Summer State: Class A Thoughts
Cedar Mountain/Comfrey came to the Breakdown State Summer Tournament and put the state on notice last Sunday.
Cedar Mountain Comfrey (1). A nine point win over Spring Grove, a one point win over Mayer Lutheran, and a convincing win over North Woods said that right now this summer the Cougars are the best Class A team in state not named Springfield (who wasn’t there). We all remember the big rebound game from Wambde Diaz this summer but this weekend he showed Minnesota that he’s more than that one night flash in the pan. This young man can handle, he can attack, and he can shoot the ball. Dylan Hillesheim was also outstanding with some big scoring games and some clutch scoring runs. The Cougars are for real and they have a 1-2 punch in Diaz and Dylan that is going to win them a lot of games.
North Woods (2). I think we left the weekend with more North Woods questions than answers. One thing is for certain and that’s the level of team place from last year’s Class A runner-up. This is a skilled group of players that play excellent team basketball on both ends. That level of team ball led to good wins over Lester Prairie and Cass Lake-Bena. Cade Googleye is one of the elite shooters in outstate basketball and all of Class A. Cade put up good numbers all weekend as did Tate Olson. But is North Woods a preseason number one and a state title contender? Yes but there are concerns. This isn’t a big team nor an overly athletic team and the Cougars showed that. Preseason top three for sure and they return most of their team from last year.
Mayer Lutheran (3). The Crusaders have what it takes to win a state title next year. They are not the favorites but they have skill players, size, and athletes not to mention they will now be experienced. The only loss was a one point loss to the weekend champs. Cole Hagen and Kobey Woolhouse are the senior backcourt leaders and Woolhouse had a nice weekend scoring the ball. Baden Noenning is a prospect to know as a skilled wing who can handle plus play both wing spots. Then you have Garrett Tjernagel who will be a 6-foot-6 long and active senior up front. The pieces are there for a big 2017-18.
Cass Lake-Bena (4). By the end of next year all the new pieces that were at this event will be playing Panther basketball and playing for the state tournament. Many guys are in new roles but they are talented players which is why they beat Cleveland. That said they still are new in a lot of areas. They will eventually be a top ten team and a state contender.
Spring Grove. (5). It was nice to see Ethan Matzke back healthy again. Many people asked “why didn’t Spring Grove make the run they were expected to last year” and the answer to that would be Ethan’s injury that resulted in him missing last year. Ethan isn’t 100 percent yet but he played well this weekend in leading Spring Grove over McGregor and Cleveland. Watch Alex Folz at guard too, nice player.
Cleveland (6). Lost to Cass Lake and Spring Grove but hammered Lester Prairie. Another 20 win season is for certain and up front they will fill the loss of Jaiden Zishka with a team of frontcourt battlers like Evan Koppleman. Carter Kopet leads the way.
Lester Prairie (7). The Bulldogs had their top dog in Michael Ziermann but were missing their two most athletic players for most of the weekend plus another of their top five. Ziermann was able to give them solid point production but it was tough against North Woods and Cleveland without their depth. LP did take out McGregor in the last game.
McGregor (8). The team struggled but Carson Passer is every bit the shooter that we were expected. He had 31 in the first game alone hitting six threes! The kid can shoot and will put up huge numbers.