Ten Best: Delano vs Orono
Rivals Orono and Delano went head to head last Friday night in an entertaining 89-79 game highlighted by some outstanding all around performances. MVP: Calvin Wishart. Calvin had an answer for everything Orono tried defensively. Wishart’s ability to use dribble…
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Continue ReadingRivals Orono and Delano went head to head last Friday night in an entertaining 89-79 game highlighted by some outstanding all around performances.
MVP: Calvin Wishart. Calvin had an answer for everything Orono tried defensively. Wishart’s ability to use dribble separation, ball fakes, step throughs, and everything else you can think of to get into space in either direction was maybe the most creative performance I’ve seen this year. Wishart was pretty much unguardable as Orono guys had no idea which way he was going to attack them. Wishart scored 32 points on 10 of 19 shooting including three treys plus he made 9 of 13 foul shots. Add in the eight assists and nine rebounds and you had an incredible performance.
Offensive MVP: Jarvis Thomas. Thomas made nine of his first ten shots and this was by far the best I’ve seen him play offensively. The fake into a face-up jumper off the glass was definitely the most skilled play I’ve seen him make and he followed that up with a one hand touch score in the paint. The reverse attack dunk in the halfcourt set was the most memorable. Thomas finished with 23 points and eight boards in 20 minutes before fouling out. Thomas has made a lot of skilled strides.
Defensive MVP: Mitchell Kurtz. The 6-foot-4 forward made one of the biggest impacts I’ve seen while randomly shooting the ball. His energy on both ends was unmatched. He outfought players for boards, moved into space to stop plays with every piece of energy he had, and Kurtz constantly gave his team a lift with a play and then a following emotion. Kurtz is usually the third leading scorer on the team but on this night his offense wasn’t needed.
Top 6th Man:. Dylan Gilmer. Gilmer came off the bench and provided a veteran dozen points including shots at the arc and also moved off the ball to catch and finish over traffic. Dylan scores eight a game off the bench on the regular and gives his team an added luxury that many others don’t.
Top Underclassmen: Derek Techam. The sophomore scored most of his 17 with his feet set but Derek also showed a little touch shot on the move floating the ball over the top for a score. Few guys in the state stretch the defense like Derek does, this is a player that is going to make shots when his feet are set and he’s given a view of the rim. Smart player too.
Top Big: Keegan O’Neil. The 6-foot-8 junior big from Delano showed off his perimeter touch with three triples but also had a couple blocks and rebounded well. O’Neil is an interesting prospect because of his skilled size that included range to the arc. Had 13 points.
Best Under the Radar Performance: Nik Cayler. Cayler is a thick post who finished several plays in the second half including four second half baskets in the paint that led to his dozen points. Cayler handled the post like a veteran moving off the ball with intelligence.
Best Aspect of the Environment: Perfect Friday for high school hoops. Delano’s gym has a feel all to it’s own and students were all over the stands including young students. College coaches included Ben Johnson from Minnesota and Gameli Ahelegbe from South Dakota plus there were local high school coaches scouting. One of the officials ruined the flow of the game so that brought the negative out.
Best Story Moving Forward: The Rematch. After seeing the talent on the floor and the way the teams were competing I am hungry for the rematch. Thursday February 23rd will be the next game between them and it will be one of the best Class AAA games to see.
Other: Max Bjorklund. Once Thomas got in foul trouble the Orono junior (Bjorklund) took over the scoring efforts. Max put most of his 27 on the board in an active way cutting behind the ball to catch and finish over Delano size, getting ahead of the defense in transition to finish, and attacking for a corner turn to score or attacking a rotating defense to finish. Bjorklund is a 6-foot-1 slashing junior that has a chance to be an outstanding scorer.