Tuesday Night Preview: Minnesota's Best Match-Ups

What are the must-see games tonight complete with the must-see player match-ups? NHR gives you the answers with previews today.   Minnehaha Academy at Eden Prairie The Skinny: This winter the Red Hawks have seven games against Minnesota's elite top 10-12 big school teams and so far they have beat Champlin Park but lost twice to Hopkins .That level of team is pretty much who EP plays in half of their games. So far they have beaten East Ridge, Chaska, and Lakeville North but lost to DeLaSalle, Park Center, and Shakopee. This is another power house match-up of some of the state's best. Top Match-Up: Drake Dobbs vs Jalen Suggs. Jalen is scoring 27 a game leading his team, Drake is scoring 19 a game leading his team. Most likely Dobbs will be defended by the smaller Red Hawks guards while Jalen will deal with a long defender, like Connor Christensen. Dobbs will have a physical defender beating on him, Suggs will have to go over length and likely teams of guys. Top Prospect to See: Jalen Suggs. Obviously it's Jalen. Suggs has taken his 17 point per game average as a sophomore to scoring 27 plus per game as a junior. Suggs hasn't just taken his game to another level, he's putting up major numbers against some of Minnesota's best teams. Prediction: Oh man, this could go in either way. Both teams have beaten good teams and lost games they would like to have back. Total toss-up, and both teams really don't want another L to learn from. I say, the home team by a point.   Spring Grove at La Crescent The Skinny: La Crescent has fell to 7-3 on the season losing their last two games to a pair of solid teams (Dover-Eyota and Stewartville). Spring Grove has lost one game all season and has all the momentum. Top Match-Up: Alex Folz vs Thomas Kiesau. A pair of senior point guards that lead their respective teams. Folz is scoring 20 a game for Spring Grove where as Kiesaus is a distributor to Zach Todd and Luke Schwartzhoff plus scores a 11 a night. Top Prospect to See: Luke Schwartzhoff. Luke has the interest of many people because he is a 6-foot-7/6-foot-8 junior lefty post with a nice touch and potential to grow in a low of ways. He will face a nice challenge from Ethan Matzke this evening. Prediction: Spring Grove seems to have so much more momentum coming into this game. They have won seven of eight while La Crescent is struggling as of late. Spring Grove by ten.   Minneapolis North at DeLaSalle The Skinny: Two of the more talented programs come together on the island for one of the most anticipated games of the month. It's Minneapolis Public vs Minneapolis Private. North has seven titles as a school, DeLaSalle has eleven. North is the second ranked team in Class AA, DeLaSalle the top ranked team in Class AAA. Top Match-Up: Tyrell Terry vs Eli Campbell/Nasir El-Amin. Here you have Stanford bound Tyrell Terry scoring 28 plus a night facing the North guards who each score 15-16 a contest. El-Amin and Eli will both handle at times while we know Tyrell controls the Islander pace. Then on the inside the battle of Josh Hodges (6-foot-5) and Davon Townley (6-foot-6) against Jamison Battle and Jalen Travis will also have everyone's attention. Top Prospect to See: Tyrell Terry. The lead guard from the Islanders is a nationally ranked top 100 player. Headed to Stanford. Prediction: North and DeLaSalle have both played several out of state teams. In state North has beaten some teams from both Minneapolis and St. Paul but lost to Eastview. DeLaSalle lost to North St Paul but had a big win against Eden Prairie and Wayzata. I would say the Islanders win by nine although Terry and Battle have both been banged up.   Mahtomedi at St. Thomas Academy The Skinny: Right now there are only two teams with 2-0 Metro East records and it's Mahtomedi and STA. Tartan already has a loss in league play and the winner of this game will put a loss on another top challenger. Who will take early season control? Top Match-Up: Jack Thompson vs Zac Centers. Not many people have the ability to slow Jack Thompson and his 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 3.6 steals a game. You won't stop Jack but you want to try and limit him. Zac Center is also a senior who loves to put in the dirty work for the Zephyrs as a good 6-foot-1 defender who scores 12 a contest. Top Prospect to See: J'Vonne Hadley. The junior is scoring 30 a game as the best junior in Class AAA basketball. He's about a 6-foot-5/6-foot-6 wing that has had a few D1s in to see him lately. Hadley vs Noah Chamerlain should be fun. Prediction: This game could go either way. It's a toss-up. Both teams prepared themselves with tough schedules but the ex-factor is STA hasn't lost at home. We go with them by three.   Hermantown at Duluth East The Skinny: Both teams have controlled their area pretty good with Hermantown undefeated against Duluth area squads and East going 5-1 against the locals. The only difference is Hermantown beat Esko where as East did not. A year ago East beat Hermantown both games by big numbers. Top Match-Up: Peter Soumis vs Isiah Hendrickson. Soumis and Hendrickson are both really good junior guards scoring in that 20 point per game area so far this season. Soumis is about 72 inches tall whole Hendrickson is a couple inches bigger at 74 (6-ft-0 vs 6-ft-2 makes it sound like a bigger difference huh). Both players can put the ball on the deck and attack as well as shoot with range. Top Prospect to See: Connor Bich. Six-foot-7 Noah Paulson sounds like he's taken some steps for the Greyhounds but when he's on the floor tonight one of his tasks will be to help contain Bich, a stretch forward who is scoring nearly 26 points a game. Prediction: East won the games last year handily and they lose nobody from their line-up. That right there (with also being the home team) should present them as the favorite. But Hermantown is much improved even though they graduated some good players. I say East by four.   Sartell at St. Cloud Cathedral The Skinny: Hey Minnesota, Sartell wants you to know that the single digit win seasons of recent history are gone, and they are 7-1 on the season! With wins over Alexandria, Brooklyn Center, St. Cloud Apollo, Big Lake, and Detroit Lakes they have firmly put 4-23 in the rearview mirror. Tonight Sartell is at Cathedral who themselves lost to Apollo so does that make Sartell and their 29 a game guy Thomas Gieske the favorite? Top Match-Up: Jackson Jangula vs Matt Sieben. Jangula is scoring 21 a game from the lead guard spot and having a brilliant year as a playmaker. Sieben and Jangula are both about 5-foot-9/5-foot-10 lead guards with Jangula having the experience edge. If Sieben can slow Jangula that would be huge for Sartell. Top Prospect to See: Thomas Gieske. The 6-foot-3 more explosive by the day scorer is putting up 29 a game and might just have a hit list from last year's ugly season. If they embarrassed Sartell last year Thomas is coming for you. He's already earned revenge against several teams, is Cathedral next? A match-up with Nick Schaefer should be fun. Prediction: Sartell wants respect but I think they like being the underdog more. That way they can have that giant motivational fuel. After some early losses Cathedral is playing well. Lets go Crusaders by four and see what happens!