The Race for Mr. Basketball
How are the ten Mr. Basketball finalists playing down the stretch of this wonderful 2018-19 basketball season? NHR gives you a quick look on this snowy Wednesday. The Leader. Matthew Hurt. After a slow start breaking in several new players…
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Continue ReadingHow are the ten Mr. Basketball finalists playing down the stretch of this wonderful 2018-19 basketball season? NHR gives you a quick look on this snowy Wednesday.
The Leader. Matthew Hurt.
After a slow start breaking in several new players the JM Rockets have won 15 of their last 17 games including recent wins over ranked teams from Austin and Northfield. Earlier in the year Hurt became the all time leading big school scorer in Minnesota history. Matthew is now 3rd all time in scoring in Minnesota history, 9th all time in rebounding, and he’s the latest McDonald’s All American for Minnesota. Hurt was also once again among the few picked to represent Minnesota for USA Basketball. Matthew leads his team in points (36.5 a game), rebounds (12.7), assists (4.8), steals (2.4), and blocks (2.4). He’s also taken recent official visits to Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and North Carolina.
The Final Five. Tyler Wahl, David Roddy, Tyrell Terry & Zeke Nnaji.
Tyler Wahl has Lakeville North at 19-4. In addition to likely being the best wing defender in the state of Minnesota Tyler is averaging 18.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.5 steals a game. You can’t look too deeply at the Wahl averages though because they are in a stretch facing some struggling teams so the numbers were low because of low minutes play. But earlier in the month Tyler had triple-doubles against Eastview and Burnsville, missed a triple double by an assist twice against Shakopee and Eagan, and Tyler had 43 points and 24 boards in a loss to Lakeville South.
Breck forward David Roddy is averaging nearly 30 points a game with 17 boards, four assists, and 2.5 blocks a game. Even more impressive is that Roddy has Breck at 18-4 on the season despite several new players on varsity and second best player Joey Ganley has missed a lot of the season because of injury. Roddy recently scored his 2,000th point for the 7th ranked team in Class AA.
Tyrell Terry is scoring 23 plus points per game for the number one ranked team in Class AAA. He’s coming off a 24 point and seven assist game in a big win against a short-handed Cretin-Derham Hall team. The Islanders have hit a lighter part of their schedule in the last few weeks but did have a nice performance against Charles Johnson of AHA who is one of the best defenders in the state.
Zeke Nnaji is scoring 24.6 points per game for a Hopkins program that traditionally doesn’t have players that score big in numbers (teams always have balance). The Royals are 21-3 on the season with two games to go. Nnaji has had some big recent scoring games with 36 against North, 41 against Wayzata, and a combined 105 points against Henry, Edina, Eden Prairie, and DeLaSalle. Against a tough schedule the Royals have picked up a lot of wins and Nnaji continues to produce in a big way.
Knocking on the Door. Issac Fink, Antwan Kimmons, Jack Middleton.
Issac Fink just became the 11th player in the history of Minnesota high school basketball to score 3,000 points and Fink is now a top ten scorer in Minnesota all time. Fink just went head to head with Jake Kettner and put up 36 points for the 4th ranked Springfield Tigers. Fink is averaging 31 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists a game.
Jack Middleton if the other guy listed as one of the elite wing defenders in the state. And in addition to that roll Jack is also scoring 25.3 points a game versus one of the toughest schedules in the state of Minnesota. When you play both ways like Jack does you have earned this spot in a big way.
One of the elite on-ball defenders in the state? That’s Antwan Kimmons. His Tartan Titans are 21-2 with Kimmons scoring 21 plus points per game. Tartan is in the top ten but they are about the only top ten team that hasn’t played a round robin of games against once another. But in the Edina game Kimmons had 45! He also had 29 against Spring Lake Park and 28 versus Mahtomedi.
Well Earned. Jaeden King, Jamison Battle
Unfortunately for Jaeden he recently suffered what I believe was a nasty concussion and we hope Jaeden the best as he continues to recover from the injury. King has missed the last 2.5 games to injury but before that he was scoring 21 plus points per game.
Jamison Battle has had a great year scoring 22 a game and helping DeLaSalle play pretty well when Tyrell Terry was hurt. Battle continues to shoot well and looks like a steal for George Washington. When it comes to the award the tough part for Jamison is that Tyrell is on his team. But Jamison will still be an all state first teamer in his class and I’m sure he cares most about a title.