Perham Tournament Preview
While a lot of the big-named tournaments will draw attention in the metro, there are a number of very solid Holiday tournaments all over the state. One that should be particularly intriguing is the Perham tourney. It’s a four-team tournament…
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Continue ReadingWhile a lot of the big-named tournaments will draw attention in the metro, there are a number of very solid Holiday tournaments all over the state.
One that should be particularly intriguing is the Perham tourney. It’s a four-team tournament featuring two of the best teams in Class A as Spring Grove and Heritage Christian go head-to-head and a potentially entertaining matchup between quality AA teams, Perham and Morris Area/Chokio Alberta.
The tournament starts Tuesday. The first game of the day should be a dandy as the Lions and Eagles square off in a top-five Class A matchup.
Both teams are undefeated on the year and neither has been tested a whole lot yet. Spring Grove beat Browerville/Eagle Valley in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic by 10 but is outscoring opponents by 38 points per game. Heritage Christian beat Cristo Rey Jesuit by 15 last week, but Spring Grove is a different animal.
Matchup to watch: This one’s got excellent players all over the court but the two best players in the tournament are Chase Grinde and CJ Woda. Both guys are averaging more than 20 points per game on the year and both play a physical style on the perimeter that most teams aren’t equipped to handle.
Those two guys grab a lot of the headlines for their respective teams, but two others that will play significant roles are Zach Johansen and Alex Folz.
Johansen is leading the Eagles in scoring so far this season and a future Bethel baller. Folz, a sophomore, had a breakout performance against Browerville/Eagle Valley and looks like a legit No. 2 option to Grinde.
Getting Defensive: Both teams average more than 70 points per game and have players who can fill it up. But while this matchup looks like it could have the makings of a shootout, don’t count out the possibility of a low-scoring affair. Heritage Christian will be the best team Spring Grove has seen to this point; same goes for the Eagles. But both teams have been stifling on the defensive end so far this year. The Lions surrender just 38 points per game while the Eagles give up just more than 42 points per game. Both teams can score, but they can also get stops if they need to.
The second game of the day pits the host team Perham against Morris Area/Chokio Alberta.
Perham heads into its tourney with a 4-1 record with its lone loss coming against Breckenridge. In four wins, the Yellowjackets outscored opponents a combined 324-143. The four teams they beat have just seven wins while Breckenridge is 4-1.
Morris heads into the holidays 3-0 with a pair of overtime wins and a nine-point win over New London-Spicer.
Matchup to watch: The matchup on the perimeter should be fun to watch as Perham sophomore point guard Jenson Beachy goes toe-to-toe with Morris senior Jacob Zosel.
(Photo by Perham Focus)Beachy leads the Yellowjackets in scoring, averaging 18 points and three assists while Zosel averages 16.7 points and 5.3 assists.
The other matchup that could be interesting is up front with sophomore forward Camden Arndt and senior center Aaron Solberg. Arndt is an intriguing underclassmen who’s filling up the stat sheet for the Tigers, averaging 13.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Solberg averaged 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds but at 6-foot-7, he’s a presence on both ends.
Strength in numbers: Both teams have shown the capability to pile up points at a high rate. That’s possible because neither one seems to rely on one or two players. The Yellowjackets have three players averaging double-figures while the Tigers have four.
Beachy is excellent for Perham. But Logan Richter (11.4 points per) and Reid Moser are also both capable of taking over a game. Moser averaged 15 points per game a year ago and is off to a slower start this year, averaging 10.4. Solberg gives them a fourth player who can provide scoring.
The Tigers are well-stocked with scorers as well. They’ve got six players that average at least 8.3 points per game and four that average more than 11. Zosel and Arndt average 30 combined while Lukus Manaska and Jaret Johnson average 12.0 and 11.3 respectively.
It’s just a four-team field but given the strength of the teams included, the quality of basketball should be high.