Granite City Classic: New Names You Should Know

<p>The Granite City Classic was a two day, two location, full 12 hour event where many new names surfaced. Who are those names? NHR lists several for you today!</p> <p><strong>Abdikani Abdi</strong> of Mpls Roosevelt. The six foot Roosevelt senior was flying all over the court putting numbers on the board giving Roosevelt a chance to go at the Skippers. Abdi was constantly at the foul line because Tonka couldn’t keep him in front and Abdikani made all six of his foul shots. Abdi scored 25 for the game. One of the quicker players in St. Cloud.</p> <p><strong>Michael Christiansen</strong> of Apple Valley. A low post worker, Michael built himself a 12 point, seven rebound game in a win over Sauk Rapids-Rice. Michael is a 6-foot-5 frontcourt senior that was too quick for any Storm big to keep off the offensive glass.</p> <p><strong>Johntae Martin</strong> of Milwaukee Washington. Smiling the entire time, and impressing Lake Region State College to the point of a big post game discussion, Martin gave his squad 12 points, six boards, four assists, and constant energy leading to a victory. Martin’s energy was infectious and his timely feel for an extra play was uncanny. What position is Martin? Has the strength and skill to play a couple different spots.</p> <p><strong>Shaheed Muhammad</strong> of North St. Paul. A big momentum changer for the North St Paul win over Delano was a couple big second half shots made by the Polar junior. Shaheed and Malik Toure (a senior) each put forth big makes and fueled the defensive efforts.</p> <p><strong>Aaron Murphy</strong> of North St. Paul. The 6-foot-4 junior did a lot of workmen things for the Polars including grabbing a team high six rebounds and defending at a high level.</p> <p><strong>Galvy Ngimukua</strong> of Forest Lake. Galvy is a 6-foot-1 guard that handled the ball often for Forest Lake but the scoring options were minimal so Galvy scored 31 of his team’s first 51 points for the game. Galvy looks like he can handle some PG but on this day his perimeter touch was on as was his one dribble attack to space. Averaging 17 plus for the season, a player to keep an eye on. Love how he moves laterally as well.</p> <p><strong>Jackson Owens</strong> of Minnetonka. Owens was the point man on the press and that seemed to ignite the Tonka senior to a performance of the season type of game (for Jackson). Owen had a game 13 rebounds plus scored 17 points and forced at least five turnovers for the Skippers. The energy of Owens trapping the first pass and dropping into defensive position was constant.</p> <p><strong>RaShaun Parker</strong> of Maple Grove. The junior guard should make a nice pair with Lovell Williams (both junior guards) as each pushed the pace for a combined 20 points. Paker starts at lead guard and is often the engine. Led the team in rebounds and each of those carom collections was pushed for transition chances.</p> <p><strong>Lyric Radford</strong> of Minnetonka. Lyric has stepped up to score 14 a game for the Skippers this season. Radford – a senior guard – didn’t have the shooting game he wanted to but did put the game away with several late foul shots.</p> <p><strong>Keagen Smith</strong> of Delano. The Tigers 6-foot-5 shooting forward has a beautiful stroke knocking down five threes in a loss to North St. Paul. Smith is scoring 11 a game this year giving the Tigers another offensive option.</p> <p><strong>Jared Yeager</strong> of St. Cloud Tech. At 6-foot-8 Yeager came off the bench and hit three three-pointers scoring a dozen points. Yeager is a senior.</p>