Five (Player) Takeaways: Section 2AAAA Semis
Prior Lake High School (and the hall ways) hosted the Section 2AAAA semi-finals yesterday with Prep Hoops looking on live. Mr Inside & Mr Outside – Drake Dobbs and Ariel Bland. The confidence at which Drake Dobbs picked apart the…
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Continue ReadingPrior Lake High School (and the hall ways) hosted the Section 2AAAA semi-finals yesterday with Prep Hoops looking on live.
Mr Inside & Mr Outside – Drake Dobbs and Ariel Bland. The confidence at which Drake Dobbs picked apart the Edina guards in the second half to secure the victory was like the perfect dissection. First, time was moved from the clock from each Eden Prairie possession before the ball found it’s way to the junior point guard. In space Dobbs went right, he went left, he went right and left, and every time Drake was at the front of the rim to score or get fouled. Edina made a small run in the second half but then Dobbs scored a dozen points late to secure the victory. He made 6 of 11 shots for his 21 points (with 6 assists) but it was the mentality at which he put the game away that will stand with me.
So Mr Outside (Dobbs) attacked the rim for several half two scores. Does that mean Ariel Bland went to the perimeter? Somewhat. Bland used his lefty stroke to make a pair of threes and he had a nice crossover just outside the elbow getting to the rim. The rest of the baskets (for the most part) were dunks. Active movement to space leading to dunks for 20 points and nine rebounds (9 of 10 shooting).
The Defenders – Connor Christensen and Drew Edwards. Eden Prairie was fantastic defensively. They send several bodies at Jacob Hutson for every touch and the Eagles put together a fantastic gameplan for Jack Middleton. Connor Christensen had one of his best defensive performances of the year moving his feet with Jack and getting a quick hand to the ball. When Middleton did catch to shoot the length of Christensen was in the perfect spot. There was a time in the first half that Connor was stuck on a high screen but no problem, Drew Edwards anticipated the Middleton cut, communicated, and put together the perfect defensive help position. Moments later Edwards was in full denial responsibility on Middleton for about 12 straight game minutes and Drew did an outstanding job of limiting attempts. Middleton had one first half field goal and three for the game.
Brooks Allen. Brooks Allen is about a 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6 senior forward. Last week against Chaska he turned a donut on the scoreboard into eight or nine crucial late game points securing the Shakopee playoff win. Last night? Allen went straight at Robert Jones to score 20 points that included two very tough attacks that were scored off balance and completed over contesting arms. If this young man can score against Chaska and Prior Lake in crucial situations like he has in the playoffs I would say that he’s worth a pretty good look by area schools. He’s surely improved in a big way since I watched Shakopee vs Eastview and Prior Lake earlier in the year.
PL Size – Dawson Garcia and Robert Jones. Robert Jones spent a good part of last night being a go-to scorer and his three-pointer late in the game was one of the more crucial shots of the Prior Lake win over Shakopee. He scored 23 while Dawson Garcia had 21. Dawson scored around the basket down the stretch but last night his biggest contribution was another shut down performance of Shakopee leading scorer Charles Katona. Garcia’s ability to defend physically and get his feet in front of Katona was once again eye-opening and when you add the length Dawson has it makes a very tough night for a wing scorer.
Sam Nissen. Sam scored 13 but it was his two threes in the second half that two/three score game and made it a Prior Lake dozen point advantage. From those makes on the Lakers were in full control. It was the Arc Boost special formula that players like Sam can provide.
Youth! There were a few young guys that stepped on the floor that you should get to know for the future:
- Listed 6-foot-4 (but looks bigger) Brady Helgren has the look of a prospect. He played last as did fellow Edina frosh Sammy Presthus
- Ryan Warren is the 6-foot-2 Eden Prairie freshman that has competed on the JV this year