NHR State Tournament: 17u Saturday
The NHR State Tournament went as planned at the 17U level with Powerhouse MN, WOTN, Select Ohnstad, and 43 Hoops earning spots in the semi-finals. Here is the NHR Best of the Best.
A Model of Consistency. CJ Dickson has played a lot of basketball for DeLaSalle the last couple years and most of it was next to Goanar Mar and Gabe Kalscheur so points haven’t been needed in high volumes. Dickson has given the Islanders rebounding, defense, and high percentage finishing around the rim on his 5-6 shots a game. Dickson does all of that for Select, but even more of it. That, and Dickson has found consistent range with his jumper. NHR has seen several Select games this year and nearly every game Dickson has hit multiple threes, including the three he hit today vs the Southwest MN Stars.
Cire Mayfield and Garett Maag were other standouts for Select. Early in the game Mayfield threw a pass off the backboard for Maag who threw the dunk down with two hands. It was one of six assists that Mayfield dished out with his excellent vision and it was the best example of the physical gifts of 6-foot-5 small forward Garrett Maag. Cire totaled ten points with his six assists while Maag had 11 points and five boards.
More Boerhave. Kyle Boerhave is a 6-foot-5/6-foot-6 Southwest MN Stars forward prospect from Sheldon, Iowa. If asked to name five impressive things about him it would go like this: 1) he always produces, a model of consistency, 2) a pretty jumper that has range (made three treys against Select), 3) competes hard in the paint (seven boards) battling for space, boards, and touched in finishes, 4) scores in many ways (26 points), 5) great size for a wing as Kyle is at least 6-foot-5 with the skills to play the three and the work habits to defend a three. Select controlled the game with the Stars but Kyle kept them in it for much of the game. Impressive player every time we see him compete.
Young Kettner. Six-foot-3 Jake Kettner from D1 Minnesota Rise and Minnesota Valley Lutheran is forcing his way into discussion of top 2019 shooters as well as top Class A players. Weekend after weekend playing up a level Jake continues to hit shots including the four threes against Comets Servaty as well as all the foul shots down the stretch (had 20). Does a great job of moving off the ball to the wing behind the defense and he hits on reversals with a solid release before the defense reacts. Good size too as a shooting guard.
Kettner wasn’t the only D1 Rise wing producing. Spring Tune Up standout Bjorn Knutson put up a quick 11 kicking the game off with a three and then attacking physically to release on the move. Bjorn produced in half one while Damani Hayes scored two early treys. His biggest scores were And1s catching on the wing and finishing with finger rolls over contesting arms late in the game. He gave Rise 14 points.
In defeat Gavin Bates was that all out hustling worker chasing down long boards and loose balls. His effort is non stop and he will fight anybody for the ball, Shaq sized or Spud height, it don’t matter. Bates had a dozen as did 6-foot-9 Justin Balcome. Balcome had a tough shooting game but made a pair of threes and grabbed enough boards for a double-double. Jordan Belka collected 11 boards and we love how he plays giving the team numbers everywhere. If there is a guy who is physically NSIC ready as a worker and trusted player this is it.
Mr. Wendell. 43 Hoops and Rip City played a close game. 43 won by seven and for the most part the match-ups were even and a similar game was played both ways. There was just one major difference, 6-foot-6 power forward Wendell Matthews. Matthews runs better than most of the guards on the floor and is quicker off his feet than most as well. Add in the ridiculous length and his 78 inches of height and you get 22 game changing points. Of course a player has to work hard to get that as well but Matthews has no problems there. He also moves is feet well laterally so when matched up with smaller quick players his length and positioning stopped them as well.
Magic are 20+ Game Winners Already. Minnesota Magic has a center in Michael Sathoff that is every bit of 6-foot-9 and every bit a true center. The Mankato West big is also left handed which seems to throw other bigs off for the first three touches. Michael has strong post moves and when he turns his shoulder on balance he usually completes. The length and size is there and so is the number production. Centers are not the commodity they were years back but if teams need one go watch Michael and the Magic play.
Bethany Lutheran committed Alex Preston also continues to play with the Magic. The recently graduated Prior Lake guard is 6-foot-3 and has played both guard spots for the Magic and doing it well. Has a three point touch that must be defended.
Go Byron Go. Select Leafblad took the loss but Byron Binham was the most unstoppable player on the floor. With head of steam nobody ono the Magic could get in front of him nor could they contest his attempts and get an actual quality hand in his face. Binham is extremely quick and strong so he got to the basket for three different And1s. The jumper looked good too so he had 17 in the Select defeat.