Tip Off Classic: Main Court MVPs
Who stood out as the main court MVPs at the Tip Off Classic? NHR runs you through who the standouts were and what they did to earn top honors.
Emmette Page of Osseo. Emmette is a senior guard who before Saturday was known as the guy who hit the buzzer beater last year at Totino-Grace. Now? Now Emmette is the Osseo guard that scored 34 points and made seven three pointers leading Osseo to a win over St. Thomas Academy. Page scored in some other ways as well but the 6-foot-2 guard’s shooting touch will likely lead to some college calls soon.
Jenson Beachy of Perham. Beachy made an impression in three ways: his vocal leadership directing his team as well as his command of the ball was good to see, his ability to start the offense and then move within the halfcourt rhythm to become a scoring threat showed a lot of court IQ for a guy starting his junior year, and Beach made shots from all over the court.
Tyler Wahl of Lakeville North. With Tech being small up front this weekend they had nobody that could keep Tyler Wahl in front of them when he attacked, they had nobody to move with Wahl off the ball, and they had nobody to keep him from collecting and finishing in the paint. Wahl is an agile forward and Tech simply didn’t have that could move with him.
Jacob Beeninga of Wayzata. Do you know what this weekend taught me? That nobody should ever put a ceiling on Jacob Beeninga. Is he short? Yep, and about 155 pounds. But this young man has that combination of toughness, skill, desire, and understanding of an offense that is rare to find but when you find it you have something special. Beeninga is one of those guys that has no conscience so he will dagger you over and over. The kind of kid that loves a challenge. Beeninga scored 28 points, dished out several assists, hit four treys, and dominated the game against Woodbury.
Matthew Hurt of Rochester JM. Matt wasn’t just the game MVP, he was the MVP of the day. Hurt scored 46 points with 17 rebounds and I completely love how Coach Daly found ways to get Hurt the ball in the high post possession after possession. In that position Matt turned and scored, spun to the rim and scored on either side, found cutters for teammates, and he dunked impressively. Again I love how the Rockets are using him. Other than sending five guys at him I don’t know what you do to stop him. His spin to the rim is so quick, Matt’s touch is near flawless there, and he’s a fantastic high post passers (and cutters are all over).
Jalen Suggs of Minnehaha Academy. What is Jalen’s trademark? In my opinion it’s his ability to figure what ways he needs to change the momentum of the game and then his ability to do that down the stretch. That’s what happened against Apple Valley and then again against Park Center. Suggs took a charge, made a few more defensive plays, grabbed ten boards, and attacked the basket hard considering Jarius Cook was no longer around to be a factor (when he had four fouls) and PC had no other player to keep Suggs in front of them.
Zeke Nnaji of Hopkins. It was a very balanced effort for Hopkins and going into the final seconds you could of given the game MVP to any number of guys but Zeke Nnaji busting through Islanders for a putback game winner put him over the edge. The basket gave Zeke a double double of 17/10 and the basket gave Hopkins the win. Zeke looks stronger but has a frame that can carry weight and maintain agility. Add that with skill and now you have the high major prospect he was expected to become since he was first seen in Lakeville.
Daniel Oturu and Ryan Larson of CDH. Oturu and Larson were both faced with tough challenges this weekend with Oturu battling Jarvis Omersa and Larson facing Colton Codute. Omersa and Codute were good, but their counterparts had the better days. Daniel had 21 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks and he scored his 21 points on an efficient ten shots (plus eight foul shots). Larson had 16 points and seven assists using his first step to get places.
Tre Jones and Josh Arnold of Apple Valley. Tre’s dunk is all that anyone really wanted to talk about and in the second half he straight up took the game over. Tre had 19 points, 13 rebounds, and despite the athleticism of the North Polars, Tre’s ability to get middle and finish the one legged touch shot over bodies was crucial. That said Tre spent a lot of the game sitting with foul trouble and Josh Arnold’s 16 of 19 foul shooting for 20 points was just as valuable to the win as anything.