Tip Off Classic: The Afternoon Session
At Saturday’s Breakdown Tip Off Classic you better have a good seat picked out by the time the afternoon games get tipped off. Some of the state’s best will be competing at all levels of Minnesota hoops. MAIN COURT…
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Continue ReadingAt Saturday’s Breakdown Tip Off Classic you better have a good seat picked out by the time the afternoon games get tipped off. Some of the state’s best will be competing at all levels of Minnesota hoops.
MAIN COURT
3:45pm. Rochester JM vs Hopkins
The Storyline: The defending champions take on the Rockets with five star Matthew Hurt. The Rockets struggled with the depth of Champlin Park, now they face a similar Hopkins team.
Match-Up: Matthew Hurt vs Simon Wright/Zeke Nnaji. Champlin Park threw two and three guys at Hurt last weekend, this weekend Hurt will likely deal with Wright, a top ten senior signed with Elon, and Nnaji who will have something to prove against another top 2019 player.
Notes. The Rockets were beaten badly by Champlin Park in the opener and now have to play Hopkins meaning they are getting the top two teams in the state immediately. They do face area rival Rochester Mayo the nigh before. Things don’t slow down either as recent rival Red Wing is the next JM opponent….The Rockets got 24 from Matthew Hurt despite double and triple teams. Dedoch Chan had a solid 16 and Isaiah Walden 15 versus CP although much of that was late…The Royals beat Cedar Falls a weekend ago and took out Columbia Heights by 32 two days ago…Ball State signed Ishmael El-Amin scored 32 in his first game of the year, Elon signed Simon Wright had 16/11, sophomore Zeke Nnaji had 12/11 in his first varsity game, and Anthony Davis scored ten (although the Hub listed him as Curtis Davis with 10)…
5:30pm. Lakeville North vs Cretin-Derham Hall
The Storyline: Two of the best teams in Class AAAA with #4 ranked Lakeville North and #6 ranked Cretin-Derham Hall. The Panthers have a load of talented seniors, CDH has a fantastic group of juniors.
Match-Up: Daniel Oturo vs Nathan Reuvers. Reuvers is a top 100 senior big nationally, Oturo is a top 50-75 junior big nationally. Reuvers is headed to Wisconsin, Oturo is getting the type of offers that makes you think he can just about pick his school in twelve months.
Notes: The Panthers beat the Rochester Century Panthers 109-50 in the opener and it could have been much worse if North didn’t play their entire bench so early. Wisconsin bound Nathan Reuvers scored a game high 22. North had a dozen different guys score multiple baskets in that game with eight guys scoring between 7-9 points…Ethan Igbanugo, Tyler Wahl, and Trevor Schermann are among the key supporting players with Reuvers…The CDH Raiders opened their year with a dominating 67-33 win over St. Paul Central. In that win headliners Daniel Oturo and Braham transfer Ryan Larson scored 13 and 9 respectively but the thing that caught eyes was the 15 from DeLaSalle transfer Sy Chatman and 12 from sophomore Jaedan King. When you add in Jake Prince, Griffin Gamble, and Woodbury transfer Michael Carter you have an extremely talented group…
EAST COURT
3:15pm. Fergus Falls vs Orono
The Storyline: Two top five teams in Class AAA with Orono being #5, Fergus Falls at #4 go head to head.
Match-Up: Jarvis Thomas vs Matthew Monke. The frontcourt match-up of Monke and Thomas matches similar sized guys in height and length although Thomas is much thicker and has a lot more bounce. Thomas is coming off a four point game against Minnehaha Academy so he has something to prove.
Notes: The Otters, who finished second in state last year, beat Breckenridge by 28 in the opener and then their game with St. Cloud Tech was weather postponed on Tuesday…Noah Christensen had a double-double in the first game plus the Otters, who are an excellent three-point shooting team, made 11 treys. Elijah Colbeck and Nathan Rund each made three treys and Rund had a game high 16 points. Rund was named Class AAA all state last season…Mound Westonka transfer Griffen Sage scored a strong 25 against Minnehaha Academy while up and comer Max Bjorklund had 23. The Spartans lost that game but beat Monticello in the opener although there have been no stats turned in from that game. Tartan transfer Jarvis Thomas has five high major scholarship offers and is now the man inside for a much more athletic Orono team. Colton Codute is a solid lead guard and Jack Anderson is another frontcourt recruitable Spartan player.
4:45pm. Esko vs Caledonia
The Storyline: A pair of top ten Class AA teams that are regular state tournament squads from opposite ends of the state. Great support, excellent talent (two top ten junior prospects), traditional Class AA powers.
Match-Up: Owen King vs Adam Trapp. No Trapp and King will not be matching-up inside or on the perimeter. But which will control the game? Will SDSU committed Owen King push pace, force Esko to play uptempo? Will Trapp dominate the middle and allow Esko to play their style of physical halfcourt hoops?
Notes: Caledonia is really pumping up their schedule this year with games against Esko, Austin, Simley, GET (WI), Minnehaha Academy, Wauwatosa West, Minneapolis North, and of course the Rushford-Peterson pair is regular. They already beat Crestwood from Iowa led by four guys in double figures: Owen King made 6 of 11 shots for 15 points, Marten Morem and Noah King had 14, and Noah Kearney had 10 points. Guard Andrew Goergen had 6p/5r/5a/5s for an all around performance…Caledonia has their first game of the year with the RP Trojans tonight…By Saturday Esko will have played more games than anybody. They crushed Hermantown by 46, hammered Duluth Denfeld by 31, and beat Superior by 22. Adam Trapp had 25 in the opener and he’s getting big scoring help from Quinn Fischer and Ryan Pantsar as expected…