NHR Scout: Belle Plaine vs Norwood-Young America
Belle Plaine and Norwood Young-America have distinctly different looking teams with the Tigers playing three forwards at about 6-foot-4/6-foot-5 who all move well, all are strong, and all are active. The Raiders are more guard dominated often playing four at…
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Continue ReadingBelle Plaine and Norwood Young-America have distinctly different looking teams with the Tigers playing three forwards at about 6-foot-4/6-foot-5 who all move well, all are strong, and all are active. The Raiders are more guard dominated often playing four at once. They made it hard for the Tigers to cleanly get the ball up the floor on the one end and they were able to attack on the other.
So what prevailed? The strong and athletic forwards or the guards? It was the size. NYA played a zone early and they simply could not get enough offensive rebounds. Belle Plaine didn’t complete plays as often as they needed early in the game but they converted enough. Also, Belle Plaine did an excellent job of denying and face guarding Raider playmaker Kellen Erpenbach who seemed to be out of a rhythm until late.
Down the stretch in the second half Stier and Narveson each had stretches of back to back baskets that made a one score game a three/four score game down the stretch. Stier’s spin move out of the post for two and a baseline jumper was followed by Narveson’s attack baseline and agile follow-up for two. Those scores allowed Belle Paine to hold the ball at about the three minute mark and eventually get the needed scores at the foul line. And when Belle Plaine missed at the foul line they got the biggest offensive board of the game when Nathan Herman grabbed an NYA deflating second possession when NYA was within two scores.
Belle Plaine put the game away from that point earning the North Sub-Section title from Section 2AA.
Belle Plaine.
Brody Curtiss. Seemed to make the more difficult shots going at the basket than the simpler ones. Strong so he was able to get a step over to stop a drive and then body guys off balance as a defender. Offensively he overcame some early point blank misses and turnovers to really help his team fight ahead. Did just enough handling and attacking.
Luke Narveson. Definitely a good athlete at 6-foot-4 with a strong build. When he touched the ball near the rim he was on balance for a touch score going at the rim or stationary. Loved his jab-step left moving the defender and attacking right finishing high above the rim where no NYA player could deal with him. Narveson also had one of the wildest two hand putbacks in transition as he jumped over two guys, was knocked to his right, and still scored. Had to of been close to a double-double.
Mitchell Stier. Mitch is about 6-foot-5, was quickest player off his feet and the strongest player so he dominated the glass, moved his feet with every position on the floor save the PG so the lateral agility is there. A strong three that was always on balance with the ball attacking the basket. Good with his back to the basket too as he will make contact stunning his man and then spin extremely quickly before anybody can react. Also scored with a one-dribble baseline pull-up that was hotly contested. Better handles than it appears too. Excellent showing, could play D3 basketball in my opinion at a lot of schools in the MIAC based on what I saw in this one game.
Nathan Herman. A role worker as a junior Nathan also has good size as a small forward and he made his impact setting screens, moving without the ball to catch and finish, and score on putbacks. Knows his role and plays it well. Smart player and should do well in an increased role next season. Had a huge offensive rebound late in the game after a front end one and one miss to keep his team in possession.
Norwood Young-America.
Logan Corlett. Sophomore with range to the arc, long frame, moves well. Should have a nice future as a longer wing who can hit the arc although needs to add some muscle to his frame. Skilled role guy now.
Brice Panning. Scored his 1,000th point on the first play of the game and consistently scored at a decent rate throughout the contest. Never took over with his buckets, but was consistent in producing for his team.
Carter Clemensen. One of the more consistent and steady guards I’ve seen all year in his class. Not big in height but bug in production. Shoots a high percentage, love his decision making, rarely makes a bad pass or takes a bad shot, is in position on defense. He is the type of PG I would want with the ball whenever the team needs some steady play, which is pretty much all the time. Scores efficiently, doesn’t need a ton of shots to impact the game.
Kellen Erpenbach. Was face-guarded all game so his scoring chances were few in numbers and when he did get in space it was from deeper than he would like so the shots weren’t quite the percentage he would want. We didn’t get to see much of his dribble separation game or anything downhill. Scored a couple times late including a deep three giving his team 16 points.