The Top Spot: 4-0 weekends
If you have been paying attention you know that it was an amazing weekend for Minnesota teams in all parts of the country. There were event winners in Dallas, Denver, Wisconsin, Sioux Falls, and other places. The high profile results were the Minnesota Comets and Grassroots Minnesota going 4-0 in league play in Dallas beating quality opponents.
And on top of it all the Howard Pulley Panthers are the only undefeated team in the EYBL and D1 Minnesota has a top five record in Adidas Gauntlet play with their only loss coming in overtime by a single point. Right now all that separates Howard Pulley and D1 Minnesota is a basket that Pulley got in their closest game and a basket that D1 didn’t get in their closest game.
How did they do this weekend? Both were a perfect 4-0. What is next for each? Pulley’s 17s are listed on their website as being in the Jayhawk Invitational this weekend which would mean they are going five straight weeks when you add in the Pulley Invitational and session three of EYBL in May. D1 Minnesota’s schedule says they are now off until the Battle at the Lakes event in two weekends here in Minneapolis.
How did things finish up this weekend for both? Quite well.
Howard Pulley. The Panthers had their closest game of the weekend holding off Albany City Rock 70-63. The Panthers were out-rebounded for one of the first times all year but they hit twice as many three-pointers as Albany City (10 to 5) and they had the fortune of the Rocks shooting 18 of 30 from the foul line. Pulley did a nice job forcing 14 turnovers.
Gary Trent Jr had his best game of April on Sunday when he went over for 32 points that included four treys, 12 of 13 shooting from the foul line and 8-18 shooting overall. Trent missed a double-double by a single board (had nine) and simply put the New York had nobody who could stop him.
Tre Jones totaled eight points, six assists, and three boards while quarterbacking his squad to another victory. Brad Davison finally cooled off (he was hitting shots at a 70 percent rate on Friday and Saturday) but he still made the needed foul shots and supported his team with a dozen points. Theo John had a nice game as well with seven points, eight boards, two blocks, and two steals.
D1 Minnesota. The D1 group of eight had their most decisive win of the weekend showing the New Orleans Elite a defensive effort that limited them to only 49 points and 38 percent shooting for the game. D1 had only nine turnovers and won the board battle 36-30.
Nate Reuvers had one of his best games of the weekend making seven of ten shots for a team high 15 points while fellow big Matthew Hurt scored 11 points with seven rebounds. Add in the four Jericho Sims baskets and you had 34 of the 64 D1 points coming from the three frontcourt bigs.
Every time I look into the rebounding category to see what McKinley Wright got I think “another Bobby Jackson like rebounding day?” and the answer here was a definite yes. McKinley fought for 11 rebounds which helped him transition for five assists and three scores. Jack Hutchison knocked down a couple threes and had a backcourt high of nine points.