Friday Night Preview & Predictions
The Holidays are over, 2019 is here, and now conference play hits full swing. Some teams have hit their “Gonzaga stretch” while others are still engaging in heavyweight fights. Where are the top games? NHR breaks it down. North…
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Continue ReadingThe Holidays are over, 2019 is here, and now conference play hits full swing. Some teams have hit their “Gonzaga stretch” while others are still engaging in heavyweight fights. Where are the top games? NHR breaks it down.
North St. Paul at Eden Prairie
The Skinny: Damian Johnson, head coach of North St. Paul, was an assistant at Eden Prairie before heading to Polar country. Both teams have played DeLaSalle with the Polars winning on the Island but the Eagles falling to the Islanders. EP is 6-3, NSP is 5-3, Eagles are in an area where they likely need a nice win this evening.
Top Match-Up: Dajuan Carter vs Drake Dobbs. Dobbs surprised many yesterday and committed to division one Liberty, one of the few christian university schools at the D1 level. A quality program and a good fit for Dobbs so he made the call early. Dobbs is a junior that can play either guard spot which also describes Carter. Both are about 6-foot-1 guard with range.
Top Prospect to See: Drake Dobbs. The Eden Prairie leading scorer is putting up 19.3 points per game for a balanced line-up.
Prediction: This is a game the Eagles need. They just lost to Shakopee by a score and have both Minnehaha Academy and Wayzata coming up. I think the Eagles get the victory.
Totino-Grace at Spring Lake Park
The Skinny: A pair of two loss teams that are pretty much right down the street from one another. Both are in the same division of the Northwest Suburban and if they are to stay with Park Center in the conference race both teams can’t afford a second early season conference loss.
Top Match-Up: Eric Krieger vs Gabe Myren, Devin Burger vs Blake Remme. Both of these match-ups should be excellent for fans to observe. Kreiger and Myren are both 6-foot-2 with Eric scoring 21.4 a game while Myren handles several roles including his 13.5 points a contest. Burger and Remme are both 6-foot-5 wings scoring in that 15-17 a game range. Blake is a junior while Burger is a sophomore. Both are top 20 area prospects in their class.
Top Prospect to See: Blake Remme is a shooter for the Panthers that had a nice 16u season, helped his team off to a great start, and is looking like a player that many local D2s are going to be tailing very closely this winter and into the spring.
Prediction: Spring Lake Park caught some headlines this year with big wins over Eastview and Osseo in their win streak while Totino-Grace has handled their business beating a handful of good squads. This should be the best game of the night, T-G by one.
STMA at Minnetonka
The Skinny: Both teams are playing above expectations this season. STMA has only one loss while Tonka is 6-2 after being given up for dead when transfers left. A win here would really elevate both teams. Tonka is staying in that packed 2AAAA race while STMA is on top of the 8AAAA field.
Top Match-Up: Kale Hoselton vs Jackson Owens. I watched Jackson Owens totally take over a game in St. Cloud starting with his defense. He’s a big, physical kid at 6-foot-3 that can move. With Hoselton standing 6-foot-3 and scoring a team high 15 a game for STMA you can bet these two will run into each other often.
Top Prospect to See: Cameron Steele. The 6-foot-8 junior Skipper big is scoring 24.4 points a contest at the moment showing off that beautiful shooting touch and low post game. Great hands and feet with a soft touch.
Prediction: Haven’t seen STMA so it’s a tough call. I do know that between Steele and Gavin Patton they will big bigger than Austin Jentzen and Evan Wieker up front. STMA will need a big game from the guard duo of Judson Chea and Sean Buchanan.
Maple Grove at Armstrong
The Skinny: Minnesota, are you seeing this? Armstrong is 6-2 on the season that includes a 19 point win over Totino-Grace. Junior duo Jake Breitbach and Cole Priem have combined with senior Adam Biewen to lead the way with heady guard play. That’s why the Falcons playing Maple Grove should be so fun. The Crimson are also led by the heady guard play of Jared Rainey, Nate Adams, and Kyle Dreyer (a senior group).
Top Match-Up: Nate Adams vs Adam Biewen. By now you know that Adams is a future NDSU golfer who is leading the Crimson in scoring. Biewen can match Adams size wise plus Adam is likely more versatile although not as matured naturally.
Top Prospect to See: That looks to be Jared Rainey although the Falcon junior class has many good names. Rainey is scoring nearly 17 a game this winter so far.
Prediction: The Crimson know this one is important in the league and for section standings. The Falcons still want respect. I say Maple Grove by five.
Sartell at Apollo
The Skinny: Speaking of respect, here are two teams that really are looking for it. Sartell’s coach has let it be known that Thomas Gieske is a star in the St. Cloud area and he will get no argument from us. Sartell is 6-1 on the year with Gieske dunking his way to 28.5 points per game. The Eagles from Apollo play this game tonight (6-4 on the year) and then head to Perham tomorrow for a game with Tartan.
Top Match-Up: Gieske vs Deng Diew. Gieske will most likely have to go through the length of Deng Diew and Nasrudin Mohamed, and the toughness of forwards Clifton Patterson and Logan Johnson. Apollo will send Giekse through the gauntlet.
Top Prospect to See: As we wait and see what happens with the development of these Apollo juniors we say that right now Gieske is the top prospect in the game. Thomas is unsigned and looking better in all areas by the day.
Prediction: Looking at common opponents, Apollo beat Willmar, Sartell did not. Both beat Sauk Rapids-Rice and Alexandria in solid ways. Should be a close game, Sartell will be looking for a statement while Apollo knows they have a tough game Saturday and likely wants to travel with a win. We think they get it by three.
North Woods at Red Lake
The Skinny: This is a big game likely more in name than it will be on the court. Red Lake has been crushed by some good teams this year but they are still the home team, and they are Red Lake (6-4). North Woods suffered the loss to Cass Lake-Bena but has defeated Esko, Ely, Mayer Lutheran, and Lakeview Christian which is an impressive group of victories.
Top Match-Up: Keenen Swinson vs Trevor Morrison. Keenen has had some monster games for Red Lake including a couple 30 point outings. He plays forward as does Morrison who is the second best North Woods player. Morrison is three inches bigger.
Top Prospect to See: Cade Goggleye. One of the smoothest strokes in the state of Minnesota.
Prediction: North Woods by 29.
Breck at Lourdes
The Skinny: Don’t just look at Lourdes at 4-4 and put them in the “meh” category, this team has played a tough schedule pounding traditionally good programs from Goodhue, Pine Island, and Stewartville and took Ls against some of the better teams in the state. Now they get Breck
Top Match-Up: David Roddy vs Collin Meade. Collin is about 6-foot-5 and the one guy that Lourdes has that can try and body David Roddy, a nationally ranked top 200 player (headed to Colorado State).
Top Prospect to See: That’s Roddy of course. David is averaging 29.7 points and 16.2 boards a game.
Prediction: This could be a really good game. Roddy leads Breck to the two score win.