Five Things to Know: Eastview vs Park of Cottage Grove
One of the better games from Tuesday night was Eastview’s 74-72 win over Park of Cottage Grove. Lightning sophomore center Steven Crowl led the way with a dominating inside game.
One. Steven Crowl. The Eastview sophomore has been seen listed at 6-foot-8, and 6-foot-9. Either way, Crowl was the difference in the game scoring on 9 of 12 field goals and all four of his foul shots for 22 points. Crowl also collected 11 rebounds and blocked four shots. The item that really caught my eye was how well Crowl moved his feet on screens and not only stopped the guards attack, but Crowl also kept his arms up and forced two turnovers while stepping over on the ball screens. Crowl has a very nice touch at his size shown in his foul shooting and in the many touched in shots over the top of the Park defense. Crowl is the team’s leading scorer and surely has the look of a prospect that D1 schools should be watching for the years to come.
Two. Eastview Sophomore Crew. Of the 18 guys on the Eastview varsity/junior varsity roster, half of them are sophomores. Of the ten players that Eastview played last night, five of them were sophomores. Crowl is the big piece in the middle while Tate Machacek is a 10/11 point per game scorer next to him at power forward. Machacek only played a few minutes a game last night but usually he’s a strong contributor. Also, Caden Scales knocked down three jumpers last night including a pair of threes. Ryan Thissen and Nick Vermulen are sophomores that have worked their way into the line-up more and more as the year has moved on. Thissen scored three times last night and is a nice athlete on the wing. Vermulen handled and is also a very good shooter.
Three. No Blocking Domenik from the Court. Park junior guard Domenik Block went for a board in the first minute of the game and was flipped over a player and onto the back of his head, neck, and back. It was an ugly fall, the type that had the gym frozen in silence. Block went to the trainer’s room for seven minutes and then to my surprise, he was back on the floor with ten minutes to go in the first half. Block didn’t have a great shooting night at the arc, but he did make one and Block seems to have confidence in that touch. The form is good plus Block is also an aggressive player willing to attack any open space to the rim aggressively. It was impressive to see Block get through the first line of defense and find ways to finish 7 of his 16 shots and all of his foul shots. He’s a player I’m eager to see this 17u season.
Four. Mr. Barry. Will Barry had a big night totaling a dozen points with six rebounds and four assists. He came off the bench in both halves but played a lot of minutes in each half giving his team valuable minutes as a 6-foot-6 frontcourt player. If Barry could play like he did last night more consistently he would be a player that colleges at the D3 level certainly should take a look at. It wasn’t just the numbers, but it was his efficiency. I thought Barry did a nice job moving the basketball and then moving without the ball. Max Bolger and Essam Ibrahim are the Eastview second and fourth leading scorers respectively and both were solid. Eastview has talent, but it just seems they don’t have a the right chemistry mix between solid veterans and raw but talented young players.
Five. Confidence in the Park Future. This was not the year that Park was hoping to have. The tendinitis in the legs of Charlie Gorres resulted in him having to sit the rest of the year. Without Gorres around the basket Park was left with Block to score, and a talented Marshaun Campbell was left to handle all opposing size as a 6-foot-2 forward. Gorres, Block, and Campbell are a nice group to lead next year, and Coach Weah did some really nice things with this group last night, so the Park future is looking solid. They do need to replace hard working guards like Cole Harder and Blake Petschen.