Class AAAA State Tournament: Why they are moving on…
The Class AAAA state tournament went as expected today and NHR was on-hand to analyze all the action and give you the lowdown on why some teams are going home and why the others are moving on. Why Osseo is…
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Continue ReadingThe Class AAAA state tournament went as expected today and NHR was on-hand to analyze all the action and give you the lowdown on why some teams are going home and why the others are moving on.
Why Osseo is moving on over Eden Prairie. The Orioles spread the Eagles out offensively, moved the ball with pace, and then attacked where the Eagle rotations were weak. Osseo had space for Bettie to roll hard to the rim to catch and complete against an Eagle defense that couldn’t get the right position from the first guy screened or the backside rotations and the Eagles weren’t able to recover to John Bezdicek when he was knocking out attempts from behind the arc on the wing and in the corners.
Osseo simply spread out the Eagles and they weren’t able to cover the ground needed. Osseo forced eight first half turnovers from EP with full court ball pressure and in the second half when EP was able to score the Orioles countered every last punch with a basket. When Rudrud hit a trey Bezdicek did the same, when Chose scored the Orioles got a dunk from Demario, and when Brady had a full court runout the Orioles got an attack from Kyle Williams. Osseo jumped ahead, took every punch, and they were the deeper and harder working team so they are moving on. Tim Theisen has done a great job with this team.
Osseo did what they usually do, have a balanced offense with four guys scoring in double figures. John Bezdicek had 21 points and eight rebounds, Bettie scored 16 points with 13 rebounds, Anderson scored 11, and Hughes scored a dozen. Rudrud had a game high 30 for EP while Owen Chose had 11 on 17 shots and Nick Geolat scored ten.
Why Lakeville North is moving on over Maple Grove. The Panthers defensive gameplan to limit the Crimson was everything sent at Brad Davison. They put Nick Fossey on Brad who did a tremendous job on him Brad and the team’s help when Davison put the ball on the floor there was an overload of help sent in his direction. Whenever he lifted to produce a shot there was Fossey in front or on the hip and another player coming at him physically. This led to some attacks for others but it was Davison they didn’t want beating them and with Fossey leading the way and players behind him helping over the Panthers held Brad to 3 of 18 shooting. They fouled the smack out of him all game long and Brad likely should have had six or eight more fouls shots (shot 11 of 12 at the line) but being overly physical was part of the plan.
Nathan Reuvers had trouble going over Reed Nikko but he did knock out all nine of his foul shots for a game high 19 points followed by 11 from Carter Brooks and 11 from Nick Fossey. Nick had an important first half ten points often followed by a yell of excitement. Davison scored 18 for the Crimson and Jack Hutchison and Taron Pickford each had ten.
Why Hopkins is moving on over North St. Paul. The Royals have not been playing the greatest lately and the Polars were peaking having knocked off sectional opponents Woodbury and Tartan who were both top ten teams. So why was this such a blowout? It’s pretty simple but Hopkins just looked more comfortable in this atmosphere. NSP has had a special 24 win season but once the teams took the floor and went head to head the top Royal talents attacked relentlessly while the Polars looked a bit frozen buy the moment. Amir Coffey scored three times early and had a memorable swat in retreat, Xavier Johnson scored on the move six times in the first half, and the Royal defense overwhelmed the Polars.
Late in the first half Amir Coffey took a nasty fall hurting his back but came back to play late in the half. The game was so lopsided that Coach Ken Novak Jr didn’t need to play him much in half two allowing Vinnie Shahid and sophomore center Joe Hedstrom to close the game out. Hopkins was victorious 74-42 led by 20 from Xavier Johnson, 11 from Vinnie Shahid, and ten each from Simon Wright and Joe Hedstrom. Goodnews Kpeogel scored a team high 13 for the Polars including three treys.
Why Apple Valley is moving on over Blaine. You can come up with a lot of reasons but the biggest is that the Eagles were simply more agile and active at every position on the floor. When you have guys like Cameron Kirksey who are so quick off their feet and guys like Gary Trent Jr who can both physically and skill wise get into space with little effort you are going to have a game that jumps between 20 and 30 points throughout the contest. This was a game where the starters could rest early and a lot of guys got a chance to play on the Target Center floor.
Gary Trent Jr scored 23 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the field and 7 of 12 shooting from the foul line. He also knocked down two treys and was physically unstoppable. Cameron Kirksey had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds while Tre Jones and Luke Martens each scored eight. Kurtis Weigland scored a team high ten for Blaine.