Five Takeaways: Mankato East 75 Rochester JM 63
Mankato East made a major statement Thursday night with a important Big Nine Conference win over defending champion Rochester JM. For East it was a team effort in front of a hometown crowd.
One. East is a Legit AAA Contender. With talent in their line-up Mankato East went 14-14 last year falling below the expectations many had for them. Because of that there has been hesitation when it comes to proclaiming them a state title contender. The talent is definitely there for the Cougars to be a contender and the 8-0 start was a good indicator that this could be a big year. The Cougar opening win over Waseca was also a good indicator but the wins that followed were over the majority of the bottom half of the Big Nine. Last night East started a stretch of games that goes: JM, Orono, Austin, Albert Lea, Marshall, and Northfield. That is how this team is going to be judged and after last night the Cougars are off to a great start. They are currently ranked sixth in the state but have games coming up against three teams ranked above them (Orono, Austin, and Marshall). Is East a top two or three team? They will get a chance to prove it in the next five days and they are off to a good start. The Cougars will not be sneaking up on anyone though as last night’s win over JM has made them the hunted. With Orono at 6-3 the Spartans can’t afford another loss to a top Class AAA team so tomorrow’s Kato East/Orono game should be outstanding.
Mankato East is in as good of shape to make a run as anybody. They have a steady poised point guard in Jax Madson who knocked out three three-pointers, scored 15 points, and moved the ball with precision. Up front the Cougars have as physical and active of a long armed defender as just about anyone in Uhana Ochan who had a late game dunk that punctuated his twelve point night. On the wing seniors Kong Kong and Edmon Oyet do a lot of slashing, rebounding, and all around active play. Both hit threes and made foul shots but their simple activity in putting up numbers (Oyet had 19 points and ten rebounds, Kong had 12 points and 8 rebounds) was a monster factor. Then there was Damani Hayes who worked so hard to make Matthew Hurt shoot over the top of him all game long plus Hayes had 15 points and eight boards in a big performance. All in all it was an excellent team performance and the East Cougars look quite dangerous.
Two. Damani. Last night St. Johns had three coaches watching Damani Hayes and talking with him after the game. Their effort to get the young man is obviously strong and if Hayes lands at a top D3 school I say that is a steal. We at NHR have been raving about Damani as a defender after watching many of his 17u games with D1 Minnesota Rise and Grassroots Minnesota from April to July. His defense, size and agility in a 6-foot-5 frame, and improved jumper off a dribble is what really has stood out to us (tough night from the field last night though at 2 of 13). Last night he once again was physical with an excellent player and moved his feet to make sure that player (Hurt) had to shoot over the top of him all game. Hayes did maybe the best job a guy can do on Matthew Hurt who is the toughest player to guard in the state of Minnesota in my opinion (he or Tre Jones right now but Hurt has the extreme length that makes it so tough). Add in that Hayes made 11 of 12 foul shots on his way to 15 points and grabbed eight boards but never forced his offense and you had an MVP performance for the night.
Three. The Rockets. This is a great win for Mankato East and there is no questioning that. But it’s only fair to mention that Rochester JM was without their second best player Eric Stai who was home with the flu. JM is still developing players around Matthew Hurt after losing three guys to college basketball last year so the loss of Eric Stai (averaging close to a double-double) really stung the Rockets. With Eric Stai this is a top ten Class AAAA team that has beaten Lakeville South, East Ridge, Armstrong, and Osseo (who is about to be top ten after their win over Park Center this week) so despite the loss to the Cougars, JM is still a top ten Class AAAA team. Junior Montrae Hiatt hitting four threes and scoring 14 points, senior Solomon Antione handling the ball better than I thought he could and scoring nine on seven shots, and junior Simon Werven actively scoring in double figures showed that JM is getting better. If you add Eric Stai to the mix this JM team is a tough beat. But if you take Eric away for a game a team can send a second defender at Hurt along with a guy like Hayes and there wasn’t a senior like Eric Stai around to consistently make East pay for doubling. Eric being absent doesn’t take away from the East win at all, they were excellent. But it was a factor in how JM had to play differently.
Four. Edmon is the X-Factor. Jax Madson is a player we will continue to talk about in the future as an excellent lead guard (he, Jordan Merseth, and Joich Gong make up a sophomore group to be excited about) and Kong Kong providing what he did was huge. That said, the growing game of Edmon Oyet really has helped this team take it’s play to another level. Edmon is one of the best rebounders in the state from the shooting guard/wing position as he’s a nightmare to deal with on the offensive glass. With ten rebounds he led his team in boards and last year grabbed 6.5 rebounds a game. What has really grown is Edmon’s confidence and range in his shooting touch. Oyet shot 6 of 11 from the floor and 6 of 10 from the foul line with a three included in his shooting numbers. That growth right there in his game is something to take not of going forward as a prospect and when it comes to the East squad it’s a new dimension that must be defended. Teams have to play their big on Ochan and keep him off the glass, they have to have a hand in Madson’s face and a top defender must be on Hayes to limit him. With Oyet being such a slashing concern, a concern on the o-glass, and now he’s hitting some jumpers, having a defender stepping away from help to focus on Oyet is yet another issue.
Five. Mr. Hurt. Matthew Hurt scored his 30 points on 10 of 24 shooting from the floor and 9 of 11 shooting from the foul line. Add in 14 rebounds and it was another big number game for the five star JM junior. Matthew had to deal with Hayes being physical on him all night plus with Stai back in Rochester the Cougars were able to take another defender and shade him Matthew’s way all night (they likely would have done this with or without Stai there I would assume). Every time Hurt touched the ball on the block or whenever he took a dribble to the rim there were two guys directly in his path. And this isn’t your ordinary high school team, East is very long at every position and most of their guys are agile athletic kids. Matthew had to shoot over four arms all game and the officials were not very consistent either way in what they allowed for contact so Hurt was hit quite often. Even through all that attention Matt was still able to contort his body to balance as well as get his feet right to often take a balanced shot. The shooting numbers were lower because Matthew had an off night shooting from behind the arc but around the basket the way he was able to get through all the limbs in front of him still amazed me. Again, the shooting touch, body control, footwork, and the ball handling skills in a player that is 6-foot-9 is so incredibly rare.