The Race For Mr. Basketball – Finalists Named Today
At some point today the Mr. Basketball committee will name the five finalists. Selection of that five man team will not be easy, but NHR wants to update you on the most recent games of these ten players, a final impression if you will.
Favorite: Tre Jones, Apple Valley. The Mr. Basketball Favorite ended his regular season against in-district rival Eastview and had a big game of 27 points in 29 minutes making 12 of 22 field goal attempts. The future Duke standout, who was at Duke 24 hours after the Eagles win, also recorded nine rebounds, seven assists, and five steals. At 22-4 on the season the Eagles face Rosemount tomorrow night in the first round of the playoffs. Jones is playing for his third state title in four seasons.
Top Contenders: Daniel Oturu, CDH. The 18.5/12/6.5 guy from the Raiders had a big week before getting ready for the playoffs. Wednesday’s game against Stillwater means the Ponies have a red hot Oturu coming in against the team Oturu played for as an 8th grader. Oturu made 9 of 13 field goal attempts for his 21 points plus 16 rebounds and five blocks in limited time against Park and he had 15 points, a dozen boards, and six blocks in the loss to EP. Oturu hopes to lead his team to state for the second straight year.
Gabe Kalscheur, DeLaSalle. Gabe has been red hot to finish the season including putting up another 30 points against Columbia Heights in a 15 point win. The Islanders now enter March pushing for their seventh straight state title. Gabe has been on the team for three of them looking for a fourth. He’s upped his average three points per game in the last 3-4 weeks which is quite impressive considering it’s this late in the season.
Final Five. Owen King, Caledonia. Owen’s big game against Minnehaha Academy is still fresh in the minds of many. King has his team at 23-4 on the season after a playoff win over Chatfield where the Warrior bench spent most of the game relaxing and getting ready for tomorrow’s game with La Crescent. King is a 2,000 plus career scorer headed to SDSU and he’s working on his fourth trip to the state tournament as a Caledonia player.
Jarvis Omersa, Orono. Omersa and Orono head into their Wednesday game with Mound-Westonka with a 21-5 record. Orono just beat New Prague in a physical, slower affair the Spartans won 44-38. Jarvis had 15 points and 11 rebounds with five steals. The Spartans are healthy and have won 15 straight games. Omersa and Orono have DeLaSalle in their view hoping to get past them for the first trip to state for Jarvis and his teammates but coach Barry Wohler knows a lot about state which is of course the Orono goal.
Calvin Wishart, Delano. After his 27 point, 15 rebound, five assist game against Omersa in Orono two weeks back, Wishart followed that with 43 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists against Waconia, and then Wishart nearly had a quadruple-double against Hutchinson putting up 34 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, and eight steals. Wishart has surely turned up the performances for the Mr. Basketball committee since coming back from injury/illness.
Top Ten. Sy Chatman of CDH. Chatman put up 20 points on 7 of 13 field goals versus EP with five rebounds and then he did not play against Park of Cottage Grove in the final game. Matt Todd and Monticello lost top Rogers to end their regular season. It was the third Magic loss in a row and their 7th loss in 11 games. Todd had tough game from the floor against Rogers making 10 of 28 shots and one three scoring his 29. Odell Wilson of Minneapolis North scored 24 in North’s hammering of St. Paul Johnson in the Twin Cities title game. North is off until Saturday when they begin section playoff games. Michael Jones of Woodbury had 15 points in the Royals win over Stillwater and 18 on 7 of 17 shooting against Edina. The Royals face White Bear Lake this Wednesday, they are 15-11 heading into that game.