Class AAA State Tournament: Why DeLaSalle & Fergus Falls are Moving On
Why DeLaSalle is moving on over Monticello. You cannot dig yourselves a hole against a team like DeLaSalle. They will grab their double figure lead, grind out second half offensive possessions, and then defend you harder. That and they could…
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Continue ReadingWhy DeLaSalle is moving on over Monticello. You cannot dig yourselves a hole against a team like DeLaSalle. They will grab their double figure lead, grind out second half offensive possessions, and then defend you harder. That and they could not defend Goanar Mar’s combination of skill and size. And the Islander defense completely shut down Matt Todd in the first half holding him scoreless. All those items contributed to a hole that even the Magic couldn’t get their way out of. Matt Todd exploded for 16 second half points but Gabe Kalscheur had ten in the second half and Austin McGeheran knocked out three treys to help keep the margin of lead into double digits.
DeLaSalle used their quick ball pressure guards on Todd at times and then put the length and lateral explosiveness of Mar on him and Todd had a tough time shaking all the attention. He did score the seven second half field goals but it took him a half to get one to go and he was not able to create much for others. Todd has a bright future and D1 schools were excited about what he did in the second half but as far as the overall game went Matt wasn’t able to create the way he needed to because the Islander defense is in the form Thorson wants it to be.
Goanar led the Islanders with 20 points scoring on 8 of 17 field goals while also grabbing seven boards. Kalscheur had a rough day shooting but did make 5 of 6 foul shots and had a four play getting him to ten for the game. Matt Todd scored 16 on 7 of 18 shooting with four boards.
Why Fergus Falls is moving on over Fergus Falls. The feeling of today’s basketball world is that good guards will always hold the edge over good bigs. Red Wing and Fergus Falls have some of each but the Otters are more guard dominated while Red Wing has a pair of scholarship frontcourt players (one going to play football at UND, the other basketball at MSU-Moorhead). Today that saying was true. Red Wing is an excellent basketball team and no matter what happened today that can’t be taken away. That said, they could never complete the comeback needed.
Attempts were made. The Wingers got within a score at 43-40 but then Nathan Rund hit a pair of treys in gutsy fashion early in possessions and just like that the Red Wing momentum was shut down and they were down 49-40. Red Wing tried to counter several times and got within a score a couple times but there was the free throws made by Harrison Christensen, the free throws made by Isaiah Lemke, the steal the entire defense contributed to, and overall a consistency of Otter guards countering every Red Wing punch.
Then with a second left to play Carson Bryan tried an NBA trey that missed. Travis Toivonen tapped out the board to Ben Munson who made a three but the shot was a good second after the buzzer and the Fergus Falls player, coaches, and fans were in the middle of a wild celebration.
Nathan Rund scored a game high 23 points highlighted by four treys and 9 of 10 shooting from the free throw line. Mathew Monke scored 11 to support while four Otter guards hit multiple field goals to provide some balance. Red Wing’s bigs Travis Toivonen and Joe Sevlie each had double-doubles, 13 points/15 rebounds and 12 points /10 rebounds respectively, but Travis had a rough time from the field and Sevlie missed four foul shots late in the game. Ben Munson continued a strong March with 17 points.
Title Game Preview. Can The Otters pull the upset? Let’s be honest, many expected them to lose to Red Wing so yes they can pull an upset against a team that they haven’t competed against at all. Will they though?
Let’s start with match-ups. Neither team has a center or a true “power” forward. Goanar Mar of DeLaSalle and Matt Monke of Fergus Falls both play in the frontcourt but are more combo forwards of length and agility. Mar is DeLaSalle’s main scoring weapon and he will play all over the court taking Monke away from the glass. Goanar will make a couple treys a game, shoot about three or four sets at the foul line, and then attack for his other production. Monke does much of his damage off the ball and if Coach Thorson does defend Monke with Mar, there is nobody better to stay alert and in position away from the ball then Goanar. Monke makes a living moving on the backside and scoring off cuts and putbacks.
What about Nathan Rund? He and Gabe Kalscheur are 18-19 point per game scorers but Rund handles the ball a lot and will likely see Samm Jones, the Islander senior. Rund is one of the toughest players in the state but he has never came off a ball screen and seen the type of ball defenders that DeLaSalle trades off to. How will he handle the Islander defense? Can DeLaSalle defend him the way they want with so many other guard options on the wing?
The ex-factors to me are Gabe Kalscheur of DeLaSalle and Hayden Christensen. They are the scorers that need to get into space and produce for their teams. They are different players but they will get their shots within the offense in similar ways. Gabe will do more off the dribble than Hayden but Hayden will do a bit more ball handling.
Motivation? DeLaSalle is looking to become the first Minnesota team to win five straight state titles. Fergus Falls? If you haven’t heard they have been through some stuff too. Matt Johnson took over as head coach midway through the year and the team has done very well under him. The kids there are playing for their ex head coach (Coach Rund) and they are playing for their new leader Matt Johnson. As well as the massive gather of Fergus Falls community members that show up each and every game.