NHR State Tournament: Friday Night
Friday night the 6th NHR State Tournament tipped off at Champlin Park. Who were some of the standouts on our courts? Let’s go with Dean Deang and the Second Half Specialist Manny Jingco.
Second Half Specialist. His name is Manny Jingco and he’s a Stillwater/Fury Antl guard that couldn’t have dreamed of having a better spring. Every time we watch him he’s putting the game away in the second half. Fury was close with Select Leafbald but Manny went for a three, an attack, a pull-up, and follow up for a quick nine and the game was no longer close. Not to mention he also forced a couple turnovers bringing his team a new intensity. Finally, Manny had the game winning And1 in transition putting the game at 64-42 with less than two minutes to play. It was the Second Half Specialist getting the walk-off And1.
Also impressing for Fury was the guard dup of Luke Siwek of Rosemount and Cam LaChance of Eagan. Different schools but same school district I believe. Siwek is known for his hot shooting stroke but tonight he was attacking the Select guards and playmaking for himself at the rim and for others with kick-outs. Luke just had more will than the boys in blue so he battled to space to make plays. LaChance is that competitor that does all things that are asked. Type of guy that the coach honors walking into the locker room even though LaChance took four shots. Knows positioning on the floor and outworks every one for it.
Dean Deang’s Highlight and Potential. Powerhouse Minnesota has a lot of good names but the one that needs to start being mentioned more is Dean Deang from Sauk Rapids-Rice. Not only is he a highlight finisher completing plays on floor four while others are still in the elevator, but Deang has been consistently productive in every game we have watched. He’s a 6-foot-6 small forward with a world of athletic potential and Powerhouse is tapping into that potential for production game after game. Tonight his incredible reach back for an alley-oop finish was the walk off completion of an alley-oop dunk for a 79-34 victory.
Judson Chea Part 2. Got another chance to watch STMA junior-to-be Judson Chea and it’s another chance to write about Judson being the best player on the floor. Chea is a 2019 guard who gave the School Boys a quick lead on Heat Ismail with a rapid dozen points. Four threes were made and the other half of his points came from aggressive basket attacks. A first quality impression is good, a second that’s even better means consistency. A player to watch.
Also playing well for the School Boys was bouncy St. Cloud Apollo forward Clifton Patterson. At 6-foot-3 he battled large posts on the block, vaulted to a double-double of 12 and ten, and guys simply couldn’t get a body on him nor could they get a body in front of Clifton. Jake Evans of Willmar also gave the School Boys some good minutes.
His Memorable Moment. St. Paul Highland Park 2019 guard Evan Brodtmann will never forget the day he had a running start at the rim and was able to throw down a two hand putback dunk. It caught all of us by surprise and gave Select Cobb the juice needed to beat Heat Wright 51-37. Brodtmann followed that with a pair of threes and a dozen points.
Select Cobb 16u had a pair of guards that Heat Wright couldn’t keep in front either and that was Anthony Tolliver (Minnetonka) and Yohanes Gebeyehu (DeLaSalle). Tolliver was constantly in transition to score his game high 13 points and Yohanes extended the defense with a pair of threes on his way to double figures (ten). Makil Weems (Tartan) battled on the glass pulling down nine boards.
Collecting Everything. Logan Benson had a tough day shooting scoring ten on his dozen attempts for Heat Wright. That said a couple of the jumpers made by the 6-foot-4 long wing looked like a Barry brother when he released with form and a long gooseneck. His double-double had ten points, and sixteen rebounds! This is a 32 minute game where guys share time but Logan, from Ellsworth High School (WI), managed to collect sixteen boards chasing down everything. In his area it was a bouncing two hand board and out of his area Benson looked shot out of cannon with his effort to snatch caroms.
Coon Rapids Future. You know a kid is quite talented when his head high school coach and assistant show up to watch a Friday night AAU game. That’s 6-foot-3 wing Marshall Holland of the Cardinals. First instinct is shooter as he has a pretty stroke with feet set but he’s got some unexpected handles as well separating to get looks. And the best part about young Marshall’s game is that he works extremely hard. Collected ten boards to go with his 17 points. A nice prospect to know going forward.