (Lynx Coach and Gophers radio analyst Don Zierden's son) with a jumper to cut it to 16-14 DLS with 2:20 remaining in the half. Jalen Jaspers with a 3 point play and its 21-16 DLS at the break.

1 minute into the 2nd half, Coke has removed rust from a car battery terminal and destroyed my teeth. 2 minutes into the 2nd half, I get fillings for those teeth. 15:29 Jaspers with a nice curl and that gets him 2 FTs. 23-16 DLS. 3 minutes into the half, I get a root canal. 4 minutes into the half, I get the teeth pulled. 5 minutes into the half, Gone with the Wind has finished. 6 minutes into the half, nuclear fusion is contained. 7 minutes into the half, paint dries and grass grows. At 10:32, we finally get a field goal as Barker gets a layin. Glover counters at 10:15 for the 1st BSM points in the half. Across halftime, that's a scoreless drought of 9:15. Barker again and Glover counters again, this time with a 3. 27-21 DLS with 9:40 left. Jaspers with 2 FTs and a layup to push the lead to 10 and BSM needs time. 31-21 Islanders with 9 minutes left. Jonah Travis with 2 FTs and then a Jaspers 3 with 4:30 left makes it 38-23 DLS and this one is over as they lead is equivalent to 50 with the way DLS plays D and the cold shooting that BSM is going thru at the moment. 44-29 De La Salle wins.

For Benilde-St. Margaret's, Darren Glover with 13 points to lead the Red Knights. 13 2nd half points makes it hard to win. Isaiah Zierden getting big PG minutes as a frosh, he'll be very good. Evan Battle getting varsity minutes as a sophomore. Kyle Washington is another freshman to watch along with Will Dunn in a loaded BSM freshman class.

For DLS, Jalen Jaspers held to 4-13 shooting, but he leads the way with 16 points. Defensively, Darren Glover did most of what he wanted and he caught Jaspers leaning on at least 2 occassions. AJ Barker with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Jonah Travis with 4 points and I had him for 13 rebounds but he struggled guarding Barnes.

Rocori flexes in win over Richfield

Its no secret that I'm not a fan of The Flex. Usually referenced here as "The world's WORST offense", today is the 1 exception to that rule as I make the trip to Richfield to watch Rocori run it all day. There's nobody I see who's more committed to it and executes it better than they do and I actually enjoy watching them run it. Some interesting Rocori notes. Bob Brink is the only coach they've ever had and I learned today that it actually means something. It comes from ROckville, COld Spring and RIchmond. Not up there with MACCRAY or BOLD or NRHEG in terms of alphabet soup, but interesting anyway.

Renard Robinson with back to back buckets for Richfield early and we're tied at 6 2:15 into the game. But the flex is taking its toll as Rocori goes on a 12-2 run over the next 4 minutes. Richfield counters with a 9-2 run of their own in 2:20 to cut the Rocori lead to 20-17. Jay Sewer with a triple and a steal for a layup in the run. Zach Hinkemeyer wiht a layup and then a steal for 2 to start a 9-0 Rocori run. Rocori up 29-17 with 7:35 left in the half. Back and forth to end the half and Rocori takes a 38-26 lead to the break. 5'11 Brent Lashinski with 6 points and 7 rebounds. Ben Rausch with 8 points to lead Rocori. Jay Sewer with 7 points to lead Richfield. Mike Jones good minutes with 6 points off the bench for Richfield.

Rocori gets the 1st 5 of the half against a 2-3 halfcourt trap for a 17 point lead with 16 minutes left. Renard Robinson then steps up large. 2 FTs and a pair of putbacks followed by a 3 point play for a 9-0 Robinson run. 43-35 Rocori leads with 13:14 left and they need a timeout. Back to back Rocori buckets push the lead back to 12 but Richfield won't go away. Robinson with another 3 point play and sophomore Daron Garvis off the bench with consecutive triples. Robinson then with a steal for 2 and then 1 of 2 free throws with 5:40 remaining. 52-50 Rocori after a 12-2 Richfield run. Robinson out and you have to wonder why. Rocori then runs a modified version of their flex for 3:30 without a stop in play. Finally Ben Rausch goes baseline and gets blocked and Richfield has the defensive stop and momentum with 2 minutes left. Now Robinson sitting out looks like a stroke of genius. Time Richfield and everybody gets to catch their breath. Sewer misses a 3 with 1:30. Rocori turns it over, but Garvis misses a bunny and Robinson can't putback the miss. Willenbring snares the board with 1 minute left and Rocori still hanging on 52-50. Rausch fouled at 38.1 and he misses the front end. Richfield with another chance but Adam Backes steals a Garvis pass and goes the distance for 2 and the foul. 55-50 Rocori with 16.6 left. Jay Sewer with a quick 3 with 10.1 left, but Willenbring with 2 free throws to seal it with 6.8 left. Rocori wins 57-53.

For Richfield, Renard Robinson with 15 of his 20 in the 2nd half along with 6 rebounds. Jay Sewer with 3 triples and 13 points. Phillip Freeman held to 5 points on only 2-11 shooting on my sheet. Richfield now 13-6. They travel to Tartan on Thursday. Any loss for Richfield tough as they try to get home seed in brutal section 2AAAA (7 teams above .500). That will be a difficult section to seed.

For Rocori, don't look now but they've won 5 in a row with this win and a win over a good Staples-Motley team. They have 4 winnable games coming up too. Senior Adam Backes with 15 points to lead the Spartans. Scott Willenbring with 10 points (3-6 FG) and 8 rebounds. Ben Rausch with 10 points. Very balanced offense with the flex. They return 3 starters (including Willenbring) next year along with freshman reserve Nathan Meyer who looks like he could turn out to be a Willenbring clone.

Millea rehashes conference realignment ideas

John Millea put all of his thoughts from the Star Trib Preps blog together in an article on the conference realignment saga today. Nothing really new here besides some minor expansion on the idea of a "super" football conference. With somebody like Blaine or Champlin moving in. For competition maybe, but otherwise I don't think that makes any sense. This whole thing about enrollments is insane anyway. Its one thing when the difference is 100 students vs 400 students. Entirely another when its 1800 vs 2100 students. All these schools are AAAA schools and have to compete against these kids at the state level anyway. If its that big a deal, have a 16 team AAAAA class.

The idea of Chaska and Chanhassen going to the Missota is restated. Chaska was a member of the Missota until they outgrew it. Seems strange to me that they'd go back there only to eventually outgrow the league again anyway.

Dower dominates again

A special (and last minute) trip to Andover tonight for the Huskies home game against NW Suburban front runner Osseo. Surprisingly small Osseo crowd. I don't recommend top row on the visitor side as the backboard and the American Flag keep you from having a clear view of the scoreboards. The PA guy is trying way too hard as well.

6'2 Kyle Mulrooney gets the unenviable task of guarding Dower on this night. But its Mulrooney who's off to the quick start as he makes back to back triples for a 13-5 Andover lead at 12:20. A couple of nice box outs and he's using his bulk nicely on Dower. Dalton Graff off the Osseo bench with a double-dose of 3s. But Jason Schneider gets a 3 point play and sophomore Tyler Finnes with a 3, 19-13 Andover at 9:35. Dower then picks up his 2nd foul, but with Osseo down, Coach Theisen keeps him in the game. Dower starting to get it going on offense. He makes his patented jump hook and then finds Nick Djerf for 3. Osseo takes time at 6:24 still down 27-20. Then Andover starts turning the ball over and Osseo makes the Huskies pay. Dower with a 3 point play and then finds Djerf going backdoor. John Rowland for 3 after the ball went thru Dower in the post. Dower 2 FTs and then Graff back to back triples again. All off of Andover turnovers. Osseo with the lead 36-29 at 4:04 and Andover needs a timeout after a 16-2 Osseo run in just 2:20. A minimum of 3 turnovers in that run for the Huskies. Dower now can rest with the 2 fouls. 4 more Andover turnovers but Osseo goes 0-5 (0-6 if you want to count a missed front end) at the charity stripe. Dower comes back at 1:48 with Osseo leading 36-33. He puts back a miss at 1:25 and another offensive board with 4 seconds left in the half for a free throw. 39-33 Osseo at the half. Dower 14 pts, 4 boards and 3 assists for another 8 points. Dalton Graff with 4 big triples off the bench for 12 points.

Dower comes out on a mission in the 2nd half as he gets the 1st 8 Orioles points of the half. During that stretch, Andover star Brett Tester with a 3 point play to cut the lead to 43-40. Out of a new set (see Osseo section), Andover mysteriously doubles Jayvin Reynolds at the foul line and he finds Bobby Fischer for 3. 50-40 Osseo with 13:30 left and the Orioles take off. John Rowland with a couple of threes and Dower puts back a couple of misses. 64-42 Osseo with 9:10 left. That's a 21-2 Osseo run over 7:30. A chunk of that run was against the Andover bench. The score is even the rest of the way, but the game feels like 40. Osseo's starters leave with 1:31 left after leading by as much as 27. Osseo wins 84-63.

For Andover, Jason Schneider leads the way with 12 points and 9 rebounds on my sheet. He's next year's only returning starter. Sophomores Ben Mei and Tyler Finnes also see significant minutes for the Huskies. They tried to double Dower, especially from Phillips but they allowed Dower too many easy catches on the post. The loss drops the Huskies to 5-12 and they've now lost 7 in a row after a 5-5 start.

For Osseo, Dower with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 3 after being held to 18 in the first meeting. I had him for around 14-18 shooting, but all of his attempts were inside of 6 feet. Dalton Graff and John Rowland come off the bench with 7 triples and 24 points total. No Aaron Anderson tonight for Osseo. Bobby Fischer and Nick Djerf getting the starts tonight for the Orioles. No full court run and jump from Osseo tonight in a bit of a surprise. They also unveiled a 2-3 high offense late in the 1st half and for a period in the 2nd half. The win allows the Orioles to keep pace with Champlin Park in the NW Suburban. Centennial 1 game back after the 18 point loss at Osseo on Tuesday.

Jett leads St. Bernard's to win in Tri-Metro clash

Jordair Jett

Another big one this week in The Kingdom as The Czar makes the trip to tiny St. Bernard's for the #1 Bulldogs big Tri-Metro showdown against #4 Minnehaha. Marc Sonnen with an appearance tonight along with Al Harris of 43 Hoops and Andy Birdsong who coached many of the Minnehaha kids for the Minneapolis Redhawks last summer. Johnson coach Vern Simmons showed up as part of his east side patrol duties tonight.

Jordair Jett off to a quick start for St. Bernard's. He makes a jumper and then a floater, finds Jordan Gittens for a layup and knocks down a 3. Timeout Minnehaha as they're down 11-4 5 minutes in. Jett with 7 quick points and an assist. Minnehaha crawls back with a David Burnham triple and then Taylor Sparkman makes 3 free throws after Gittens fouls him behind the arc. 13-10 St. Bernard's at 9:26. Jett stops and pops, Trent Davis drives for 2 and then posts up Austin Brown for 2 more. 19-10 Bulldogs at 7:25. Gittens puts back a miss to extend the lead to 28-15 with 2:22 left in the half. Burnham breaks a 5 minute drought from the field for the Redhawks with a triple at 1:45 and a twisting 2 after a Jett turnover cut it to 8. With 3 seconds in the half, Greg Meyer gets a strange T (didn't see it and he didn't understand why he got it). After the free throw, Jett goes left baseline for 2 to end the half and give the Bulldogs momentum with the last 5 over 40 seconds. 33-20 St. Bernard's at the break. Jett 6-9 shooting for 13 points. David Burnham with 10 points. Taylor Sparkman with 5 free throws and 7 rebounds.

Back and forth to start the 2nd half as St. Bernard's leads 39-28 with 14 minutes left. Lucas Taddonio now with the assignment on Jett. Jett with a jumper, Taddonio with a putback and Jett posts Taddonio for 2 at 12:45 for a 43-30 Bulldogs lead. Jett goes to the bench and Minnehaha counters with an 8-2 spurt via a Taddonio triple and a 3 point play fro mTaylor Hanson. Jett back as the lead is cut to 45-38 with 10:26 left. Then it gets chippy. Taddonio with 2 fouls in a row on Jett in the post and after the 2nd one a shove or 2 appears to happen (I couldn't really see from my vantage point on the other end). Both guys yapping and Taddonio is hot. He gets a T and he's gone with 9:18 remaining and what does this do to Minnehaha. Jett misses the bonus and Brian Sandifer only makes 1 of the free throws. Parker Hines with a steal on the ensuing possession and as St. Bernard's comes back down they have to take a timeout to avoid a turnover. Minnehaha all fired up as its 50-43 Bernard's with 8:55 left. Hanson with a triple and the lead is down to 4.

Jett with a blow by on the left baseline for a 3 point play to make it 57-50 with 5:33 left. Sparkman then loses Jett for a layup and Austin Brown makes 2 FTs after an offensive rebound. 57-54 St. Bernard's with 4:45 left and that's as close as Minnehaha will get. Trent Davis with a drive for 2. Hanson has a 3 go in and out. Davis responds a cold-blooded 3 on an assist from Jett and the lead is right back to 8 with 4 minutes left. Jett makes 7 of 8 free throws and finds Averey Duncan for a layup all in the last 2:38 as St. Bernard's holds on for a 73-66 win.

For Minnehaha, they fall to 17-2 and break a 13 game winning streak. Taylor Sparkman with 16 poitns and 9 rebounds by my count as he continues to have a nice season. David Burnham with 17 points. Taylor Hanson with a couple of 3s for 13 points and 7 rebounds.

For St. Bernard's, Jordair Jett with 31, 18 in the 2nd half. 10-13 FTs, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on my sheet. Averey Duncan with a quiet 17 points. Didn't feel like he had that many, but I was focused on his defense.

Strategy Session
This game was one of the more fun chess matches between coaches I've seen all year. Here's the progression. Minnehaha starts with Parker Hines at the point, SB counters with Duncan guarding him. In that opening 11-4 stretch, Duncan was too much for Hines to handle as Minnehaha couldn't get into anything. Out of that timeout, Minnehaha counters with 5'6 Austin Brown to be the primary handler. But he's undersized, so St. Bernard's counters by having Trent Davis post up against Brown. In the 2nd half, Taddonio comes in and he too is undersized and Jett takes him down low. Brown wasn't playing well in the 2nd half, so Hines went back to the point and we came full circle down the stretch. So we ended up with a couple of possessions of David Burnham bringing the ball up late. Minnehaha did try to add in a high ball screen to try and relieve some pressure too.

This matchup should decide that St. Bernard's will be the #1 seed and Minnehaha the #2 seed in 4AA East. Write down March 17th at Holy Angels for the rematch (and ultimately the section title game). The adjustments will be very interesting to watch. For me, I'd like to see Taylor Hanson get more post touches such as some high/low with Sparkman.

Jordair Jett picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Arlington at MN Transitions Thoughts

A Wednesday game in the kingdom as Arlington travels to MN Transitions. Last year this was a thriller with Virgil Baker nailing a buzzer beater to win it. Holy Family looking on for their game next Tuesday against MTS. And we have one of more quick trigger refs in the metro doing the game. For those of you who had him in your fantasy leagues, he tossed the MTS JV coach during the first half of the JV game.

Furious pace to start. Jerrell Washington with 7 quick MTS points and we're tied at 14 barely 3 minutes into the game. Deondre White goes right baseline and hammers one home to wake the crowd up. That gives Arlington an 18-16 lead at 13:35. Washington with a 3 point play and then Kevin Noreen with back to back triples and a hoop for 8 in a row. 29-25 MTS at 9:10. MTS then starts to pull away. Kyle Noreen with a 3, Kevin Noreen with a layup and then a 3 point play from Kyle. Kevin finds Kyle for 3 near the end of the run. 22-5 MTS over 5:30 to give the Wolves a 51-31 lead with 3:37 left in the half. Kyle then shoots a 3 that hits front iron and then settles on the bracket supporting the rim. Try that at home to see how soft a touch you have . 54-38 MTS at the break. Kevin Noreen with 17 and 7. Jerrell Washington with 15. Andre Ingram with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks for MTS. Deondre White with 13 points to lead Arlington.

After an Arlington 3 to open the half, MTS gets a Washington putback and 3 point play along with a Kevin Noreen 3 point play for an 8-0 run. 62-41 MTS at 16:37. Kevin Noreen with a couple of layups and a couple of putbacks, Washington with a dunk and then a reverse dunk as MTS blows the game open. 78-50 with 11:35 remaining. So after the 1st hoop of the half by the Phoenix, MTS on a 24-9 run over 6 minutes. Washington goes left baseline for a thunderous 2 handed dunk and the foul with 3:07 left to put MTS at the century mark. 100-76 and both Washington and Kevin Noreen are done for the night. MTS wins 104-87.

Final score doesn't reflect that MTS controlled the 2nd half. My sheet may not be right but it should be pretty close. Kevin Noreen with 31 and 13, ho hum. Jerrell Washington with 35. Andre Ingram with 7 points, 9 boards and 6 blocks patrolling the middle. DeMarkeo Jones with 30 for Arlington in the loss.

Hopkins goes triple figures on Cooper

Mike Broghammer

Welcome to the mass of humanity that is the Hopkins/Cooper showdown. Cooper side very full and we haven't even begun JV yet. Why? The Sophomore game went double OT with Hopkins winning 91-90 after Cooper game from 11 down with 3 minutes left in regulation and hit 2 triples in the last 20 seconds to send the game to OT. Terrell Clay (hope I've got that name right) with 39 for Cooper in the loss. Star 8th grader Riley Dearing (or Carpenter depending on what you believe) missed a chance to win it at the end of the 1st OT. Not only do we get the standard big players (John Millea, Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press in a rare appearance), but we even get the one and only Sid Hartman. But forget press row and those stars, as always I'm right in the middle of the crowd at the front of a bunch of students and sitting behind Robbinsdale mayor Mike Holtz.

Trent Lockett gets the assignment on Rodney as we start. 10-2 Hopkins out to the lead in the 1st 5 minutes. Royce White starts it with a dunk and then finds Mike Broghammer for a dunk to end the run. Great sequence too where Rodney Williams Jr got a block for a Cooper runout that Broghammer ran down and rejected in even better fashion on the other end. Quincy Bethea with a pair of bombs for Cooper. 15-13 Hopkins at 10:35. Kenquane Brown showing he can take Broghammer off the bounce but he's gone to the bench with 2 fouls. Broghammer and Raymond Cowles then go the bench with 2 fouls each. 20-18 Hopkins at 8:39. White with a lob dunk off an inbounds play, a steal that gives him a free throw and an offensive rebound and 2 over Rodney. That rebound was right after Rodney almost posterized Moses Sundufu on the post with a monster 2 handed slam. Sundufu fortunately put him on the line and didn't give up the dunk. After Brown drives and scores and Freddie Burton hits a pullup J, Royce gets another offensive board for a free throw and then another dunk. 30-24 Hopkins with 6:05 left in the half. Rodney picks up #2 trying to get an offensive board at 5:48 at sits for the moment. Marcus Williams then gets his 2nd at 5:02 and he sits (3 Hopkins starters down with 2 fouls at this point). Hopkins 32-30 at that point. Brown then has a 3 go in and out for the best chance of the night to get the lead for Cooper. Royce with 2 more buckets and 2 DJ Peterson FTs make it 38-33 at 2:33 and Rodney comes back in. He goes by Royce for 2 and then Royce counters on the other by going thru him for 2 more. In the last 20 seconds, Moses Sundufu with a triple and then Joe Coleman with a block and a bucket for 5 Hopkins points that give them a 49-40 halftime lead. Royce 7-11 shooting for 16 points with 7 rebounds on my sheet. Quincy Bethea with 7 and Joe Bright with 11 and 5 for Cooper. With all of Hopkins' foul issues, Cooper didn't take advantage of a great opportunity.

Rodney with a lob dunk and Bright puts back a Rodney brick to pull Cooper within 5 2 minutes into the half. Royce then scores and Cowles nails a 3 against a 2-3 zone. Lockett with a layin and just as quick as Cooper was close, the lead is back to 12, 56-44. Rodney with a double clutch 15 footer against Lockett cuts it to 8 with 13:05 left. Lockett with a 3 point play and Rodney counters with a long triple. 59-51 Hopkins outside of 12 minutes left. Hopkins then goes on a 10-2 with 6 Broghammer points and 2 buckets from Lockett. 69-53 with 10:45 left, timeout Cooper and this one is basically over. Rodney comes out of the timeout with a dunk from Bright but Lockett immediately gets a dunk of his own on the other end and the crowd can't get into it. Cooper gets as close as 13 but Cowles nails a 3 with 6:30 remaining that pops the balloon of hope. The crowd starts to file out. Hopkins tacks on an unnecessary layup from Marvin Singleton with 10 seconds left for a 100-78 win.

For Cooper, Rodney Williams with 19 points on my sheet (the scorebook may have him for 21 via 2 I gave to Bethea), 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. He shot around 50% but that's deceptive considering 3 dunks. Besides the dunks he took 1 maybe 2 good shots out of about 10. Very poor shot selection as he tried to do too much. Joe Bright was a beast for them with 17 and 11. Surprising that Cooper showed success with Bright or Brown taking Broghammer off the dribble but never really attacked that weakness. Interesting too that Freddie Burton spent a ton of time in this game off the ball with Bethea handling. Probably to avoid the pressure of Marcus Williams. Despite the loss, it will be criminal if the pollsters drop Cooper down in the polls for this loss. The only exception I might be willing to listen to is if Osseo moves up to #3 and Cooper falls to #4.

For Hopkins, Royce White very quiet in the 2nd half, but he showed up big in the 1st half. Overall I had him for 20 points on solid shooting 9-14. But he's their guy you want to put on the line as he was 2-6 tonight and has struggled there all year. Trent Lockett with a big 2nd half to finish with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Mike Broghammer with 12 points, half during the run that sealed the game, along with 8 rebounds and a pair of blocks by my counts. I was surprised that Cooper didn't try to apply any pressure, especially when Marcus Williams left the game and DJ Peterson was running the point. In-state, they've proven themselves. Will a win in New York City next Friday be a major national poll eye opener?

Mike Broghammer picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Dawson's big night leads SW to victory

A rare after Christmas visit to Minneapolis Southwest as they take on PACT tonight. The place is absolutely dead as there are barely more people in the stands than people involved in the game.

PACT's 6'6 junior center Austin Rink off to a quick start with 7 of the 1st 9 for PACT. 9-7 Panthers at 13:30. Southwest's star center Dominique Dawson (An impoverished man's Sam Dower anyone? He's gotten some lower level looks I'm told) with back to back buckets for Southwest as we go back and forth. 11-9 Southwest at 12:30. Rink with a steal and he goes all the way for a bucket and the foul. We're tied at 15 at 10:44. Southwest tries to pull ahead as they go up 28-23 at 5:20 on a Dawson layin. PACT PG Seth Mathis counters with a 3, but SW gets the lead as far as 6 at the 3:30 mark. But Rink with 4 late points and 2 late blocks in the half for an 8-2 PACT run to end the half. Tie game at 36 at the break. Dawson with 10 points (5-7 FG) and 11 rebounds. Rink with 16 points on 6-11 with 2 rebounds and 2 blocks. Mathis with 10 points and 6 boards.

The teams trade buckets to open the half and then Dawson goes off. A putback for 2, 2 lefty dunks (Time PACT) and then a nice catch on the break for a 2 handed flush. 49-43 SW and PACT needs another timeout at 13:46. Dawson isn't done as he adds on a layup after the timeout for an 8 point lead. SW on an 11-3 run and Dawson with 13 straight points for the Lakers. The Panthers right back as Rink nails a 3 and then sets a high screen that gets Mathis a triple to cut the lead to 2. Rink then finds Paul Nelson on a textbook backcut for a layup and we're tied at 53 with 9:50 left. That's a 10-2 PACT run over 3:40. Dawson with a putback and then another putback for an And 1. Rink counters with a 3 point play of his own. Tied at 59 with 7:51 left and SW wants time. Mick Hedberg with a 3 point play for PACT and they're up 62-59. Dawson fouled on the ensuing possession by Rink at 7:21 and Rink has to sit with 4 fouls. Dawson with a dunk at 6:40 on a nice feed from Antonio Wigfall. Mathis counters with a 3 point play for a 67-63 PACT lead with 6:30 left. Wigfall drives and scores with 3:30 left after 2 Rink FTs and we're tied at 69. Timeout Southwest with 2:45 left and the ball. They find Dawson on the inbounds for an easy 2. Michael Clauer counters with 2 for PACT and we're still tied. LeDarius Aaron misses the front end of the bonus, but Dawson snatches the miss and puts it back with 2:15 left. Mathis with an offensive rebound and fouled after a Rink missed 3, but Mathis only makes 1 of 2 with 1:22 left. 73-72 Southwest leads. Wigfall backdoor at 1:10 for a layin via a 1-4 high set. Rink misses again and a tie up with 52.6 left goes to the Lakers. But Mathis steals in the inbounds and is fouled with 42.5 left. He drains both of those. 75-74 Southwest. PACT almost gets a steal on the next possession too, but Elliot Matheiu with a layup with 26 seconds left. Dan Graffunder misses 2 FTs for PACT with 9.3 left and that's their last chance. Southwest wins 79-76.

For PACT, they fall to 8-9. If you believe the QRF, they're in a battle for 3rd with Spectrum in 4A's West Subsection with a head-head matchup in 2 weeks. Austin Rink finishes with 28 points on 10-21 shooting (including 3 triples), 5 rebounds and 3 blocks on my stat sheet. He's very improved from last season. Seth Mathis with 20 and 12.

For Southwest, the story was Dominique Dawson. 25 in the 2nd half. On my sheet he finished with 35 and 18 and 2 blocks. 16-24 from the field as Rink just didn't have the bulk to deal with him. Jon Berry and Antonio Wigfall add 10 points each. This is the Lakers 3rd win of the year and somehow I've managed to see 2 of them. West Lutheran (the other win I saw) and Highland Park are the other 2 wins.

Week 9 Conference Rewind

With the 1st round of conference games done or just finishing up, I figured it'd be a good time to take a look at what is going on in each of the metro leagues.

Classic Lake
The season is early but Minnetonka is already 0-2 in the league with the loss to Wayzata last Friday. A rough week for Armstrong as they were blown out at Edina and then lost a tough one in OT at Blaine. That loss to Kennedy is still baffling. Wayzata and Edina both rolling along.

Classic Suburban
Tartan, Richfield and Mahtomedi all 2 games back of Sibley. Mahtomedi hosts Richfield on Tuesday to determine who's tied for 2nd with Tartan after 1 rotation. Despite a drought against Stillwater on Saturday, they did get a nice win at St. Thomas Academy on Friday. With St. Thomas being down, section 1AAA looks wide open.

Lake
Does anyone want to win this thing? Chaska was in the thick of the race and they've lost at Rosemount and Eastview in the last 2 weeks. Burnsville has lost 3 in a row. Jefferson lost to Apple Valley. That put Eden Prairie 2 games up and then Jefferson beat them last Tuesday. Lakeville North has won 13 of 14 with the only loss at Eden Prairie. They'll host Jefferson on Tuesday.

Minneapolis City
Washburn and Henry are known teams but how about North. They won at Henry so at worst they'll be 1 game behind Washburn after 1 rotation or at best in a 3 way tie for first with those teams. As I said when they played Richfield in December, Kevin Thompson is a beast putting up 22 a night. If he would have ended up at MTS, that lineup would have been crazy good.

MCAA
Heritage lost 3 in a row this week to eliminate any chance they had in the league (1 of those was non-conference to CHOF). Heritage had the last real shot at Lester Prairie so I'm giving them the crown now. Maranatha in the driver's seat for 2nd after beating SW Christian on Friday but they still have to beat New Life on Thursday.

Missota
4 teams all 3-1 in the league and Northfield is not one of them. That should sort itself out this week. New Prague has Northfield and Farmington. Farmington also has Prior Lake. Northfield looked to be rolling after the win over Owatonna but road losses to Shakopee and Farmington left them out of the top 4.

North Suburban
A 2 horse race with Cooper and Spring Lake Park. Fridley 2 games back of Spring Lake Park for 2nd. Cooper still has a trip to Spring Lake Park at the end of the month. Fridley getting a huge season of 24 a night from Isaiah Thomas for an 11-4 start with no bad losses.

Northwest Suburban
Osseo and Champlin Park where I expected and Sam Dower is having a huge season. Maple Grove about where I would have expected. I thought Blaine wouldn't be at the top of the league, but a stretch of 1-10 was a major surprise. Hopefully the win over Maple Grove this week gets the Bengals going.

St. Paul City
The 1st rotation ends this week. The league is shaking out as the talent shows. Central at 12-4 is a surprise considering what they lost from last year but guys like Taylor Smaller, LeDarian Horton and Jordan Larson are all talented players. Como Park at 2-2 in the league is understandable, but 3-12 with their talent is the biggest surprise.

Suburban East
Mounds View at CDH for 1st place alone to end the 1st rotation on Tuesday. Hastings is the biggest surprise here as they're 9-7 and 4-4 in the league. They stole one from Roseville on Friday night as Roseville committed a foul on their own FT with a second left to lose that one. Mike Muscala having a big season for much improved Roseville but they've lost 6 of 7 now, all by 7 points or less. Stillwater with a young roster and a new coach is only 6-10 and 3-5 in the league.

Tri-Metro
Biggest surprise for me is Minnehaha being 3 games up in the West on De La Salle. St. Paul Academy much improved at 7-7 with Evan McMillan leading the way but sophomore center Gabe Mast is also having a nice season for them. Their top 3 kids return next year.

Be sure to check out my MN Preps column this week (available Monday morning in the upper right corner of the blog). I take a deeper look at the Hopkins/Cooper showdown on Tuesday, a look at a big battle of 2 of the state's top point guards and another team from the NW Suburban.

If you missed any of the games I saw this week, here's the complete list.

• 1/26: New Life at MTS
• 1/27: St. Thomas at Richfield
• 1/29: CHOF at Brooklyn Center
• 1/30: SW Christian at Maranatha (B/G)
• 1/31: Roseville at Central
• 1/31: Mahtomedi vs Stillwater
• 1/31: Cannon Valley Luth vs Concordia-Bloomington

My schedule for the week can be found on the right side in "The Czar's Schedule" section. A busy week with games every day.

Concordia flashes the diamond against Cannon Valley Lutheran

We end the night at the Target Center with Parent's Night for Cannon Valley Lutheran. Concordia Academy of Bloomington gets the guest honors for the night in a boys and girls double-dip. The CVL girls use a packed in 1-3-1 zone for a 28-18 halftime lead. But Madeline Ehrich goes off for 24 of Concordia's 35 in the 2nd half and the Lancers steal a 53-49 win. Ehrich finished with 32. 6-4 junior center Megan Quiram for Cannon Valley Lutheran with 23 points in the loss and somebody needs to find her as she's a next level player.

Matt Saemrow with CVL's first 9 points of the night to counter 6 from Concordia's Sam Fink. 10-9 Concordia at 10:44 in a slow paced game due to both teams playing zone. After Concordia's post Andrew Erdman makes a jumper to tie it at 18, CVL gets triples from Bryan Lamont and Saemorw for the biggest lead of the half, 24-18 with 55 seconds left in the half. 24-20 CVL at the break. Saemrow with 14 points and 4 rebounds. Andrew Erdman with 6 points and 5 boards for Concordia. Jacob Moe with 4 points and 5 boards for Concordia. Concordia alternated man, 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone in the 1st half. Good job by both coaches to get everybody in the game to enjoy the Target Center experience.

Concordia comes out Diamond and 1 on Saemrow in the 2nd half. Caleb Rollins with the bulk of the duty along with Nick Noethe (yes it sounds like the famous actor). Saemrow gets no touches in the halfcourt and he's frustrated. Evan Johnson with a FT line jumper against the 2-3 zone. Fink with a steal for a layup and Concordia leads 38-33 with 10:45 left after a 10-2 run. Saemrow gets a defensive rebound and goes coast to coast for 2 free throws. Lamont with another triple and we're tied at 38 with 8:30 left. Concordia executing well against the 2-3 getting the ball to the high post and looking for the baseline guy at the rim. Jacob Moe in and now he's playing the foul line spot (something that should have been done earlier). He makes 2 FTs with 4:12 left for a 44-40 Concordia lead. Saemrow with a steal but misses the front end of the bonus with 3:45 left. Moe with a couple of misses around an Erdman block. CVL can't generate any offense against the Concordia Diamond and 1. Concordia wins 47-41.

For Concordia, Jacob Moe and Andrew Erdman with 12 points each to lead the Lancers. The Diamond and 1 holds CVL to 3 points in the last 8+ minutes. CVL gets a game high 16 from Matt Saemrow but no FGs in the 2nd half thanks to the tough defense of Rollins and Noethe. His only touches were on rebounds in the 2nd half. Bryan Lamont with 3 triples for a total of 9 points. He really could have been a zone buster vs that diamond and 1. All in all a very fun night for the kids as they got their chance to play at Target Center and take all the pictures on the court along with having Parent's Night.

Steve Froemming from Steven's Sports Report had these thoughts on the game.

Stillwater puts the lid on Mahtomedi's basket

So after the Central/Roseville game I made my way to the Target Center for the evening session. I arrive at the Stillwater/Mahtomedi game with 4 minutes left in the 1st half. Jon Krebs for Mahtomedi and Ryan Duxbury of Stillwater get it done in the 1st half with 11 and 8 points respectively in the 1st half. Miles Heller and Adam Habisch with 8 points each for Stillwater as well. Back and forth in those last 4 minutes as Mahtomedi leads 38-34 at the break. To the 2nd half we go.

Matt David with a 3 and then Krebs with a nice cut behind the zone to get himself a layup at 15:40. Mahtomedi up 45-38. Then the Mahtomedi basket disappears as they get 1 offensive rebound basket and that's all for a 9 minute 40 second stretch. Paul Franklin with a crossover for 2 and a triple. Alex Oman makes a living at the free throw line as Stillwater in the bonus at the 9 minute mark. Krebs makes a jumper with 6 minutes left to break the run but the damage is done as Stillwater leads 61-49. Its a 23-2 Stillwater run with a scoreless stretch for Mahtomedi of 8:50. Stillwater only gets 1 FG in the last 6:45 but they live at the line for a 74-59 win.

For Mahtomedi, Jon Krebs with a nice game of 18 points. The Zephyrs were 2-4 in the 2nd half from the foul line. They had couldn't buy a hoop against the 1-2-2 zone that Stillwater played but they did have some good looks. Stillwater was 22-26 from the line in the 2nd half alone. All 5 starters in double figures for the Ponies with Alex Oman going 10-10 from the charity stripe in the 2nd half and finishing with 19 points to lead the way. Ryan Duxbury with 8 points and 7 rebounds in the 2nd half alone. He finished with 16 points. One of the more amazing facts of the year for me as Stillwater did not make a single substitution in the 2nd half.

Muscala's big day not enough for Roseville

Game 1 of this Saturday takes me to a non-conference showdown at St. Paul Central as the Minutemen host Roseville and Mike Muscala. Mark Klingsporn of Tartan looking at potential section foe Central. Former Como Park coach Dan Brink also looking on.

Early story is Muscala as this game goes back and forth. He gets the 1st 17 Roseville points with lefty and righty buckets. 17-16 Roseville at the 8 minute mark. Ryan Yungers knocks down a couple of triples off the bench for the Raiders (1 on an assist from Muscala) 23-21 Roseville at 6:10. The teams trade before Muscala makes a lefty banker and then a follow up dunk. 30-28 Roseville at 3:20. 33-30 Roseville at the half. Muscala with 21 points and 7 rebounds along with a block. No points in the half from any other Roseville starter. LeDarian Horton with 8 points and 5 boards for Central. Roseville effective with a 3-2 zone the last half of the half.

David Stanley knocks down a triple from Muscala and then a layup for a 9-0 Roseville run out of halftime (12-0 total). 42-30 Raiders 3 minutes into the 2nd half. Horton then gest hot for Central as he gets the 1st 8 Central points of the half with a triple over Muscala, then another triple via The Flex and then a runner. Roseville leads 45-38 with 12 minutes left. Then a 9-3 Central spurt with a couple of 3s and a Taylor Smaller steal for a layup. 48-47 Roseville with 8:40 left. Austin Hultmann on the bench for Roseville with 4 fouls and Horton takes advantage with 3 of 4 FTs. 54-50 Roseville with 5:18 left and Hultmann returns. Cameron Smith with a 3 ball and a Smaller hoop tie it at 56 with 4:07 left. Muscala then with 4 in a row. Eric Grice with 2 and the foul but he misses the free throw. DJ Johnson rebounds the miss and Smaller buries a triple with 2:10 left and Central has the lead at 61-60. Horton rebounds a wild miss by Roseville PG Kenny Farmer but Smaller misses and a tie up goes to Central at 1:27. Jordan Larson misses for Central and Muscala blocks a DJ Johnson layup with 1:10 left. But Roseville can't convert with 1 minute left. Central spreads the floor with Rosevile refusing to foul. Larson makes them pay with a layup with 26 seconds left. 63-60 Central. Roseville doesn't take a timeout and Rylee Hernandez airballs a triple with 9 seconds left. Roseville almost steals a long inbounds pass but Central does make the catch and hit 4 FTs late for a 67-60 win.

For Roseville, Mike Muscala with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks by my count. No one else in double figures but Rylee Hernandez and Ryan Yungers gave them nice bench minutes. Another tough loss for Roseville as they lost a tough one last night to Hastings as well (a foul on their own FT with 1 second left allowed Hastings to pull off an upset Friday night).

For Central, LeDarian Horton with 17, most of the them in the 2nd half. A talented player who can play some inside or out. Jordan Larson and Taylor Smaller with 12 each for the Minutemen.

Maranatha outduels SW Christian

Tonight takes The Czar to Maranatha for a boys/girls homecoming double-dip with Southwest Christian. All 4 teams in the thick of the conference races. One of the best environments of the season with a full house that had a buzz at the end of the 3 PM girls JV game. Great music, great fans and you had to love the Chicago Bulls intros with the spotlight and darkness included. Outside of the top 2 Hopkins games of the season, I haven't seen a better group of fans all season. The Noreen clan all on hand watching. A nice performance of "A High School Musical" at halftime of the girls varsity game.

The Girls Varsity game gets a nice double-double performance from MCA's 8th grade post Onye Osemenam but SW Christian wins easily after a 28-10 start. 54-37 SW Christian wins the girls game to stay in the race with New Life in the MCAA. Boys JV goes double OT with MCA missing a couple of chances to win it. On to the boys varsity game as we're way late getting started. Game didn't end until 10:30.

SW Christian decides to come out 2-3 zone with star Caleb Palkert in the middle. Josh Hanson gets the initial 1 on 1 assignment on Palkert on the other end with Jay Higgins seeing the major minutes in that role. After a couple of Palkert buckets, MCA gets 7 in a row for a 15-6 lead with 6:20 in the half. SW Christian goes on a 10-2 run late in the half thanks to 6 free throws from Palkert. Both teams fail to take the last shot so SW Christian comes back and gets blocked by Hanson who turns it into a free throw for Darian Pittman. 20 all at the half. Palkert with 10 points (2-6 FGs), 6 rebounds and 5 blocks as he's controlling the paint in the zone defense ala Chad Calcaterra. Most of his offense came off of inbounds plays when he wasn't at the foul line (6-6 in the half). Josh Hanson 1 point, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks but 0-5 FGs

Hanson starts the 2nd half with a nice dive to the hoop against the zone for 2. Palkert puts back his own miss before trading triples with Jay Higgins. 28-25 Stars at 15:05. Jamie Hammond with a triple for MCA to tie it at 30 at 13:03. SW Christian now out of the zone going man. Palkert with a post 2 at 11 and Jordan Dye with a putback for a 34-30 SWC lead. But SaVaughn Jordan counters with a layup and then Pittman goes over Palkert for 2 and the foul. 35-34 MCA at 8:18. SWC back to the 2-3 zone. Pittman then gets a steal and finds Hanson for a layup. 37-34 MCA at 6:55. Peter Sorenson with a tip in and Dye with a layup and SWC has the lead back at 5:45. Then a fast sequence with Jordan getting a layup and Pittman scoring around a Sorenson 2 all within 15 seconds. Dye then with a steal for 2 free throws 44-41 SW Christian with 4:19 left.

Then the officiating gets interesting. Pittman gets a layup and finds Jordan on a runout. Palkert goes for the block and gets a technical for slapping the backboard. Terrible call gives him his 4th foul. Josh Hanson hits the 2 technical free throws and Jay Higgins buries a left wing three on the ensuing possession. MCA back on top 46-44 with 3 minutes to play as we continue to go back and forth in the half. Collin Kruse misses a front end for SWC with 2:51 left. Higgins misses a front end at 2:10 for MCA. Palkert gets the ball on the left block and its in and out. Tie up of the rebound goes to MCA at 1:41. MCA over the top of the press. Palkert tries to take a charge on Jordan but the official doesn't think he got there and he's gone with foul #5 at 1:40. Jordan gets the crowd going. But somehow its not a shooting foul and Jordan misses the front end. SWC with a sloppy turnover at 1:24. Higgins misses the front end again at 1:10 but Jordan grabs the offensive rebound. Pittman fouled and finally somebody makes a free throw. The 2 FTs at 1:04 make it 48-44 MCA. Jordan then commits his 5th 2 seconds later on a silly reachin but Dye misses both free throws. After a Higgins FTs, Kruse is wide open and buries a 3 with 48.3 seconds left and SWC still has life. 49-47 MCA. Dye absolutely hacks someone for a steal (no call) and then gets mugged going to the basket (no call). Tie up to SWC. Sorenson with a good post up look from the right box but its no good with 30 seconds left. Pittman on an inbounds tries to throw it off someone's back and fortunately its a tie up that goes to MCA with 23.6 left. Hanson with a bucket on the inbounds but Sorenson comes right back with a strong 3 point play at 15.1. Matt Eickman makes 2 FTs including a rattle around of the 1st one with 14.1 left, SWC down 3 but I think they're out of time outs. They travel with 3.6 left and never get a look. 53-50 Maranatha in a very entertaining class A game.

Southwest Christian falls to 10-5 and they're now 2 back in the MCAA race. Caleb Palkert still not getting enough touches as I've complained about in the past. 1 FG and no FTs in the last 15 minutes. He ends up with 17, 13 and 7 blocks. Just basic post ups for him tonight. Jordan Dye with a nice night of 13 and 6. Peter Sorenson with 11. Everyone except Palkert returns next season.

MCA gets a signature win as they improve to 15-2 and stay 1 game back of Lester Praire (they beat Heritage tonight so no help for the Mustangs). Granted they really struggled against the 2-3 zone and they don't really have a dynamic shooter to bust zones. Darian Pittman leads with way with 14 points. Josh Hanson with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. Nice team, but not the MCA teams of years past. MCA also very young as they only have Matt Eickman leaving the rotation.

ESPN releases in-season class of 2009 Rankings

On January 13th, ESPN released their in-season rankings for the class of 2009 . Read the entire rankings here. Here are the changes to Minnesota players (and others of note) from the last period (August 19, 2008). Read analysis of the new rankings, including an explanation of the drop of Rodney Williams in the ESPN article here. You'll find it to be consistent with what Rivals said last August. I made some comments last August similar to these as well.

Minnesota Players

• Royce White #25, Minnesota (previous #23)
• Rodney Williams Jr #40 (previous #29)

Wisconsin Players

• Jeronne Maymon #55, Marquette (previous #76)
• Jamil Wilson #62 (previous #60)

Other players who have appeared locally

• DeMarcus Cousins #4, UAB (no change)
  
• DJ Richardson #51, Illinois (previous #56)
• Naji Hibbert #61, Texas A&M (previous #59)

CHOF at Brooklyn Center Thoughts

Nate Fiscus

CHOF making the trip to Brooklyn Center as I go to the NW metro for 2 (possibly 3) consecutive nights. Chris Carr on hand watching one of his stars, Freddie Young. Some nice folks from BC giving The Czar a warm welcome tonight. Thanks to them for stopping by and saying hello.

CHOF star Nate Fiscus tweaked his back earlier in the week and started the game in the locker room. With point guard Cole Piepkorn already out for the season with an ankle injury, the Lions can't afford an injury to Fiscus. Demarius Overton with 5 in a row as BC jumps out to quick a 7-0 lead 1:40 into the game. BC up 12-7 when Fiscus comes into the game at 10:43. CHOF with 9 turnovers already. Fiscus gets a couple of buckets to cut the BC lead to 16-15 at 7:20. After a Demetrius Anthony 3, Cody Sarbacker (Piepkorn's replacement) knocks down a pair of triples around a bucket for a personal 8-0 run that puts CHOF up 23-19 at 5:45. Freddie Young picks up his 2nd foul 17 seconds later and he sits for most of the rest of the half. CHOF taking care of the ball for now but the turnovers start up again. 31-27 before the end of the half. Fiscus puts back a miss and then freshman Mahari Wilson puts up a bad shot near the end of the half instead of playing for 1 shot. Sarbacker knocks down a 3 at the 1st half buzzer and that gives CHOF a 32-31 halftime lead. Sarbacker with 4 triples and 16 points in the half. Fiscus 8 pts and 6 rebounds. Overton with 7 for BC. CHOF with 14 turnovers on my sheet.

Freddie Young off to a quick 2nd half start. He finds Overton for a bucket, makes a free throw and then a 3 point play. BC by 7, 43-36 with 14:19 left. Donovan Schoenrock with back to back buckets to cut the BC lead to 3, but Young counters with a steal for 2. Frosh Tyler Strandlund (one of the best freshman I've seen all year) misses 2 free throws for CHOF. On the play Schoenrock picks up his 4th on a technical. Freddie Young makes the Ts for BC and then finds Antone Darrington for 3 on the possession and then drives and goes left handed for 2. 52-40 Centaurs at 11:20. After a trading of buckets, Fiscus returns after a long absence. Darrington with a 3 point play for Strandlund's 4th foul to keep the lead at 10, 59-49, with 7:39 to play. BC cuts it to 6 on a Schoenrock post up with 6:40 left and then gets a turnover but misses 2 chances to cut it to 4. Young with a free throw, Darrington with a 3 point play, Young finds Darrington for 2 more and Young makes another free throw. 66-53 Brooklyn Center with 5:15 left and CHOF never gets closer than 9 the rest of the way. BC wins 77-66.

For CHOF, they fall to 7-7. 4 games in 8 days for them coming up with 3 of those at home. Nate Fiscus not close to 100% with the bad back but he fought thru it for 21 points and 12 rebs on my sheet. Frosh Tyler Strandlund with 8 points and I had 7 rebounds and 6 blocks for him. Cody Sarbacker with 16 of his 20 in the 1st half. Donovan Schoenrock with 12 and 12. CHOF still fighting for the #2 seed in 4A East Subsection. Their problem is a head-head home loss to New Life.

For Brooklyn Center, Freddie Young with 19 points, most of them in the 2nd half. Antone Darrington with 16 clutch points, also most of them in the 2nd half. At 7-8, they still have a fair shot at the #2 seed behind Jordan in the west subsection of 4AA along with Breck and Holy Family. Nice job by the Centaurs of forcing turnovers with a halfcourt trap to get some easy points.

Nate Fiscus picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

More updates on formation of Dakota County Conference

In addition to his previous article earlier today on Hutchinson being admitted to the Wright County Conference, John Millea added this article on the discussions around the formation of a Dakota County Conference. It has all 7 of the South division of the Lake Conference members I mentioned in the previous article. Farmington would be an 8th team. Interestingly enough, Hastings is in the discussions. They're used to going that way in section play, but a move away from the Suburban East and rival Stillwater would be a bit of a surprise.

If that league happens, then the Missota is down to 6 teams split evenly between AAAA schools and AAA schools. The Lake Conference would be down to the 7 north division schools. Shakopee and Prior Lake are natural rivals and would make sense to be Lake replacements. Northfield being 4A might be an option too, but what would happen with the AAA schools. Especially Red Wing and Holy Angels. Would Holy Angels end up in the North Suburban then as a 12th team?

Western domino falls in metro realignment saga

John Millea reporting on the Star Trib preps blog that Hutchinson has been accepted into the Wright County Conference. With Hutchinson being one of the 3 smallest schools, this leaves 7 teams in the Missota. 7 of course is not an ideal number. Where would an 8th member come from? The obvious answer is the Lake which could end up with 14 teams. Having the Lakeville schools defect to the Missota to balance out the numbers (if Edina and Hopkins get sent south to the Lake) would make 9 and 12 and make some geographical sense. Of course, this makes little sense competitively for either Lakeville school. Would Faribault leave the Big 9 (10) to go north? They'd still be stuck as a AAA school in a AAAA league but the travel might be better. Would Owatonna leave to play a bigger school schedule?

If the Lake ends up at 14 with Edina and Hopkins added (why not Hopkins to the NW Suburban and Tonka to the Lake BTW?), how about these for a couple of nice divisions divided by the river.

South: Burnsville, Eagan, Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eastview, Lakeville N, Lakeville S
North: Kennedy, Jefferson, Edina, Hopkins, Chaska, Chanhassen, Eden Prairie

Have Richfield leave the Classic Suburban and you'd have 8 in the Classic Suburban and 8 in the North division for its own league. The South becomes its own thing (called the Dakota County Conference by Millea, unfortunately MN River is already taken) and could do a non-conference football series with the Missota.

And just for humor value, here are links to the full realignment plans that I first posted in August 2007.

• The Czar's 4A Realignment Plan
• The Czar's Realignment plan for everyone else.

St. Thomas Academy at Richfield Thoughts

Mike Fitzgerald

Winona State and Concordia-St. Paul in the building tonight for the St. Thomas vs Richfield game. Not much of a crowd though. Nice to see John Sherman making an appearance as part of his newspaper work.

Phillip Freeman out quick with a couple of triples. St. Thomas turning it over against the halfcourt man D of Richfield. Richfield 6-4 at 15:30. But then STA settles down. After a couple of layups makes it 10-7 Richfield, STA goes on a 13-0 run over 4 and a half thanks to a pair of triples from Mike Fitzgerald. 20-10 Cadets at 8:40. Renard Robinson with 5 in a row to end an 8-0 run to get Richfield back to 20-18 at 7:05. Then STA goes bombs away from 3. Fitzgerald with 2 more triples, Billy Chapman with 2 of his own and Charlie Aslesen with 1. Jim Dimick not happy with his rotation so he puts 5 JV guys in for the end of the half. STA outscores Richfield 21-7 over the last 7 minutes for a 41-20 lead at halftime. Mike Fitzgerald with 17 points and 4 triples for STA. 8 total triples for STA in the half. Phillip Freeman and Renard Robinson with 8 each for Richfield.

Freeman smoking to start the 2nd half with another pair of triples in a 10-2 Richfield run and they're within 8. He then trades triples with Fitzgerald and makes 2 FTs as he scores 11 straight for Richfield. 48-40 STA at 12:48. Jay Sewer with a circus 2 and its 53-44 with 10:28 left. Then STA goes on a 11-4 run. That gives STA a 64-48 lead with 7 minutes left. The Cadets keep the lead there until the final 2 minutes when Richfield knocks down a handful of 3s to make the score more respectable. 84-75 when I leave with 40 seconds left.

For Richfield, 6 triples and 22 points for Phillip Freeman. Renard Robinson adds 18 and 8 rebounds. Very small lineups for both teams in this one with basically all guards. STA gets 27 from Mike Fitzgerald on 7-16 shooting with 5-9 from 3. I also had him for 11 rebounds. Lefty Billy Chapman with 18 on 4 triples. Charlie Aslesen with 14 points off the bench in a productive night. STA with a nice job in their motion offense.

Mike Fitzgerald picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net

Scapegoats in the Conference Realignment?

More from John Millea on the conference realignment as the leagues got together again today. Read it here.

My thoughts

• Nobody can agree. HA! Should that really be a surprise.
• No surprise that no one wants to really take a hard look at this and realign everything. That'd be much too difficult and people don't like change. Its a shame the MSHSL couldn't step in and take care of that instead of forcing square pegs into the current round holes.
  
• The NW Suburban should take Wayzata for 12, but Minnetonka makes no sense for a whole bunch of reasons.
  
• Very disappointing that the Lake appears to be really stubborn here. They'd be doing their members a service by working to reach an agreement instead of sitting back and laying blame and having a bad situation for all the schools. Minnetonka and Edina and Hopkins need to go south and the Lake/Missota schools need to make something intelligent happen. Well said by Millea that the Lake needs to step up and make something good happen instead of waiting for something (almost certainly bad) to happen.
  

New Life at MN Transitions Thoughts

A chance to finally see a full game at the deaf dome (the new MTS gym). Yes the drum line was out in full force again tonight. Unique entertainment, but after a couple of these games and an AC/DC concert I've lost 95% of my hearing. Caleb Palkert and Peter Sorenson of SW Christian took in some of the action as they have to play both of these teams coming up.

NLA point guard Ryan Furlong with 3 offensive rebounds that result in buckets. 15-6 New Life at 12:50. A Robbie Anderstrom jumper at 11:15 keeps the NLA lead at 9, 19-10 with 11:15 left in the first half. But the turnovers and rebounding problems set in for NLA. MTS goes on a 24-2 run over the next 8 minutes. Kevin Noreen knocks down back to back triples to push MTS over the top once they got back to even. Anderstrom put back a miss to keep it respectable at the half. 40-26 MTS at the break. NLA went 8 minutes without a field goal and I had them for at least 12 turnovers. MTS effective with their 1-2-2 half court pressure. Not doing anything in the full court.

Joe Mann knocks down 1 of his 6 triples, MTS turns it over for a Kory Kiekhofer layup. NLA back within 8, 43-35 MTS, with 15 minutes left. Mann with another triple at 9:11 to keep it at 10 points, 59-49. But NLA can't get any closer. MTS goes on a 21-6 run with a couple of big dunks and a layup from Jerrel Washington to put it away. Kevin Noreen with a steal and dunk sandwiched by a couple of Washingtion jumpers at the end of the run. Minnesota Transitions wins 84-67.

For NLA, Joe Mann with 6 triples for 20 points. Robbie Anderstrom with 10 points and I had him for 16 rebounds. There were plenty of openings to find him at the high post against the zone that NLA didn't take advantage of. They still have trips to Maranatha and Bethlehem Academy on the schedule as well as a home game with SW Christian on the schedule.

For MTS, Kevin Noreen with 24 points, 8 of them during the 1st half run that ultimately put MTS ahead for good. Jerrell Washington got it going in the 2nd half for 27 points. The MTS trapping defense really keeps a team from getting into any kind of sets. I liked how Kyle Noreen showed some aggressiveness taking the ball baseline for a couple of layups. Andre Ingram was a real force inside too. 8 points and I had 6 rebounds and 6 blocks for him. I'll see them again in an interesting battle vs Arlington next Wednesday night (and I'm bringing my earplugs).

Day 2 at the 08-09 East Metro Showcase

6 games with The Emperor on day 2 of the 3rd Annual East Metro Showcase. Here's what caught our attention.

Game 4: Barron vs Richfield
Phillip Freeman continues to have a big year for Richfield. They use a 13-0 1st half run to take a 15 point lead. Barron gets no closer than 12 the rest of the way. Kyle Rose with 22 inside for Barron against the small Richfield lineup. Richfield wins 73-55. Barron now 0-5 against their non-conference schedule.

Game 5: Milwaukee Northwest vs St. Paul Central
Central outscores Northwest 13-3 over the last 5 minutes for a 13 point halftime lead. NW closes to 11 in the 2nd half before Central blows it open with a 13-0 run in the 2nd half. The Minutemen roll 91-67. Jordan Larson with 15, LeDarian Horton with 14. Keith Townsend playing all 5 spots for NW with 23 points. Soph Eric Allen showed his potential with 21 points. Northwest will be very happy with the lanky 6'6 forward the next 2 seasons.

Game 6: Milwaukee Marshall vs Minneapolis Washburn
Marshall gets a bucket from Eric Allison and then a Chauncey Williams 3 for a 12-8 lead at 14:15 before the cold sets in. A 26-0 run over the next 8 minutes for Washburn. Allison hits a 3 at 5:15 for the 1st Marshall FG in 9 minutes. 47-27 Washburn at the half. Alfreeman Flowers puts back a miss with 12 minutes left to cut it to 11, but Marshall gets no closer. 92-77 Washburn wins. Chauncey Williams with a big 2nd half for a total of 20 points. Dylan Hale with 22. But Jordan Osberg was the Washburn story as he was huge off the bench with 25 for the Millers. Biggest story for Marshall was the red warmup suits with baby blue warmup hoodies underneath and they all come out with the hoods up and tied as tight as possible. Hilarious.

Game 7: La Crosse Aquinas vs Hopkins
Let's just say this was ugly. Aquinas doesn't get on the board until 11:20 left in the 1st half. The Hopkins size and pressure D lead to easy shots as the lead gets out to 31-4. Royce White with all 12 of his points in the 1st half with a couple of nice dunks. Minimal time for him in the 2nd half. The entire starting group is out before the mercy rule sets in. 66-27 Hopkins wins. Jimmy Whitehead with all 10 of the 1st half points for Aquinas.

Game 8: Milwaukee Vincent vs Eastview
Star frosh big Phillip Nolan gets the start for Vincent in this one in a surprise. Eastview out to an early 8-3 lead before they can't buy a hoop. Vincent goes on a 26-4 run over 11 minutes for a 29-12 lead inside of 4 minutes. Jordan Kuhn with a couple of triples and a bucket late in the half for Eastview to cut the lead to 32-22 at the half. Michael Weems with 10 for Vincent. Eastview comes out Diamond and 1 on Weems in the 2nd half. Drew Johnson with a couple of hoops to cut it to 6. Then Johnson and soph Frank Veldman (watch him) hit back-back triples to cut it to 5 with 11:12 left. But Vincent figures out the junk defense by finding Steve Stovall and Steve Durham inside for 10 of their next 12 points. That pushes the Vincent lead back to 11, 55-44 with 4:25 left. Vincent goes on to a 61-47 win. 4 guys in double figures for a balanced Vincent lineup. Weems with 12 points but only 1 bucket against the diamond and 1 in the 2nd half. Drew Bjordal cold on this night for Eastview. Rough 0-3 week for them as they also lost to Jefferson by 7 and at Eagan by 4 on Friday. Tim Massie with a nice night of 12 points inside.

Game 9: Milwaukee Lutheran vs Wayzata
Lutheran out quickly to an 8-2 lead before Wayzata counters with a 10-0 run of their own. The lead grows to 7 before Lutheran closes within 31-28 at the half. Great 1st half line for Wayzata. Jarrod Peterson, Kellen Taylor, Nolan Odland all with 8 points, Jamar Franks 7 points. Iowa State recruit Chim Kadima 9 points on 3-5 shooting and all 3 were tough in your face fading jumpers for Milwaukee Lutheran. After the 1st bucket of the half by Lutheran, Wayzata goes on a 21-7 run over the next 10 minutes. 52-37 Trojans with 7:12 left. Lutheran point guard Mike Jones on the bench for most of that time forcing Kadima to handle the ball more. They really missed him. Odland with a deep 3 to push the lead to 17 with 5:40 to go. That lead is too much as Wayzata wins 67-55. Kadima finishes with 14 points and a cold 2nd half shooting. Tough to defend on the bounce, but he still needs work on his handle. Nolan Odland with 22 for Wayzata. He was fearless going to the rim. Free throws a huge story in this one. Wayzata 23-31 including 12-12 from Kellen Taylor. 9-14 FTs for Lutheran. Taylor really physical inside getting his hands up prompting more than 1 discussion with the refs.

Overall, a surprise that most of the games weren't competitive. But a nice group of teams and players to watch in this year's event.

Day 1 at the 08-09 East Metro Showcase

The Czar welcomes The Emperor to The Kingdom for a special visit to see the 3rd annual East Metro Showcase at St. Paul Johnson. A nice job by Johnson coach Vern Simmons in putting this event together. From our perch high above the action, here's what I saw.

Game 1: St Paul Johnson vs Milwaukee Northwest.
Northwest out to a 6-4 lead thanks to a putback and 2 free throws from 6'6 soph Eric Allen. Johnson's own star soph Estan Tyler then gets it going. He knocks down a jumper and 4 free throws in a 13-0 Johnson run. 17-6 Johnson at 12:38. The lead seesaws around this the rest of the half. 40-29 at the break. Tyler with 18 and Northwest not taking care of the ball with turnovers. Johnson then uses a 2nd half 15-4 run over 3 minutes of the 2nd half to blow the game open. The Governors win easily 93-69. Estan Tyler with 21 and Lamar Anderson with 15 points for Johnson. Keith Townsend with 24 for Northwest.

Game 2: St. Paul Arlington vs Milwaukee Marshall
Best game of the day was this one. Marshall gets out to a 15-10 lead 4 and a half in to the game, but Arlington comes back to lead 31-30 at the break in a very back and forth game. Very fast pace the 1st 10 minutes that slowed down the rest of the half. Arlington gives up the 1st 5 of the half but then goes on a 9-0 run to take a 40-35 lead with 14:37 left. London Love with a couple of buckets for Marshall to break a 47 all tie, 51-47 Marshall with 9:40 left. Arlington uses an 11-2 run thanks to turnovers from Marshall for a 58-53 lead with 7:20 left. Charles Langhorne with a tip in at 5:30 to keep the lead at 5, 64-59. Marshall star Chauncey Williams gets a 4 point play at 5:20 and that's the beginning of the end. Arlington turns it over for a Love bucket, Williams then grabs an offensive rebound and finds Reggie Hearn for 2. That's the start of a 13-2 run for Marshall. Joseph Brooks cuts lead Marshall lead to 72-68 with a bucket at 1:55. Hearn them misses a dunk but grabs the miss and is fouled for 2 free throws at 1:32. Deondre White has 2 triples go in and out and Marshall goes on to win 77-68. They out score the Phoenix 18-4 over the last 5:30. DeMarcko Jones with 19, Deondre White with 15 for Arlington. Alfreeman Flowers with 22, Reggie Hearn with 11 and I had 19 rebounds on my sheet. Chauncey Williams with 12 points on cold shooting and a very quiet 2nd half (only the 4 point play).

Game 3: Hopkins vs Milwaukee Vincent
Vincent gets 1 field goal in the 1st 7 minutes as they can't get into any offense thanks to the Hopkins man-man D. By that time its 23-5 Hopkins. Royce White with a dunk but out of sync on the offense end. Trent Lockett with a couple of nice dunks. White and Lockett with 13 in the half. 51-26 Hopkins at the break and The Emperor and I call it a day since we'll see enough of Hopkins in the La Crosse Aquinas game.

Fans be warned that some of the Wisconsin rosters are from last year and not totally accurate. Check Wishoops.net for current accurate rosters for the Wisconsin teams.