Chekouras Classic

Saturday I went down to Homestead to take in the Chekouras Classic. I know it wasn't the greatest teams playing but, a day of basketball is a day of basketball. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the out come of the day though. I have to say with the exception of a couple games most of the games were entertaining either by fun teams to watch or games that were close throughout.

Milwaukee Golda Meir 76 Beloit Turner 67
Got to this game just slightly late so I wasn't able to keep track of the scoring but, I came away pretty impressed with Golda Meir and Turner isn't too bad either. Golda Meir is super athletic and a very long team that is also senior dominated. Golda Meir was the more talented team with their pair of 6'6 twin big men in Mario Williams and Brandon Harmon. Both are long and athletic and pound the glass on both ends. Both can really elevate to get to the rim and finish at the rim. Other notable players was 6'2 senior Kai Parham who came off the bench and hit four three point shot if my memory serves me. Probably the top player of the game was 5'9 senior Marvin Jones. Jones can really handle the ball and used his ball handling skills and strength to get to the rim and score or kick it to one of his previous players mentioned. Despite Golda Meir being the more talented player Turner did their best to keep things close led by 5'11 junior Jordan Majeed who is a flat out scorer and really carried his team until his team mate 6'4 senior Steve Dillard got going late to claw back into the game. In the end Golda Meir had more talent and they were able to use their quickness to push the tempo and take control forcing Turner into poor shots and turning the ball over.

Lake County Lutheran 70 Sturgeon Bay 51
This game really shocked me. Lake County Lutheran really only played one player over 6'0 while Sturgeon Bay played five players 6'3 or taller in their eight man rotation. Lake County jumped out to an 18-2 lead and never looked back. 6'0 sophomore Luke Haertle led the charge early on with four threes in route to 16 first half points. The entire team outside of Haertle was really shooting the three point shots and knock them down. In the second half 6'3 junior Joey Braatz came alive using his jumping ability to score at the time and grabbing offensive rebounds. Nothing was going right for Sturgeon Bay as they were missing everything and couldn't seem to stop LCL's outside shooting. 6'7 senior Carson Talbert was very solid in the post but, unfortunately most of his points came late in the game. You could really tell that LCL is used to being the undersized team as they did a great job of playing against the bigger Sturgeon Bay players and did a nice job of swatting at the ball when the Sturgeon Bay big men brought the ball down.

Grafton 63 Stoughton 40
This game was kind of an ugly game to watch. Early on the game was very physical and a slow pace and in the second half Grafton started hitting the threes. Grafton was led by 6'3 junior Alex Huibregtse who is a very smooth outside shooter and did a great job of getting into the passing lanes leading to steals and easy buckets. This was a battle of 6'7 big man Grafton's sophomore JP Benzschawel and Stoughton's junior Jack Nelson. The two big men kind of cancelled each other out and the outside shooting and transition game came alive in the second half to lead Grafton to the victory.

Racine Park 84 Milwaukee Vincent 56
Vincent played right into Park's hands as the pushed the tempo and took quick shots. Park wants to run run run. Every time I see Park the try to push things led by 6'9 senior Nobal Days who gets every rebound or block shots which starts the fast break. 6'2 senior Larry Canady was the go to man as he is able to score at will whether in the transition or pulling up for the long range jumper. Canady really runs the court so well and loves to play in transition. Late in the game 6'0 senior Zyiere Carey starting hitting the threes to salt the game away as Vincent ran out of gas late. Personally feel like Vincent just rested there starters too long in this one.

Monroe 54 Milwaukee Academy of Science 52
Monroe had a huge height advantage but, it as Academy that led the game late and ended up giving it away late. Academy only played one player over 6'0 who got in foul trouble so they decided to just basically play street ball allowing their players to go one on one and see if they could score on their own. 6'0 sophomore Donald McHenry took full advantage of this where he was able to finish with floaters time and time again. When McHenry wasn't scoring it was 5'10 junior Brandon Wilder bombing from the outside. Wilder hit six three point shots in this game to lead Academy. Late in the game Academy had the lead but, they didn't slow the tempo and decided to continue to attack the rim. This allowed Monroe to claw back into it late and finally finish the game off as they hit the shot at the buzzer to get the win. Monroe's three bigs really killed throughout in 6'6 senior Kade King, 6'7 sophomore Cade Meyer, and 6'5 freshmen JT Seagreaves. King was particular good is this one as he had the size and strength to score at any time he wanted.

DeForest 51 Milwaukee Marquette 50
Another ugly game that went back and forth. Early one Marquette couldn't get anything to fall while Deforest senior 6'5 Jack Bogan had his way in the inside. Early in the second half Marquette big man 6'5 junior Aiden Flynn got things going. Flynn was able to use his quickness facing the basket and scoring from 15 feet and in. This game was physical throughout and got a little chippy late. Some poor foul shooting let Deforest hang around and take the lead and when Flynn couldn't score no one else really could for Deforest.

Pewaukee 74 Homestead 65
Really the game of the day with lots of crowd involvement and some great play. This game also got very very chippy. Pewaukee came out gunning early and jumped out to a huge lead hitting the threes early on. Late in the second half Pewaukee kind of went on cruise control which allowed Homestead to make this a game. The score really doesn't show how big of a lead that Pewaukee had throughout the game. The future is bright for Pewaukee as they had three freshmen make huge impacts in 5'11 Ashton Janowski who had 26 points inclouding four threes, 6'5 Logan Dobbertein who blocked shots and scored in the post, and then 6'3 Josh Terrian who didn't score a bunch but, was still a big contributor.