Section Scout: 3AAAA Semifinals
It was road trip night on Friday as I scoured the metro for some playoff games to see. Farmington High School provided some talent I hadn’t seen before with the section 3AAAA semifinal games: Apple Valley/Burnsville and Eastview/Rosemount. Let’s run through the games and their top performers.
Semifinal 1: #1 Apple Valley vs #4 Burnsville
Slow going early as Burnsville couldn’t match up with the Eagles and sat 2-3 zone all game. Blaze big men were doing work down low keeping them in the contest. That changed when Tre Jones snatched rebounds and pushed the pace in transition. AV jumped out to a 42-18 halftime lead, and cruised the rest of the way for an 80-60 victory.
Luke Martens (SG, 6-4, Jr., Apple Valley) – Martens is a versatile 2/3 that owns experience after being a starter on the great Eagles squad last year. He showed quick hops and rebounded well for a guard. He has good size at 6-4 and tallied nine points and six boards, including an alley-oop catch and dunk that sent me reeling.
Mason Morse (F, 6-2, Sr., Apple Valley) – He is not the most imposing or athletic frontcourt player out there, but Morse was in the right place at the right time all night and dumped in 12 points on layups. He was the main beneficiary of Tre Jones and capitalized efficiently in the post.
Mohamed Kone (G, 6-2, Sr., Apple Valley) – This guy has no off-switch. He never stops moving and making plays on defense, and you can tell he really enjoys playing the role of stopper while the rest of the Eagle lineup does the scoring. He leaked out on deflections and scored 11 points.
Tre Jones (PG, 6-2, Jr., Apple Valley) – As the spearhead of the Apple Valley offense, Jones attracts all eyes. Still, nobody can stop his effort to the rim. Tre’s loose, relaxed stance is a sign of his calm demeanor and ability to not be distracted. He’s going to do exactly what he wants, when he wants. 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists.
Abdijabar Mursal (C, 6-6, Sr., Burnsville) – Mursal is lanky but sneaky. He attacked his defender twice in the first minute for hoops. He was a rim protector as well, altering Eagle guards’ shots inside. He showed good vision when passing out of the post. 11 points and a couple assists for the senior.
Matt Baisch (SG, 6-0, Sr., Burnsville) – The sure-handed senior shooting guard showed great range on his three-point attempts, hitting all of them for nine points. Baisch definitely wanted to cap off his high school career with some makes, and though it ended in a loss, he played well as a scoring threat from the outside.
Marcus Shepley (G, 6-2, So., Burnsville) – I’d heard Shepley’s name get thrown around when the topic of Burnsville’s youthful roster came up, and knew he was a good shooter. What I didn’t know was that he can create that shot by himself. Shepley used a variety of spins and crossovers to get separation and score over defenders. He also came really close to throwing down a one-hander late. Watch out for him and the two other underclassmen in the Blaze rotation.
Semifinal 2: #2 Eastview vs. #3 Rosemount
The Lightning and Irish see each other a lot during the season, so this matchup was not in the category of unfamiliarity. It was the Jameson Bryan show in the first half, willing Eastview to a 28-17 lead at the break. Then the Lightning mysteriously stopped trying to score. Rosemount pounced, went on a 16-0 run to go ahead, and did just enough to win 60-55.
Jameson Bryan (PG, 5-10, Sr., Eastview) – Bryan was on fire the first 18 minutes, scoring 17 on several 3-pointers. It didn’t matter if his feet were set or not; if the ball was in his hands, he would make something good happen. Credit coach Paul Goetz on some great offensive sets to get him going quickly. He kept the Lightning right in it, finishing with 26 points in his last high school game.
Tate Machacek (F, 6-5, Fr., Eastview) – His composure was that of a senior. Big gym, loud crowd, Division I frontcourt opponents… none of it got to Tate Machacek. His role this season is to move the ball and score on open looks, but that will expand more and more as he grows and the years progress. North Dakota State assistant Will Veasley and Northern State assistant Zach Horstman were both in the building and I imagine they both had Tate’s name circled on their game programs.
Luke Loehr (F, 6-8, Sr., Rosemount) – Navy is getting some great recruits next year and Luke is one of them. He took over late after starting off pretty cold from the field and gave a 23-point, six rebound effort in pushing the Irish to the finish line and the victory. He and his brother Alec are both matchup nightmares.
Myka Edmond (PG, 6-0, Sr., Rosemount) – Edmond is calm, collected, and quick. His nine points and three assists proved critical in the balance of Irish scoring in the second half. He also had a tough first period shooting-wise, but kept putting pressure on the rim and undercommitting defenders. Edmond would be a great Division 3 fit.
Luke Siwek (G, 6-0, Jr., Rosemount) – The fearlessness of Siwek stood out to me in this game on Friday. He kept shooting his shot even when he was slumping in the opening minutes, and I thought he played really hard on defense against bigger opponents. Great fight from Siwek who also added eight points offensively.
–Apple Valley and Rosemount face off in the section 3AAAA championship game on Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m.