Community Clash Preview
Hopkins will once again be the place to be Saturday as teams from all over the state will descend upon the Lindbergh Center for a full day of hoops. The Community Clash will feature boys and girls games full of…
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Continue ReadingHopkins will once again be the place to be Saturday as teams from all over the state will descend upon the Lindbergh Center for a full day of hoops.
The Community Clash will feature boys and girls games full of top-notch individual and collective talent starting at 11 a.m. and running throughout the day.
Here are some things to watch on the boys side:
High-enders in the afternoon
The two games with the most high-octane talent are back-to-back in the afternoon as Hopkins takes on Woodbury starting at 2:15 and is followed by Cretin-Derham Hall taking on Iowa City West.
Hopkins trots out a pair of Division I signees in Ismael El-Amin and Simon Wright as well as top-notch prospects including Blaise Beauchamp, Anthony Davis and Zeke Nnaji. Woodbury’s go-to guy is junior swingman Michael Jones, who is averaging nearly 26 points per game and has been one of the big risers during the high school season.
Cretin-Derham Hall’s got future Gopher Daniel Oturu, who averages 20 points and 17 rebounds (to go along with a bunch of blocks). He’s got plenty of help as Ryan Larson (13 points, 7.5 assists) and Jake Prince are two excellent juniors. Iowa City West is the top-rated team in Class 4A and counters with future Iowa Hawkeye Connor McCaffery (a top 150 prospect in the 2017 class) and Devontae Lane (top-three player in Iowa’s 2017 class).
Surprise teams on display
The first game of the day features two teams that have fared better than some may have expected as Park Center takes on Owatonna.
The Pirates sport terrific wins over teams like Maple Grove, CDH and Totino-Grace but went through a stretch that saw them lose four games in a row (to excellent teams). It seems as though they’ve righted the ship (no…actually yeah, pun intended) heading towards the end of the season and a matchup with the Huskies might be their biggest test until sections.
Owatonna ended last week getting waxed by Rochester John Marshall but rebounded with wins over Red Wing and Rochester Mayo and seems to have separated itself from the second tier in the Big 9 as the clear third best team in the conference.
The matchups to watch will be in the backcourt as Losini Kamara and Jarius Cook go head-to-head with Jay Sullivan and high-scoring junior Dalton Kubista.
One of the biggest surprises in Class AAAA has undoubtedly been New Prague. With just three losses on the year, the Trojans are pushing for the No. 2 seed in Section 1AAAA and haven’t shown any signs of slowing down. Zach Hanson is their go-to guy down low and Jared and Jacob Milinkovic average 21 points combined. The Trojans will face a Minnetonka team that’s been hanging around .500 all year and can counter with a good frontline of its own with Burt Hedstrom and Matt Haas.
Another team that has surprised this year has been the Shakopee Sabres. With just three wins on the year the Sabres have struggled mightily.
A big reason for that is the team’s collective youth. With three freshman in the rotation, the Sabres have one of the youngest teams in AAAA. Jake Kutina is the old soul on the team and he’s had a good year. And watch out for Charles Katona, one of those good freshmen. The Sabres play Pequot Lakes in the late game Saturday.
The Patriots are 12-9 on the year and have three all-conference type players in Cody Huss, Zach Sjoblad and Gage Westlund. A win over a Class AAAA team would do that group wonders in an effort to retain a top-four seed in their section tournament.
Potential state tournament teams
Chaska went into the year considered one of the favorites to emerge from Section 2AAAA and get to the state tournament. Forest Lake was a team considered at least in the mix to come out of Section 7AAAA. Both teams currently stand a good shot to get through their sections and they’ll be on display Saturday.
Forest Lake plays against Moorhead, a team with just three wins on the season. The Rangers are still in the mix for the No. 1 seed in their section, so they need to rack up wins when they have the opportunities. The one-two punch of Jake Larson and Mitch Jerde has been outstanding.
The Hawks seem to be peaking at the right time of year as they’ve been terrific since the calendar turned to 2017. Myles Hanson is as good as it gets and fills up the stat sheet in just about all facets of the game. Alex Strazzanti is a good glue guy and Andrew Kallman gives them a third reliable scorer. Cole Nicholson is a player to watch in the future. The sophomore forward is averaging 12 points per game.
Asaba Chomilo and Cody Mattson are the go-to guys for STMA, a team that’s hung around .500 all year.
Here is the full schedule for the day:
11 a.m. — Park Center vs. Owatonna
12 p.m. — Moorhead vs. Forest Lake
2:15 p.m. — Hopkins vs. Woodbury
3:15 p.m. — New Prague vs. Minnetonka
3:45 p.m. — Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Iowa City West
6:30 p.m. — Chaska vs. St. Michael-Albertville
7 p.m. — Shakopee vs. Pequot Lakes