NHR Scout: Shakopee 49 Chaska 41

<p>Chaska is the 6^th ranked team in Class AAAA while Shakopee is ranked 7^th in Class AAAA. Last night they met in the 4/5 game of Section 2AAAA and the Sabers won 49-41.</p> <p><strong>Slugfest</strong>. This was certainly one of the quicker games you will ever go to in terms of high school basketball. A 6:55 tip off that was over by 8:05. Why? Because there was about an eight pass average for each possession and transition opportunities were rare. When open shots were available they needed be treated like gold. You have to give a nod to both coaching staffs as the defense in this game was strong, the Sabers had the slight edge when the 36 minutes were up.</p> <p><strong>Separating Shakopee</strong>. What gave Shakopee the edge? I would say it was three things that they did differently: 1) they hit three huge shots from the perimeter late in the game (Will Cordes, Brooks Allen, and Aaron Bosley), 2) Shakopee is the bigger team and that size gave them a late edge, 3) Chaska missed chances late from the foul line. Both teams moved the ball well but those late threes from Cordes, Bosley, and Allen came at crucial times off key ball reversals.</p> <p><strong>The Game Changer</strong>. Senior Brooks Allen had zero points 24 minutes into the game. Then with his team up 39-35 Allen smashed a Cole Nicholson shot attempts out of the air. Moments later Allen put the ball on the deck from the elbow and scored an attacking basket on the left side of the rim. Brooks followed his first field goal with made foul shots and a huge three giving Allen eight straight points. This gave his team the gap needed for a huge victory. Allen stands about 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6 and with Charlie Katona attacking the cup for a dozen at about 6-foot-5 the Hawks just didn’t have the bodies to defend both.</p> <p><strong>The Numbers Guys</strong>. Cole Nicholson scored a game high 14 points and most - or maybe all – of his points were various attacking scoring through the length of Katona and/or Allen. Shakopee made Cole work hard for his points commonly doubling him inside or send a hard dig. Nicholson often had to go to move three or four to complete the plays and if you know Cole he has those moves in his game. Cole also did a great job of fighting on the glass and moving the ball but his teammates did not have the needed success knocking out jumpers that Shakopee did. Cole had trouble making foul shots down the stretch and that is something that will eat at him but Nicholson had a great season, and career.</p> <p><strong>Charlie Katona and Will Cordes</strong>. The junior pair of Sabers are the leading scorers and both had a dozen points. Every score was a challenge with Cordes attacking on the break and scoring over contesting Hawks while Katona always had to go through the positioned length of Nicholson. The percentages weren’t what they likely desired but in this game a dozen each was more like 20 each. Katona and Cordes battled through a strong defense to complete plays.</p> <p><strong>Chaska Future</strong>. The Hawks will lose Nicholson and shooter Connor Krenos but this team won’t be slipping any time soon. The rest of the rotation will return including Zach Lea, Spencer Goetz, Jack Frick, Luke Strazzanti, Brady Nicholson, and Ben Kallman all return. That is the bulk of the rotation and several of these players have the talent to make Chaska once again.</p> <p><strong>Oops</strong>. All right. So last night I left one place at 5:45 thinking a 45 minute trip to Shakopee should get me there at 6:30. I forgot I needed gas and cash (need food for the evening from the concession stand!) so I had to take 15 minutes getting off the road to do that. No worries, 6:45 arrival. Well, Shakopee had a packed parking lot. No issue, 6:50 shouldn’t be an issue. Oh wait, that’s a three minute walk around the building. 6:53 should be good. Shoot, long line to get in, it’s 6:57. No worries, game starts at 7pm. Oh wait, at 6:57 150 seconds had already been played. Seeing the officials I smiled and thought “they are going to love my take on #ThankaRef tonight”. Well, I did not know that officials have zero to do with starting the clock especially in the playoffs. Talked to a couple ADs today and both said they will allow the refs to do it sometimes when they are trusted and at younger levels they allow officials to put the time on. But overall my thought was wrong that the officials put up the clock. Really, it wasn’t a big deal but some people on Twitter got after me. So I say “I was wrong” and that much of it was a joke between one of the officials on the court and myself.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>