Ten Best: Samaritans Feet Barefoot Classic – Mpls North vs O’Gorman
Minneapolis North spent much of New Year’s Eve in Sioux Falls where they defeated South Dakota’s big school #1 Sioux Falls O’Gorman at the Sanford Pentagon. MVP: Isaac Johnson. The Western Illinois signed wing scored 29 points who had three…
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Continue ReadingMinneapolis North spent much of New Year’s Eve in Sioux Falls where they defeated South Dakota’s big school #1 Sioux Falls O’Gorman at the Sanford Pentagon.
MVP: Isaac Johnson. The Western Illinois signed wing scored 29 points who had three treys, made 14 of 16 foul shots, and finished the game with a dunk that sealed the 67-58 win. North, the small school number one in Minnesota and defending state champs, were without their point guard JaQuan Sanders-Smith but relied on Johnson to do even more than usual. Isaac did a nice defensive job on Matt Cartwright plus scored more than his share. His only issue was a high turnover count (7).
Offensive MVP: Ethan Freidel. Could go with either Freidel but Ethan had the better shooting game going 7 for 12 scoring his 16 points plus he moved the ball in a steady win, forced nothing all game, and was really good on the glass both ways. A veteran steady basketball game leading Tea Area to a 65-44 win over Roosevelt.
Defensive MVP: Joey Messler. Every time I see Messler play I feel like he is doing something different that stands out. Tonight his defense led to Knights transition baskets as he did a good job on some talented North guards and he forced a number of turnovers out of Johnson when he defended him.
Painted Dominance: John Prochello. The key factor for Dakota Valley’s 70-54 win over MVP tonight was Prochello controlling the paint. Every MVP miss was controlled by Big John, he had double digits in the paint by halftime, and opened the second half with two deep paint scores. A big double-double in the paint handling MVP their first loss of the season.
Painted Dominance 2: Odell Wilson IV. The North junior is nearly impossible to knock off balance and as the Polar/Knights game moved to the later stages tired defenders were moved easily and Wilson built up his stat line to 19 points in the paint along with 9 rebounds. Wilson would strong pivot to his dominant hand and the Knights didn’t have the strength to move him or get a good shot contest up.
Under the Radar Performance. Nasir El-Amin. Nasir is a relative of former Mpls North great Khalid El-Amin and he showed some of that compact toughness attacking for a dozen points today. With Sanders-Smith out Nasir did a great job stepping in to play lead guard plus he scored 12 points.
Best Prospect. Isaac Johnson, but maybe Noah Freidel. Isaac is headed to a D1 school in Western Illinois. Could somebody else top that today? Maybe AJ Plitzuweit but he was in the early session reported in the other article. Maybe Noah who is quite talented but not that athlete Isaac is. Tayler Johnson of North has a chance too. We give it to Isaac as he’s such an athlete and guarded top guys in EYBL although Noah’s skill could take him places, just not sure exactly what level because he’s so young.
Top Underclassmen. Noah Freidel. The Tea Area sophomore changed the game with his jumpshot making four in the second half plus finding ways to be a playmaker for himself, and for his teammates. After a fantastic spring/summer he finished off 2016 in a strong way. Made 6 of 14 shots for his 18 points plus boarded and had three assists but should have been credited for at least one more.
The Best Storyline Going Forward. Best Three Straight Days of Regular Season? It may just be. Fans in Sioux Falls and Mitchell put together some outstanding basketball events for fans in South Dakota and neighboring areas to come see. Some of the nations best players and talent were here plus the local squads got to mix it up in big games from all three classes of play. This wets the appetite for the rest of the season as everything builds up to March Madness. A great three days.
Other. Cody Muilenberg of MVP is a senior we like to watch compete. Had a couple runs today to keep his team close to Dakota Valley before they pulled away…Matt Cartwright had some stretches of good play that helped the Knights back into the contest. He was really good moving the ball for his six assists plus he scored 13 points….SF Roosevelt junior Jackson Reiff scored 13 points on a quality run. Reiff had defenders all over him as the game moved on but his 13 point run grabbed some attention.