Ten Best: Rochester JM vs Austin
Friday night Rochester John Marshall beat Austin 88-73 to earn the Big Nine title plus Rocket sophomore Matthew Hurt broke the school’s all time scoring record.
Game MVP. About as easy as they come, Matthew Hurt. Austin had no answer for him at all. He made 12 of 16 field goals, 15 of 17 free throws, and two threes for his 41 points. Hurt also had 13 rebounds, three blocks, and three assists. The game turned when he had four And1 completions as Austin was physically defending him and still couldn’t slow him down (more on Matthew later).
Offensive MVP. Both Gach. Before this game I always thought of Both as a decent athlete who can make plays on the move but my thoughts on him have always been a deadly feet set shooter. What he did on Friday was completely different. Both opened the game with an explosive dunk followed by two agile spin move scores where he barely broke pace when applying the move and finishing. Loved his floater and fall-away scores too. Had 28 points on 11 of 18 shooting which definitely pushes him up the prospect list for his class. He also fouled Isaiah Walden out with his persistence of attack.
Defensive MVP. Eric Stai/Ray Adams/Others. Defending one of Austin’s top weapons Duoth Gach was a team effort but I noticed Stai on him most often. Duoth is an explosive player usually but the JM guards/wings held Duoth scoreless on seven shots. Great effort by the Rocket players. Walden also had two threes and six treys while Stai scored three times on his three shot attempts. But with Hurt and Chan scoring the way they were, defense and offensive role decisions were the job of Eric on this night.
Top Under the Radar Performance. Dedoch Chan. Not only could Austin not stop Hurt, they couldn’t stop Dedoch either. Austin fans were down his neck about his move from Albert Lea to Rochester but it didn’t bother Chan. He faced up using two dribbles to score or he moved off the ball to collect and finish. Chan looks really good and I would expect him to go to a junior college and then get a scholarship. Why junior college? Because I think once there he can show people his level of ability while taking his face-up game to another level. Chan has potential which was clean in his six of eight shooting for 16 points which included a three.
Top Under the Radar Performance 2. Moses Issa and Oman Oman. Austin made somewhat of a late comeback as Both, Moses, and Oman wouldn’t let the game go away without a battle. The explosive and well built Issa hit two threes on his way to nine points with six boards while Oman grabbed a team high seven boards and scored ten points despite some foul issues.
Top Underclassmen not named Hurt. Dongrin Deng and Ngor Deng. They have led Austin’s JV to an undefeated year (I believe) and both sophomores are very, very talented as guards. Know their names because they will replace the minutes of guys like Kyle Oberbroeckling, Pat Hagen, and Jany Gash next year, and maybe take minutes from next year’s outstanding Austin senior class. Dongrin and Ngor are that good.
Top Prospect. Matthew Hurt. Easiest choice ever. No 2019 player in the country has as good of an offer list as Matthew Hurt has offers from Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, UCLA, Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, and so many other programs. What separates Matthew? There are many things but a few to pinpoint: 1) size and length for a guy that can play small forward, 2) advanced skill allowing him to extend and touch shots from anywhere, 3) incredible body control and agility as Matthew scores off balance and/or over in position players often, 4) an incredible feel for the game, and 5) he’s more agile and explosive than people understand. Throw in a high level of confidence and you have a guy that is somewhere in the top two, three, or four nationally in the 2019 class in my opinion.
Top Aspect of the Environment. Oh wow, where do I begin? How about the building being packed to the walls when I got there and there was still 75 minutes to go before the game started. It was that was an hour before I got there. The game was for the Big Nine championship. Media was all over the place.
Gopher Michael Hurt came to the game from Minneapolis to show support for his brother Matthew who broke Michael’s career scoring mark of around 1,650 points. After Matthew broke the record the game was stopped and the entire building (fans of both teams) stood and gave Matthew applause. Matthew hugged his brother during the timeout.
Austin’s “Slaughter House” is complete with guys in aprons and hard hats, loud cheers, and the loud drum to get all involved. Fans from all over the town bought tickets to see the game and Rochester had a great crowd as well.
I will say this, the students need to work on some of their cheers. Let’s get more creative!
Going Forward. Austin is 24-2 and it would be quite the upset if they didn’t make state. The two seed is Northfield who Austin has beaten twice by a combined 22 points. Section 1AAA has seven teams that are either under .500 or just barely over it.
Rochester JM has a much tougher road to state. Not only is five year nemesis Lakeville North (24-2) still there but New Prague (22-4) is a top ten team in state and they got the two seed. JM (23-3) is the three seed and all that means is JM playing Farmington instead of Mayo in the first round (the section semi-finals are in a neutral area, the Rochester Civic Center). Owatonna and Lakeville South are also in the section but they have to go through Lakeville North.
Others. Ray Adams made some plays for JM on both ends. Did a solid job in his back-up PG role, grabbed four boards, scored three times….Tate Hebrink is a tough kid. Austin’s junior PG had a tough night playmaking but he never stopped competing and scored nine points….