NHR Playoff Central: March 7
The NHR playoffs are underway and already some big moments have taken place. NHR Playoff Central kicks off with what we saw from Mayer Lutheran/Lester Prairie.
Mayer Lutheran 62 Lester Prairie 55. The Crusaders have a bright future. Sophomore 6-foot-5 guard prospect Baden Noenning is all of his listed height and he can do so much. Baden is comfortable pushing the pace, he has the vision to run a halfcourt offense, and his jumpshot is consistent and solid. He can also board and finish around the basket.
When you add Baden with 6-foot-6 junior big Garrett Tjernagel and junior scorer Kobey Woolhouse that’s a potent group that not only is dangerous now, but will be very good next season. Garrett had four quick scores and finished with 13 points (three scores on reverse lay-ins) while Kobey had eight points, five boards, and five assists on a tough shooting night. McHayl Diedrick scored 14 himself last night to make up for some points elsewhere.
Lester Prairie sophomore Jordan Ziermann scored 28 points including three late threes that almost won the Bulldogs the game. Ziermann had his team within a score and stole the ball with a nice poke away that would have been a transition chance but the official incorrectly whistled for a foul. Both Ziermann and big Reese Schuette fouled out and without them the 12-win Bulldogs had no chance.
Ziermann shot 9 of 22 and made seven of eight foul shots. His ability to create shots is there and he’s good with feet set from distance. Last night he had to take a lot of contested attempts but still scored the 28. Schuette had 16 points and grabbed eight boards. He’s a raw but active 6-foot-6 power forward that has agility and some bounce.
March Madness Survival! If you haven’t see the Alex Folz shot yet check the @NorthstarHoops twitter or mine (@RyanJamesMN) to find now. There you can see video taken by Trevor Lundberg and Phil Griffin that shows Folz taking and making a pull-up three from about two steps behind NBA range for Spring Grove game winner. Kingsland was game, but Spring Grove is moving on after a tough battle.
St. Charles had to go to overtime to beat PEM, Cleveland only beat New Ulm Cathedral by a basket, Spring Grove and Mayer Lutheran just got by their opponents, and Lake City beat Zumbrota-Mazeppa by two scores.
Upset City! There were upsets as well. Belle Plaine knocked off Norwood-Young America in overtime and the biggest upset was 8-16 Tri City going on the road and defeating Sibley East 78-75.
The Big Stage. Rochester Civic Center, Again. The only location to see multiple games is in Rochester again. In one part of the arena there will be Class A games between Goodhue and Randolph as well as Bethlehem Academy and Southland, and the other will be Class AA games matching Caledonia with Lewiston-Altura and one of the big match-ups of the night, Rochester Lourdes vs Pine Island.
Upset Alert. The way that Hastings runs sets, I would be worried if I was Rosemount….Worthington is 14-9 as the 6 seed and this is a Mankato East team that lost 11 of 14 games mid-season so that’s a tough game….Apollo is 7-19 but they’ve beaten Rocori this year so that 2/7 game between the schools is no gimmie….Little Falls has also pulled some upsets so Fergus Falls doesn’t have a simple 1/8 game….