Ten Best: Forest Lake vs Cristo Rey
Cristo Rey had the star, Forest Lake had the better team. Jericho Sims put on a show, Forest Lake watched the show, but also picked up a 76-51 win. Forest Lake was too good defensively and moved the ball too…
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Continue ReadingCristo Rey had the star, Forest Lake had the better team. Jericho Sims put on a show, Forest Lake watched the show, but also picked up a 76-51 win.
Forest Lake was too good defensively and moved the ball too well offensively for the Class A school to upset the Class AAAA program. Sure Texas signed Jericho Sims was incredible – he was leaping to the rim so aggressively he had to be careful of his face on the iron – dunking several times in highlight fashion for 34 points, but his teammates only scored seven field goals which isn’t enough against a well coached Ranger program.
MVP: Jericho Sims. When you make 12 of 20 shots, 10 of 12 free throws, scored 34 points and grab 15 rebounds you earn the individual award. What really caught my eye was how comfortable Jericho seemed to handle the ball. You’ve heard the stories of him playing lead guard for the Pumas and it’s true. Sims is much more comfortable handling than I’ve seen before. Also hit a couple jumpers and had numerous tip-ins and impressive throw downs.
Best Offensive Performance: Jake Larson. Jake pretty much went where he wanted all game long. His combination of quickness in pushing the dribble and his control pulling up or slicing to the cup got him 22 points. There wasn’t anybody good enough to guard him yesterday.
Best Defensive Performance: Jake Breitbach. I really liked the effort of 6-foot-5 senior Jake Breitbach. Physical smart player that moves his feet well keeping everything in front of him. No Jake couldn’t stop Jericho from 34 but he did make some of his attempts tougher and Jake did a nice job on the other Cristo Rey frontcourt player. Scored five times inside and hit a jumper. A talent to watch going forward, like how he competes in terms of toughness and basketball IQ.
Best Guy Off the Bench: Connor Hale. The 6-foot-3 Forest Lake jumping jack was the other player to dunk in this game and while Jericho steals that show, the Hale open floor two-hander was pretty good too. Connor is agile, moves well laterally, has the potential to be a nice small forward both ways.
Best Under the Radar Performance: Karlton Gregory. It was good to see that today in the semi-final game Karlton had 25 points and eight rebounds in today’s consolation semi-final. Gregory is a decent athlete with length at 6-foot-4 who caught my eye against Forest Lake. Word is local junior colleges want to look at him and I can see why.
Best Underclassmen: James Sommer. The Cristo Rey young lead guard has allowed Jericho to play in the post this year and not at PG. Had a rough outing but James flashed some nice ball handling skill and a decent perimeter shot. He’s going to be a solid player as he gets older.
Best Story to watch Moving Forward: Forest Lake, what will they be? This has always been a well coached program so you know at the least they will get a couple upsets and be a couple games over .500. Their year opened with back to back one point losses to Coon Rapids and Centennial but they have reeled off four straight wins including victories over Blaine and St. Francis. They are playing Rogers as we speak in a game that would be huge for them to win.
Best Aspect of the Environment: Jericho Dunks. Everybody wanted to see Jericho dunk. Fans in the stands, players on the bench, all of them would get wide-eyed when he went to the rim.
Best Prospect: Do you have to ask? It’s the top 50 guy in the nation going to Texas.
Other: Mitch Jerde, Cooper Berg, and John Schrader. They didn’t have headline games but these are quality players for the Rangers that give this team so much depth. Jerde, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, is scoring 18 a game this year.