Tip Off Classic – Ten Stars who Played Like Stars
Some of Minnesota’s best talent competed at the annual Breakdown Tip Off Classic and played at their consistently quality level. Here are ten stars who often produced like stars. Henry Abraham of Cambridge. Henry has a chance to become…
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Continue ReadingSome of Minnesota’s best talent competed at the annual Breakdown Tip Off Classic and played at their consistently quality level. Here are ten stars who often produced like stars.
Henry Abraham of Cambridge. Henry has a chance to become the 12th player in the history of Minnesota high school basketball to score 3,000 points and just the third to do it from a big school. He produced 47 points in the loss to Apollo on Saturday giving him quite the bump towards making history.
Austin Andrews of Eden Prairie. Putting together a double-double was Eden Prairie power forward Austin Andrews. When it comes to players that are able to find ways to score in small spaces, Andrews ranks with the best. His ability to make shots in small windows is often times amazing.
Dain Dainja of Park Center. In the loss to East Ridge, Dain Daija totaled 24 points and nine boards with half of his field goals coming from dunks. Dainja has some of the quickest and skilled hands that you will ever see from a big which was evident in many ways. And yes this man is powerful highlighted by those four second half dunks.
Drake Dobbs of Eden Prairie. The Eagles offense as a unit creates most of their shots within the framework and the guy leading that machine is Drake Dobbs. And there are times when the machine breaks down and needs a guy to take matters in his own hands, and that is Drake who scored 17 on 8 of 16 shooting for the state’s top team at the moment.
Will Cordes of Shakopee. Will Cordes is the best guard in the state when it comes to timely scores. He hit five threes in the win over Hopkins and Will’s production down the stretch was vital to the victory. Scored 23 for the game. Doesn’t have great size so colleges seem to be scared but I urge somebody to look closer because Will makes big shots in big moments on a regular basis
Steve Crowl of Eastview. The Wisconsin committed big scored his 24 on 11 of 18 field goal shooting plus he was the best rebounder on the floor grabbing a dozen. I think I was most impressed with how Crowl moved the ball out of the post, but I also loved Steven’s precise activity off the ball.
Dawson Garcia of Prior Lake. When you face a player like Dawson Garcia and you need to stop him to avoid a loss, you find players that are going to physically defend him and make every touch difficult. That’s what EP did but despite this attention Dawson scored 26 points on 10 of 21 shooting with six boards.
Francis Nwaokorie of Champlin Park. Love the first contact from Francis every time he gets down the floor. Francis does a great job moving players with his hips to get position for a post up or a board. Against Waseca, Francis had 17 points and 11 boards making half his dozen shots and all but one of his six foul shots.
Jalen Suggs of Minnehaha Academy. A day before picking up the Mr. Football trophy for Minnesota, Jalen scored 30 points on 9 of 18 shooting (five threes) and 7 of 9 shooting at the line. Suggs did not have his best game at all, but the talent is undeniable and shown clearly in the numbers he put up.
Kerwin Walton of Hopkins. Where is Kerwin at these days? He scored 23 points on 10 of 18 shooting but his team lost and more was expected of him. That’s the type of player he has now become in that he has raised expectations so high that a 10 of 18 shooting day isn’t good enough for people.