Battle at the Lakes: Mason’s Saturday Recaps

<p>Saturday was a great day of pool play games at Maple Grove Middle School. I saw a couple 17U regional games and quite a few 16U National bracket games. I really thought overall that it was a great day with a ton of talent Below you can find game recaps of the games that I saw on Saturday.</p> <hr /> <p><strong>10:05 (17U) — Grassroots Sizzle - Jett (65) vs. Gallo Sports Center (47)</strong><br /> Grassroots Sizzle - Jett handled this game pretty well from the opening tip. They are a tough team and #13 (no roster provided) dropped in 20 points for them. Grassroots Sizzle had a few players play well but I thought <strong>Jonathon Rankins-James</strong> was on fire for Gallo Sports Center. James scored 12 points in the game and was getting it done at all levels on the floor. He's a quick guard with a ton of strength. <strong>Haden Sollman</strong> was another guy for Gallo Sports Center who played well and finished with 11 points. </p> <p><strong>11:10 (16U) — Kingdom Hoops Navy (68) vs. JH1 Elite (64)</strong><br /> This was a great game as Kingdom Hoops trailed by double digits for most of the game. After trailing by a dozen at halftime, Kingdom Hoops came out ready to play in the second half. <strong>Payton Sandfort</strong> scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half to lead the change. Sandfort took a bit for his shot to heat up, but it finally started to drop. <strong>Manny Austin</strong> scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half as well as Kingdom Hoops made a huge comeback. <strong>Josh Crubaugh</strong> nailed four 3-pointers en route to 12 points in the loss for JH1 Elite. <strong>Marko Rajkovic </strong>added in 11 points for JH1 Elite in their loss.</p> <p><strong>12:20 (16U) — RWA (65) vs. Wisconsin Rap (63)</strong><br /> In a game that looked like it would be very high scoring, RWA pulled out a really solid win against a good Wisconsin Rap team.`<strong>Jaden Terrell</strong> was on fire for RWA as he hit four 3-pointers in the first half to help RWA out to a lead. He added in five points in the second half to lead all scorers for RWA with 17 points. <strong>AJ Coleman</strong> also played well pouring in 13 points for RWA. Wisconsin Rap was led by <strong>Reece Sproul</strong> with 19 points. He was really good the entire game and was scoring the ball well at all three levels. <strong>Brennan Timm</strong> added in 12 points for Wisconsin Rap and he was getting to the rim at a high rate. Very competitive afternoon game.</p> <p><strong>2:30 (16U) — Martin Brothers (67) vs. South Dakota Network (52)</strong><br /> Martin Brothers came out early and often cruising to a win. <strong>Jadin Johnson</strong> hit two early 3-pointers as well as another bucket in the first half to help Martin Brothers get out fast. <strong>Michael Duax</strong> ended up leading Martin Brothers with 14 points most of which came via the slam dunk. Keaton Kutcher had a quiet 13 points in the game and showcased his versatility and scoring ability at all levels. South Dakota Network's <strong>Hayden Muirhead</strong> probably had the best showing of anyone in the game. He scored 16 points and was doing it very efficiently. Muirhead was scoring at all three levels on the floor and dunked over top of a guy. He's a wing that plays above the rim.</p> <p><strong>3:35 (16U) — Team Factory Gold (84) vs. Beyond Ball 24K (67)</strong><br /> Team Factory Gold scored early and often in this one en route to a runaway win. <strong>Brad Bennett</strong> caught fire in this one and was making everything that he looked at. Bennett drained six 3-pointers en route to a game high 21 points. <strong>Chucky Hepburn</strong> showed off some great passing ability and vision dishing off assist after assist. Hepburn also added in nine points. <strong>Tyler Sandoval</strong> came up big for Team Factory as he grabbed double digit rebounds and scored 11 points. <strong>Greg Brown</strong> continued his great play this spring as he dropped in 18 points scoring the ball effectively at all three levels. Beyond Ball had some players play solidly and make a bunch of 3-pointers, but a roster was not supplied.</p> <p><strong>4:40 (16U) — SD Attack (81) vs. JRB Kraus (61)</strong><br /> JRB Kraus came out hot, but cooled off as SD Attack was able to control the second half of the game and make a shot to kill the game late. It was just a two point game at the half and SD Attack was able to grow that lead quickly. <strong>Sam Jensen </strong>was on fire for JRB early on as he nailed four 3-pointers in the first half en route to six 3-pointers and a 20-point performance. <strong>Paul Bruns </strong>was scoring at all three levels on the floor and pitched in 16 points in the game. <strong>Jake Layman</strong> added 11 second half points for SD attack to help their second half spurt. 14 of SD Attack's 45 second half points came at the line.</p> <p><strong>5:45 (15U) — Wisconsin Playmakers - Shaw (80) vs. Minnesota Heat - Unger (68)<br /> </strong>Minnesota Heat made a really good run in the second half and pulled the game within four points. It wasn't enough in the end though as the Wisconsin Playmakers held on for the win. <strong>Mekhi Shaw</strong> was really impressive this evening as he controlled the game from the point guard spot for the Wisconsin Playmakers. He was a scoring machine as well scoring 22 points and knocking down four 3-pointers. <strong>Logan Hollinger </strong>was also a key player scoring 19 points including three deep balls. For Minnesota Heat, <strong>Ethan Loss </strong>was scoring at all three levels. He had 14 points to lead Minnesota Heat. <strong>Prince Nde</strong> had 11 points to help the Minnesota Heat claw back into the game.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>