NY2LA Spring Extravaganza: Saturday
Saturday at the NY2LA Spring Extravaganza was good to Minnesota. Six of the eight Elite Eight teams at 17U are from Minnesota. Here are the standouts and results to know…
The Take Five
One. The Sunday morning open division quarterfinals is WOTN vs Kingdoom Hoops, Heat Pratt vs Wisconsin Jets, 43 Hoops vs Minnesota Eagles, and Fury Antl vs tMBA. Six of the eight teams are local squads. Also, at the 16s, we are getting a chance to see what Net Gain is as they are playing local. They beat the top WOTN team yesterday by five and now face Crossfire Belle in the quarters this morning. Fury Kaupa and South Dakota Attack are also in that elite eight.
Two. Andre White of Harvest Christian in Illinois and AIA had a really nice battle with Jacob Beeninga in NY2LA League play that was witnessed by a strong helping of D2 coaches. Beeninga won on the scoreboard and did more playmaking for his his teammates but White won the individual scoring battle showing off a three point stroke (knocked down five of them) and attacking past the initial defender and then scoring over the help defender several times (that finished off his 27 points). White is a strong 5-foot-8 guard with a great burst from his first step so he gets past the first defender and then is on balance to complete before the second defender can do much with him.
Three. The breakthrough player of the day locally was likely Tyler Lewko from Lakeville North. With John Oxton as his coach Lewko has received the defensive coaching in high school and yesterday Lewko showed that he’s taken to that coaching in a big way. Lewko is so good moving around screens in all phases: communication, physical fight using his deep base to take contact while being on balance to move around the screen, and the quick lateral steps to get to the ball handler with arms out while stopping his approach. Let’s not forget that Tyler took two charges late showing the toughness to take the oncoming force as well as the positioning to be there in the first place.
Offense? Yes. Tyler is an agile off ball worker who will be a double figure scorer next year now that Nathan Reuvers is at Wisconsin. Tyler’s flash into the high post against the zone to catch and hit the 13 footer was very clean, loved his physical shoulder to knock the defense off balance to then lift and score deep in the paint, and Tyler works off ball for all three types at the rim: putbacks, transition scores, and cuts into space behind the defense.
Four. If we had a poll for breakthrough player of the day other votes would go to Alex Battist or Aaron Smith. This combo (Alex is a Maple Grove 6-foot-6 talent and can play both forward spots with a lean towards the four while Smith is a wing from St. Anthony) has Heat Pratt as a definite team to watch as moving up the NHR top 25 very soon.
Battist is that player from Maple Grove you didn’t see on varsity last year but then all of a sudden you saw scoring 37 in Iowa last weekend followed by a game winner a game later. That wasn’t a flash in the pan, he scored 19 in the game we watched against Comets Little and he did it inside and out. Battist is long and very quick off his feet to explosively finish at the cup. Alex is an explosive finisher but he also hits mid-range jumpers and made shots at the arc. When his feet are set and comfortable he hits a clean looking jumper. With more time that will be the case against contesting defenders too. The potential is real!
Aaron quickly grabbed attention with his corner three and two dribble full speed assaults on the rim rising over the help defense to finish. Smith also had a beautiful attacking reverse lay-up and an And1 completion late in the game that helped put Comets Little away. My favorite play from him was a defensive recovery where a quick guard cut hard to the rim but Smith shed the screen and then burst into the passing lane for the deflection. Smith has the tools to do a lot of things as a strong 6-foot-3 wing. Scored 16 plus a game this winter.
Five. South Dakota Attack point guard Sawyer Schultz continues to make life hard on us, and his opponents. For the second straight weekend we had to switch gyms to see the Attack and for the second straight weekend we showed up to see Augustana watching and the Attack hammering their opponent so the game was nearing running time. Today Attack is in the elite eight of the open division of the Spring Extravaganza and Schultz is a big reason why. The state champion guard is as good at keeping the initial defender on his heels as you will see allowing for Schultz to get to his initial read or a dribble into the paint quickly for a playmake as anybody. Composure? One hundred percent. Stoic, calm, and ready to dissect.
In Addition….
- Derek Techman is not a player you can leave open. With feet set in space he is one of the most deadly shooters in Minnesota. Knocked out four triples for the Comets 16s in their win over AIA in EYBL league play. Also attacked the cup for four field goals most of which were catches and using a dribble against a late rotating defense. Twenty points in that key win.
- Derek was helped by 14 from Matt Johnson of Fergus Falls, 14 from Jacob Beeninga, and nine points and eight rebounds form Karsten Broadley, a 6-foot-6 forward from Fosston. Beeninga and Broadley are the two most interesting prospects on that team with Jacob being such a solid all around prospect and Broadley being a long and agile wing.
- WOTN gave a game away against the Tri Metro Steam, then Bryce Phillips took it back with a halfcourt heave that sunk through the net at the buzzer. Scores from Andrew Jackson and the guards at the foul line won the game. In addition to Lewko I was very excited about what Nolan Malo did hitting feet set threes and using his lateral steps to get in great defensive position followed by using his length to finish the defensive play.
- Jordan Belka had a triple double of twelve points, ten boards, and ten assists for Comets Servaty in a loss to the Wisconsin Blizzard yesterday. Belka is a 6-foot-6 coach’s kid from Rogers High School.
- Totino-Grace pair Braeden Mischke and Will Schmidt led Crossfire Schmidt to a win over Select Leafblad late last night and both were essential to the win. Schmidt is a big forward that scored consistently from start to finish hitting jumpers on the wing and then completing after ball movement at the cup. Mischke played lead guard for the Eagles getting past the Select pressure to limit turnovers, hit four treys, and score a couple more.