Section 2A Double Header: Ten Thoughts
BOLD and Mayer Lutheran moved on at St. Peter High School last night by defeating New Ulm Cathedral and Cleveland, respectively. Here are our quick thoughts, ten of them based on observations last evening.
- Mayer Luthern’s frontcourt combination of three can be matched by few in the state. At 6-foot-6 both Baden Noennig and Garrett Tjernagel are agile and tough to keep in front. Trying to zone them and force shooters to beat them makes sense, but once the ball is entered to the high post on a zone the Crusaders have you. These two were 16 of 20 from the field and the majority of those shots were from five feet and in. The ball movement from them, and to them, was outstanding and these two prospects finished above the rim. Then you add in Kobey Woolhouse and his 22 points making shots with feet set at the arc, slashing to the rim with the dribble, and moving off the ball, and most don’t have the bodies to deal with it.
- BOLD has a chance versus Mayer Lutheran because they are one of the rare teams that have a guy who is agile and with size, and that of course is Carter Henry. Carter had 17 points and 10 rebounds last night in the BOLD win over New Ulm Cathedral. Carter had the agility, length, and frame to keep in front of Baden and Garrett plus BOLD has the better guards in the BOLD vs ML match-up. But Mayer Lutheran is deeper up front with Kobey, Baden, and Garrett.
- Gavin Vosika shot 10 of 15 from the floor, he scored 23 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists, and I felt like he’s got more to him. The feel of Vosika is special, and unique. His ability to dribble separate into space and calmly make a beautiful shot is rare for a player his age plus Gavin’s ability to move the ball through a defense to create a high percentage shot is high level.
- The wild thing about BOLD (22-6) is that they are so young. Two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshman make up their top six (with a pair of seniors coming from the deep bench). Teams can’t overlook BOLD because of their youth though, Gavin and Carter are major difference makers but there is more.
- Freshman Drew Sagedahl, who is about 5-foot-8 max, was hitting shots from several feet behind the arc pushing him to 14 points while brother Jordan Sagedahl did some of everything with his 11 points, seven boards, and four assists. Brothers with a great feel for the game who move off of Vosika well.
- Let’s not forget Matthew Moorse. Moore had a dozen points including a pair of threes but it was his defense at the top of the zone that really caught my eye. He seemed to be running a constant shuttle run going back and forth with the guards and he did it successfully.
- Mayer Lutheran’s guards won’t just lie down. Guys like Matt Menth and Brendan Carlson play their role and Cole Hagen is back from injury although he doesn’t seem to have his feel and full wind back yet. The Crusaders have a group of guards that compete hard and play within their role.
- Carter Kopet will make for a really nice quarterback when he regains his full mobility. He’s already an MVP as well as a MIAC level basketball player right now, and he’s still coming back from last year’s ACL that for the time being took away some of that mobility. An honorable player that scored 26 points on 12 of 19 shooting plus seven boards and six rebounds. Kopet is going to have a fine college career but at the moment he’s made himself a Cleveland legend in a couple sports.
- I like the feisty style of Austin Plonsky. A player that can shoot from the arc plus slash for his 20. The Cleveland wing is a battler that will wrestle for boards, wants to take the big shot, and works for his numbers. A guy I could see playing in the UMAC.
- New Ulm Cathedral had a great year. What a turnaround from December when things were not going smooth. Sophomore guard James Gillies is going to be a strong leader for them the next two years while Alex Hillesheim put up 15/8 as a wing battler and Jon Zinniel is a quality forward with two years left.
***Photo of Carter Henry from twitter looks like it was taken from Curt Hogg from the Tribune although that may not be 100 percent accurate.