Ten Best: Hopkins vs Sioux Falls Washington
Sioux Falls Washington gave Hopkins a run before the Royals pulled ahead with an 87-73 victory. The Royals hits shots from all over the arc which gave them the edge. MVP: Anthony Davis. The Royals junior guard played one of…
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Continue ReadingSioux Falls Washington gave Hopkins a run before the Royals pulled ahead with an 87-73 victory. The Royals hits shots from all over the arc which gave them the edge.
MVP: Anthony Davis. The Royals junior guard played one of his best games of the year as their were some advancements of his game that we had not seen as consistently in the past. Anthony is always a high effort guy defending and slashing. His assists on Friday attacking at a high speed and then kicking out in transition or one dribble attacking the defense and then rotating or kicking out to a shooter was very impressive and led him to eight assists. Anthony also showed a pull-up three-pointer and a pull-up one dribble finish that looks a lot more comfortable than in the past. He had 18 points and eight assists.
Offensive MVP: Ishmael El-Amin. The Ball State signed player put up a game high 21 points knocking out five three-pointers plus dishing out five assists. Washington is a physically tough group but they had a serious problem getting back and getting in front of El-Amin to stop his advance. El-Amin pushed the pace and allowed Hopkins to get several quick looks in transition.
Defensive MVP. Logan Uttecht. Logan is a physically strong junior that was the strongest guard on the court. This was not a quality defensive game but Logan was the top rebounder muscling players for his nine boards and Logan did cut off a lot of angle from athletic Hopkins attacking guards. Many of the Hopkins scores were at the arc. Logan scored three times too.
Top 6th Man. Zach Heins. Heins came off the bench and played the most physical low post game of anybody on the court. The play that caught my eye was a strong board reaching back across his body and pulling the basketball out of the hands of a Hopkins player. That happened a couple times plus the rock solid Heins muscled his way to four second half scores, ten points and eight boards.
Top Underclassmen. Blaise Beauchamp. Hopkins freshman who has about as big of a green light as I’ve seen in big school high school basketball on a team like Hopkins. Blaise knocked down five threes fairly fast and took 40 percent of his team’s first 25 shots. This is a young scorer with range who is very confident in his touch.
Top Under the Radar Performance. Joseph Hedstrom. Hopkins did not have a very good game overall and at one point allowed Washington within three scores. Hedstrom worked his way into many second half post touches and Washington fouled him numerous times. Hedstrom made 9 of 10 free throws building his total to 13 points and seven rebounds.
Top MN prospect. Tough Call. Hopkins has two ten seniors in El-Amin or Simon Wright, a pair of top 10/12 area juniors Davis and Hedstrom, a top five sophomore in Zeke Nnaji, and Beauchamp who is a top ten frosh. Nnaji is likely the highest rated player in his respective grade but then again his class isn’t as deep as the other classes. Zeke is quite talented and Friday we saw him make a 16 foot jumper as well as a face-up attack. Zeke is coming off an injury so he’s not at full strength like he was earlier in the year when he was getting some double-doubles.
Top SD prospect. Jack Talley. We pick Jack here because he is signed with Jamestown and had three other NAIA offers to choose from before selecting the orange and black. Talley scored four times and had seven boards. The other prospects to watch would be Heins and Isaac Goeman who scored ten himself.
The Storyline Going Forward: Hopkins is 14-5 with seven games to go which is a game with all four Lake teams (EP, Tonka, Wayzata, Edina) plus games with number one ranked Minneapolis North, top ten Woodbury, and Annandale who has been top ten. Hopkins is 2-2 in conference play. Looking at their schedule it’s very possible that they lose a couple more games. For them to make the state run they want to that can’t happen.
Other: Topher Zahn. The Warrior junior guard hit four threes and forced Hopkins Coach Ken Novak Jr to call a timeout and change a couple things as Zahn was sprinting free off the ball to get his feet in position to catch and knock down scores.