Border Battle

Finally have a chance to do a quick write up of the Border Battle from this past weekend. Unfortunately the battle went much the way myself and many others have expected with Minnesota winning 5-1. Is Minnesota a better state basketball wise or were the teams that were picked simply better I'm truly not sure but, I'm leaning towards the later. Here's a quick write up of the showcase.

Spring Grove Mn 83 Columbus Catholic 69
Unfortunately Columbus Catholic just couldn't buy a shot through much of this game and Spring Grove was able to jump out to a big first half lead and cruise to victory. Along with missing those shots Spring Grove had a huge height advantage which allowed Spring Grove to dominate on the glass. Matters were made worse that Spring Grove got pretty hot from the outside as 6'3 senior Brady Schuttemier made five straight threes at one point. Spring Grove is a pretty good team and if they were a D5 team in Wisconsin would probably be a title contender no doubt.

Top Scorers
SG- Schuttemier 25 Chase Grinde 25 Alex Folz 10
CC- Tyler Fuerlinger 32 Hunter Schultz 21 Evan Nikolai 6

Lake City Mn 63 Westby 57
Westby was the clear under dog here as they aren't a ranked team and truly aren't a real threat to make a deep playoff run despite a pretty good record while Lake City is a top five ranked team in Minnesota. Westby plays a 1-3-1 which really kept them in the game early on as Lake City seemed to struggle with it. The struggled continued until 5'9 sophomore Marc Kjos came in the game and hit five first half three pointers. The threes caused the zone to open up and allowed Lake City to find some openings in the defense. For Westby I was extremely impressed with 6'3 senior Jesse Solberg. Solberg hit every shot he was given open looks on and despite not being the quickest guy out there he was able to get himself in good positions and he was able to finish over the defenders.

Top Scorers 
LC- Kjos 18 Eli Custer 14 Brady Kuschinka 14
W- Solberg 31 Kyle Anderson 14 Ross Stalsberg 7

Tartan Mn 64 Eau Claire Memorial 61 OT
I really thought this game was going to be a blow out in favor of Tartan but, I really underestimated EC Memorial. 6'2 senior Darien Dieckman came out firing early on hitting several big threes to give Memorial the lead. For Tartan their star 6'2 junior Jordan Horn was strapped with early foul trouble and they just couldn't get anything going from  until 6'1 junior Jordan Thompson got things going in the second half after struggling in the first half In the second half Horn did get things going a little which led to a nice match up with Memorial senior 6'2 Isaac Appleby. Appleby really showed the ability to score in the game either getting to the rim or his preference a stop and pop 15 footer. Appleby even had a very nice baseline drive and dunk that excited the crowd. In overtime the game was tied and everyone thought it would be Horn driving the ball but, he kicked out to fellow junior 6'2 Kingston Myles who hit his second shot of the game with a deep three that swished through the rim with two seconds left in the game to clinch the win.

Top Scoers
T- Horn 17 Thompson 16 Joevon Walker 11
ECM- Appleby 20 Dieckman 18 Cormac Sampson 8

DeLaSalle Mn 56 La Crosse Central 51
Two big stories in this game. First story was Central playing a triangle and two defense on DeLaSalle's two stars 6'3 sophomore Gabe Kalscheur and 6'7 junior Goanar Mar. Both Kalscheur and Mar were frustrated all game long by the face guarding and really neither one ever got things going and Central forced DeLaSalle's other players to beat them which they eventually did late in the game. The second story was that Central got nothing on the offensive end outside of their 6'4 junior star Kobe King. King scored 32 points and the only other player to score more then two was his running mate 6'0 junior Bailey Kale who score seven of his nine points late in the game. Late in the game it was basically King bringing the ball up the court and then King trying to score on his own. No one else was stepping up and King didn't look to pass to anyone else.

DLS- Sage Booker 15 Sam Jones 14 Kalscheur 8
LCC- King 32 Kale 9 five with 2

Minneapolis North 84 Onalaska 62
This game was much closer then it seems. Onalaska had this game down to five points with about five minutes left in the game. At times this seemed like a dunk contest for North as they had seven dunks in the game but, every time you looked up at the scoreboard Onalaska was crawling back into the game. Onalaska's starters really struggled but, it was 6'2 junior Tyler Hughes that came up huge scoring 19 points off the bench. Apparently Hughes has been out with an injury and this was only his second game of the year so nice to see a kid have a big game after missing half the season.  North is another team that would be D5 in Wisconsin and lets just say they would be very scary. North is big and athletic and love to make highlight plays which could cost them against more talented teams.

MN- Tyler Johnson 17 Jamil Jackson 17 Isaac Johnson 15 Patrick Dembley 14
O- Hughes 19 Tyler Turriff 14 Noah Fredrickson 8

Stevens Point 88 Minnetonka Mn 65
You knew that Point would be a given win for Wisconsin as outside of Hopkins Minnesota no one else is going to beat Point. Point was there normal self with 6'2 senior Trev Anderson knocking down threes and taking the ball hard to the rim. 6'7 sophomore Joey Hauser scoring in the paint and 6'6 senior Sam Hauser doing just about everything else from running the point, hitting jumpers, and had a nice back door cut for a dunk. Minnetonka was just out matched but, their senior guards Cedric Boone and Amar Miller really competed extremely hard and each was able to have some big moments shooting. Minnetonka didn't have the heights listed of their players.

SP- Anderson 31 J Hauser 22 S Hauser 20
M- Miller 23 Boone 17 Seth Coatte 9

Top Players
Tyler Fuerlinger 6'1 junior Columbus Catholic- Really a great one on one player that was able to get to the rim and score in a variety of ways around the rim.

Chase Grinde 6'3 junior Spring Grove- Really uses his size as a guard to score against smaller defenders in the post. Has a knack for getting to the line and scoring.

Brady Schuttemier 6'3 senior Spring Grove- Was just money from three point range all game long as he went through a streak where he just couldn't miss.

Jesse Solberg 6'3 junior Westby- I've pretty much said it all above. Just a flat out scorer.

Marc Kjos 5'9 sophomore Lake City-Hit six huge three pointers in the game and was able to break down the Westby zone.

Isaac Appleby 6'2 senior Eau Claire Memorial- Another flat out scorer that can score in bunches and is a big time athlete.

Darian Dieckman 6'2 senior Eau Claire Memorial- Another guy that really lit it up from three point range and carried his team early on.

Kobe King 6'4 junior La Crosse Central- Was unstoppable at times during the game driving the lane and knocking down mid range jumpers. He can just out jump and out athlete anyone on the floor.

Tyler Hughes 6'2 junior Onalaska- Huge scorer off the bench that was able to handle the ball and was able to hit big three after big three to keep Onalaska in the game.

Tyler Johnson 6'2 senior Minneapolis North- Just a superb athlete that can jump out of the gym and can really finish at the rim.

Jamil Jackson 6'6 senior Minneapolis North- Another guy that just wants to dunk everything and had three monster dunks that were as good as any I've seen.

Trev Anerson 6'2 senior Stevens Point- Doesn't miss much from three point range and can get to the rim at will using quickness and strength.

Joey Hauser 6'7 sophomore Stevens Point- Hard to believe he's a sophomore but, he just controls the paint completely on offense and defense.

Sam Hauser 6'6 senior Stevens Point- Love his game in that he does a little bit of everything. Runs the point at times, shoots jumpers, and can score in the post.

Amar Miller 5'9 senior Minnetonka- Lighting quick guard that can score driving to the rim and hit the three point shot.

My final thoughts are that at least this year Minnesota has the better high school basketball. After see a few top teams at the Border Battle and Players Classic there a numerous teams from the Twin Cities area, that probably only Stevens Point would beat.