NHR State: Friday Night Standouts
For a portion of the participants the Northstar Hoops Report State Tournament kicked off Friday night highlighted by some amazing performances, starting with Eden Prairie’s Miles Frisch. Frisch for 44, Select Brown Earns Huge Win Six-foot-1 Eden Prairie guard Miles…
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Continue ReadingFor a portion of the participants the Northstar Hoops Report State Tournament kicked off Friday night highlighted by some amazing performances, starting with Eden Prairie’s Miles Frisch.
Frisch for 44, Select Brown Earns Huge Win
Six-foot-1 Eden Prairie guard Miles Frisch played junior varsity for Eden Prairie until January 17th of this year. Minnesota Select Brown is often considered the third team in the Select 17s program and I believe they won just over 27 percent of their games last year.
Friday night Minnesota Select Brown was matched up with the top Wear Out the Net team – a squad that is a part of the SPTS program – in the first round of the state tournament and put together one of the most memorable nights of the spring basketball season. Select Brown knocked off Wear Out the Net 80-71 and Miles Frisch hung a 44 on the board by his name. It was a night to remember…
On January 15th Miles scored the first varsity basketball points of his life in an 80-51 win over New Prague. It was his second varsity game played despite being his junior year. Around this time Austin Andrews was sidelined with an injury and fellow 2020 John Henry joined him opening up about 60 minutes of time in the EP line-up. In stepped Miles Frisch. Miles had eight points in his first action within the varsity rotation in a key win over Champin Park.
Frisch then saved his best for the Minnetonka Skippers. Miles knocked out six of eight threes and 8 of 13 shots for 24 points against the Skippers followed by 17 more points against Tonka three weeks later. By the end of the regular season Frisch had played in a dozen regular season games and was scoring 9.2 points per game! Miles entered the state tournament hitting on 40 percent of his varsity threes.
Miles then joined Select Brown – Coached by St. Mary’s University assistant Kyle Brown – and the numbers at times have been eye-popping. Seven threes made and 24 points in a crushing of Minnesota Slam, eight threes beating CRCTB, seven threes and 25 points being ECI Select, seven treys and 25 points beating Comets Bengal, and six treys (22 points) against one of the quality teams from OSA in Omaha. Frisch has been a number producer all year but last night he was on a different level, in a bigger game.
WOTN has struggled this year, I think that’s clear with an 8-15 record coming into NHR State. That said, WOTN has a nice collection of players and was a heavy favorite to defeat Select Brown, until Frisch knocked out three threes in the first three minutes of the game. Next thing you know Miles had eight treys made at the half and WOTN was face guarding Frisch fighting hard over the top of screens to avoid even a Miles Frisch catch. Last night, even a catch was dangerous….
Miles has one of the fastest releases I have ever seen on a jumpshot. In fact I challenge you to find one that’s quicker! If Frisch gets his feet under him on balance it didn’t matter if he was wearing a WOTN straitjacket, if the feet were set for a balanced lift, that shot was going in. What was even more impressive was that Miles not only hit shots to build the lead, after WOTN closed within one score of Select Brown, Miles made sure his team wouldn’t lose. Frisch scored on four of his last five shots at the arc and closed the game with four foul shot makes.
In all, the rapid firing quick release of Miles Frisch netted 44 points on a dozen three-point makes, 14 of 25 shooting in all with four of four foul shots made. He also grabbed five rebounds and totaled a team high three assists! The shooting touch of Miles Frisch, something to remember.
Mason KlettBig win for Select Brown over WOTN.
This was more than just Miles Frisch. Coach Kyle Brown can be credited for helping open Miles after WOTN tried to lock him up with constant denial and over helping. And let’s not forget about Robert Riley – a 6-foot-3 guard from Roseville – and Mason Klett – a 6-foot-5 post from Apple Valley. Klett hit three shots at the arc himself making half of his eight field goals and five foul shots for a 16 point game in support of Frisch. And Riley scored ten point with five boards. Robert did a nice job of defending with energy, setting screens, and pushing the pace in transition as well.
For WOTN it was a tough loss but there were several noteworthy performances with the 6-foot-5/6-foot-6 power forwards leading the way. Connor Schwob of Waconia showed some range making a pair of shots at the arc and 8 of 11 shots total for a 19 point, 9 rebound game that on most nights would have him in the headlines. Schwob was efficient, was one of the WOTN players that competed with a controlled edge, and the numerous D3 coaches watching (Hamline, St. Olaf, St. Mary’s, UW-Superior, UW-River Falls, others) all took note of what they saw.
Collin Meade played a solid game for WOTN scoring 15 points with seven boards including two dunks and a trey.
Ressler vs Garcia
The best individual match-up of the night was 6-foot-3 wing Xavier Garcia of St. Croix Lutheran/Minnesota Heat Bohrer 16s versus 6-foot-2 Trystan Ressler of Crossfire Stone/Lakeville South. Garcia scored 11 points a game as a sophomore this year for the Crusaders while Ressler was a junior varsity and part time varsity contributor for the Cougars. When I let for the other gym Garcia and Ressler were going head to head with 19 points each in a fun battle.
Both Garcia and Ressler scored a majority of their points with a quick transition push or an individual attack. For Ressler it was a quick first step recognition a bad defensive help position or a shift in his defender’s balance leading to an attack the rim for points. Garcia’s totals were more about making touched in shots over contesting arms despite solid defensive position. Both players looked like top 50 level talents in their grade in this contest.
Crossfire Stone was the 65-51 winner as they had more depth to their team. Santi Phommahaxay was the intense tone setter with the ball, Brett Engelmeyer knocked out shots at the arc, and Reagan Koch supported Ressler often times as the Crossfire’s other dangerous scoring option.
Caleb HoilienCrossfire 17s – Caleb Hoilien Double-Double
The Crossfire Slagter 17s were down nearly the entire game with Midwest Magic but a Charlie Neuenschwander (of Hudson, WI) game winner put them over at 67-65 with seven seconds to go. Charlie scored 17 points on 8 of 10 shooting while Max Lawrence created much of the space on the floor for his 16 points on 7 of 12 shooting (with four assists).
The prospect that grabbed our attention though was 6-foot-5 guard Caleb Hoilien. Caleb had a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds that included four shots made at the arc on only eight total field goal attempts. Hoilien is a long 2020 guard from Hope Academy coming off of a 24.9 point per game season. Caleb also grabbed 8.6 boards a game this season with a 78 percent completion percentage at the foul line. Can’t forget the explosive finish either.