Cretin-Derham Hall 76 Mounds View 68 – Five Things to Know
Mounds View made a run at the Raiders but Cretin-Derham Hall improved to 22-3 on the season with a 76-68 win on the road led by J’Vonne Hadley. Hadley’s Dominance. Last night assistants from South Dakota and North Dakota State…
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Continue ReadingMounds View made a run at the Raiders but Cretin-Derham Hall improved to 22-3 on the season with a 76-68 win on the road led by J’Vonne Hadley.
Hadley’s Dominance. Last night assistants from South Dakota and North Dakota State watched J’Vonne Hadley completely take away Mounds View momentum for a Raider victory. It was one of those alpha male hooper situations where Hadley started by demanding the ball with his back to the basket, then he scored on the move in transition, and then his first cut to the rim started to fed at will for deep paint completions. When the game was on the line Hadley went to where his advantage was and his teammates fell in line.
Hadley is a 6-foot-6 wing but he’s also stronger and more explosive than everybody Mounds View had on the floor so J’Vonne made eight of his last night attempts. Type of player that can take contact and finish but also has somewhat of a Trae Berhow build with some of that Berhow skill as well. Hadley made 11 of 17 field goal attempts including two triples plus sunk 5 of 7 foul shots. Excellent performance.
Hottest Stretch of the Year? We have seen some massive shooting games this season resulting in big point numbers but my curiosity is if anybody has hit ten straight 17 foot or deeper jumpers in a one score game against a team like CDH this year?
Mounds View sophomore wing Dylan Wheeler had everybody on their feet as he hit ten straight long jumpers (seven behind the arc) in a about a 15 minute stretch of game action. The Raiders had used a zone I believe for a bit, then switched defenders, and then switched defenders again but none of it seemed to bother Wheeler. Not only did Dylan hit shots with feet set after quick relocations in the offense, he also pulled up to hit 2-3 jumpers after a sudden dribble. In all Wheeler scored on 11 of 15 shots for a 29 point game.
Mr Efficient. That Curtis Jones release is about as quality as you will see. Whenever the ball comes out of his hands you quickly get the feeling that it’s going to be a bucket for CDH. What I love about Jones though is that he is an efficient player that rarely makes a decision putting his team in a bad spot. Here is one of the best shooters in the state but he only took eight shots last night and he still scored 17! How? A couple threes, he made all his foul shots and made 5 of 8 attempts. Throw in his outstanding vision as a wing and you have a guy that is as trusted as they come. To me this is a division two scholarship kid as he checks nearly all the boxes for a shooter in that league.
Quite the Improvement. When coach of the year awards are handed I would assume that Dave Leiser will be considered strongly for his region as this has been a tremendous job. The Mustangs are currently on a three game losing streak (CDH, East Ridge, much improved Irondale) but when the year is done they will have improved by at least ten games this year (8-19 last season). This isn’t a big team, and they aren’t overly athletic. That said Mounds View is very skilled, tough, smart, and they play so well together. Seniors Evan Kim (leading scorer) and Thomas Gebhardt are both nice players with Kim being a jack of all trades kind of guy. Last night I feel like Kim rotated between playing three spots and guarding 2-3 spots. He scored a dozen points on ten shots, dished out six assists, and grabbed five boards. The Mustangs return Wheeler and a couple quality juniors in John Montgomery and Cole Sorenson.
The Raiders, Title Game Bound? Cretin-Derham Hall is the perfect example for my “show the state how balanced Class AAAA is” (after EP of course). This year the Raiders are 22-3 with wins over Minnehaha Academy. Spring Lake Park (by nearly 30), East Ridge, DeLaSalle (by 24), Totino-Grace, NSP, Woodbury, and others. I could see them playing in the state title game this year, but I could also see them having to fight off Woodbury, NSP, or Tartan in their second playoff game. The balance in the state right now is that good, and CDH has that good of a team. Then again there are a lot of very good teams that are capable of being the main challenger to EP.
This Friday CDH takes on East Ridge and both teams are 16-1 in league play and they are sitting at the top of Section 4AAAA with similar QRF scores. The game is at East Ridge and it’s going to be must see Minnesota High School Basketball.