Ten Best: Annandale at Watertown-Mayer
Annandale evened up their season series with Watertown-Mayer last night with a 55-50 victory on the road. A fantastic defensive effort from the Cards overcame a huge night from Trae Berhow. MVP. The Cardinal Defense. The Cardinals did a fantastic…
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Continue ReadingAnnandale evened up their season series with Watertown-Mayer last night with a 55-50 victory on the road. A fantastic defensive effort from the Cards overcame a huge night from Trae Berhow.
MVP. The Cardinal Defense. The Cardinals did a fantastic job of playing team defense. Trae Berhow had a big night but he worked for everything as the Cardinal help was physical with Berhow (even though he only shot three free throws which still amazes me). Annandale also locked down the rest of the Royals forcing them to shoot over the top of well positioned contesting arms for a 4 of 20 mark.
Offensive MVP. Trae Berhow. The Pepperdine commit was phenomenal with 33 points on 12 of 25 shooting. Trae is in the same category as McKinley Wright and Tywhon Pickford as guard rebounders that crash glass hard. He had nine boards helping his 33. The most memorable play was a two hand dunk in traffic attacking the lane. The lift and range on his jumper was able to get Berhow a good look whenever which got him his six three point makes.
Defensive MVP. Tough call. I thought Leo Healy did a strong job in chasing Berhow making him work off the ball. The help defense and physical battle of AJ Hinz and Nick Bieniek was also very good. Jarod Wilkin gutted out some position defense with a bum knee. Trenton Peterson also did good things defensively. Who was MVP? Too tough to call.
Top 6th Man. Collin Howard. Howard came off the Royals bench to score three first half jumpers and hit a pair of threes. His first half scoring impact paced the Cardinals in the first half.
Top Underclassmen. Peyton Fobbe. This was a grown man’s game. The only player mature enough to get some minutes for either team was Peyton who is a 5-foot-10 sophomore who played sparingly but did have an assist.
Most Efficient. AJ Hinz. The 6-foot-4 and strong Cardinal junior had a team high 16 points, seven rebounds, and three assists plus defended with consistency. In the second half AJ was the go to player for the Annandale offense hitting a three, late foul shots, and a couple scores around the bucket. A skilled, strong, smart player for the Cards.
Top Gutty Performance. Jarod Wilken. Early in the first half Jarod attacked the basket and Berhow took a charge on him. It looked as if Wilken had a serious knee injury as he went to the trainer’s room for a long time and didn’t start half two. Wilken the came off the bench and scored three field goals with four boards. His biggest contribution was four late game free throw makes.
Top Prospect. Berhow. That’s Trae without a doubt. A nationally ranked top 250 player Berhow picked Pepperdine this summer over a host of quality options that included some outstanding schools from the Missouri Valley, Atlantic Ten, Mountain West, and other spots. His length and agility coupled with work ethic and skill make him one of the state’s elite players.
Storyline Going Forward. Game Three? Yes please. They traded road wins and we are hoping for a third game in the section playoffs. This is such an interesting section with so many good teams. If the season ended today these teams wouldn’t be able to meet in the section title game (based on QRF rank right now). When you add in Brooklyn Center, Eden Valley Watkins, Southwest Christian, Litchfield, and Rockford there are some tough teams here. Breck is 10-8 but the young talent could also be dangerous.
Other. Royals senior Drew Thibault did some good things making a three and scoring seven points plus grabbing eight rebounds….Nick Bieniek had 11 points highlighted by a pair of threes plus defended well for Annandale…Trenton Peterson was a good all around player for Annandale playing the jack of all trades role. Loved the way he moved the ball within the offense and was really good as a help defender for the Cards…