Battle at the Lakes: Mason’s Friday Recaps

I arrived in Minnesota just in time for the opening night of games to get underway at Maple Grove Middle School. I saw three high level 17U games on the evening and while a few weren't competitive, none of the games lacked exciting prospects. Below you can find game recaps of the games that I saw this evening.

7:00 (17U) — All In Adidas Gold (59) vs. MathFab Steelers (48)
All In Adidas got the Friday night started with a come from behind win over MathFab Steelers. RJ Ogom was attacking the boards early and often for All In Adidas. Super strong kid who gets where he wants. Very solid kid who just tries to outwork his opponent. Kyndall Davis was another kid who had a really solid game. Stout shooter with a ton of range. Cuts well to the basket and uses his smarts to create for himself. MathFab was a team full of Maple Grove kids who kept hoisting 3-pointers. Very effective early on but they eventually cooled off allowing All In Adidas Gold to get into the game. Blake Paurus was a kid who hit it early, and hit it often. He was able to knock down threes and they kept going in. Solid handler of the ball allows him to be super dynamic. Cade Callahan was another kid who intrigued me. A undersized forward who has a bunch of versatility in his game. Really strong and active down low but can also step out and shoot it a little bit. All In Adidas and their athleticism was just too much in the end.

8:05 (17U) — D1 Minnesota (78) vs. TS Wolverines (26)
D1 Minnesota came out early and often in a runaway win. Dawson Garcia was playing like a man on a mission tonight. He scored 22 points in the game and was all over the floor. You can easily tell that he's a guy who will separate at the next level. There is a reason that we have him ranked #21 in the class of 2020, and tonight that was evident. Steven Crowl was really good tonight as well. He's an agile big man who just recently picked up an Iowa offer. High points the ball really well and can score at the rim with ease. Such a good night from him. I haven't even talked about Kerwin Walton or Kendall Brown and they also played well. Walton is a high major kid who plays tough at both ends of the floor. Solid shooter allows him to create off the wing. Brown dropped in a few buckets but was really solid defensively. Got his hands on a lot of balls and created havoc. This D1 Minnesota team is loaded, and I'd saw they are the favorite to win the whole thing. A pair of 2019s played well for the TS Wolverines. Tristen Phillips and Daivion Hurston both made plays for their teams and were able to score the ball. Phillips finished with eight points including a couple smooth 3-pointers. Hurston had nine and got to the rim really well.

9:10 (17U) — Wisconsin Playground Club (117) vs. Minnesota Bulldogs White (46)
Whew, there isn't a whole lot to say about this one other that Playground Club ramped up the pressure early and often. It was one of the better shooting displays I have ever seen in an AAU game. Over half of their points came from behind the arc. Led by Treyton Zastrow (6 3s, 20 points) and Gabe Madsen (5 3s, 19 points) they got off to a 60-28 halftime lead and never looked back. Zastrow has a super quick trigger and who making everything he looked at. He's a smaller guard, but doesn't need any room to get his shot off. Madsen is a long and tall shooting guard who can just sit out on the wing and torch the nets all day long. Handles the ball well and plays with an edge to his game. He's been grabbing a lot of high major interest as of late and is going to see his recruitment jump a lot over the next few months. He grabbed a Virginia Tech offer last week. Alexis Antetokounmpo was really solid tonight in all aspects of the game. He showed off his length, defense, and passing ability tonight. He also dropped in a couple deep balls and scored 12 points. Once we got to the second half it became a dunk-a-thon as both teams started to take it easy defensively.