Blake 62 Mayer Lutheran 56 – Five Things to Know

<p>The Blake Bears have picked up two really nice wins to start the 2019-20 season.  Prep Hoops was in attendance last night as Blake beat Mayer Lutheran 62-56.  Here are the game takeaways...</p> <p><strong>Blake’s 2-0 Start</strong>.  The Blake Bears have opened their season defeating Class AAA’s 11th ranked team Holy Angels and the 3rd ranked team in Class A, the Mayer Lutheran Crusaders.  Blake has been relying on their current junior core of talent for three years now and now as upperclassmen you can see this group forming into a contender.  Blake is in the same section of Minneapolis North, Rockford, and Maranatha Christian so we aren’t saying they are the leader to get to state but we do feel this is a team that has a chance to play in the section semis and/or section finals. They used a fantastic balance to knock off AHA earlier in the week and last night beat Mayer Lutheran. </p> <p><strong>Mayer Lutheran is Hampered by Injuries</strong>.  The Crusaders are 0-2 to start the season in large part because three of their four best players -  seniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="721889" first="Sean" last="Buchanan"], Alexander Flucas, and Jacob Pallas</strong> - are all sitting out with injuries.  Taking away three senior starters from a Class A school of 196 kids (9-12) will never be the formula for success but I thought the Crusaders played fairly well last night considering the circumstances.  Six-foot-5 senior <strong>Riley Krueger,</strong> 6-foot-3 sophomore <strong>Ty Hoese</strong>, six foot sophomore guard <strong>Caleb Olsen</strong>, and especially 6-foot-3 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958820" first="Tyler" last="Neitzel"]</strong> are all players that we can see helping this Crusaders core to state title contender status once they get all their players back on the floor. </p> <p><strong>The Blake Trio</strong>.  It’s hard to get into detail about just one of the Blake junior trip without mentioning the group.  <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774756" first="Robert" last="Grace IV"]</strong> is the pace pushing lead guard with the quickest first step you may see.  Grace darts into spaces both attacking baseline and defensive gaps that most players would’t even attempt to get to.  I love Robert’s ability to speed to the finishing angle and do it over much larger contesting defenders.  Grace scored 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting plus dished out four assists and grabbed four boards. </p> <p>I love the energy that <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774777" first="Gabe" last="Ganz"]</strong> plays with.  He had his shot blocked and immediately Gabe wouldn’t be intimidated.  Moments later he hit a three letting everybody know - the fans and the defense - that his problem moments before was turned into a positive.  Ganz competes with an energy that is infectious.  Despite foul trouble last night Ganz still knocked out a pair of threes and scored 17 points on 5 of 12 shooting. </p> <p>Then you had Mr. Consistency last night <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774822" first="Jasper" last="Liu"]</strong>.  Jasper had some pockets of struggle making shots but that didn’t other him from putting the game away with five foul shots makes in the final two minutes.  Lui rebounded well (7), he hit a couple triples and throughout out the game was able to complete plays at important times for his 19. </p> <p><strong>The Top Prospect</strong>. The top prospect in the game was listed 6-foot-7 sophomore power forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="850739" first="Teigan" last="Martin"]</strong> of Mayer Lutheran.  My top takeaway from last night was the comfort in which [player_tooltip player_id="850739" first="Teigan" last="Martin"] knocked down jumpers form 13 to 16 feet.  Martin sometimes went to his face-up out of the post and at other times flashed to paint areas to catch and hit.  Martin’s jumper was in addition to his inside play as he battled to 18 points by also finishing inside physically.  There were three aggressive swats and a game high nine boards to go with it. </p> <p><strong>A Team Effort</strong>.  Blake won the basketball game because every player and coach put together a winning effort.  Like we mentioned earlier, [player_tooltip player_id="774777" first="Gabe" last="Ganz"] fouled out which meant the bench had to step up, and the bench really did.  <strong>David Bix</strong> did a really nice job of keeping Martin away from the basket as often as he could and Bix grabbed eight boards.  Also battling defensively, hitting a bit three, and grabbing eight boards was <strong>Sam Deignan</strong>.  Sam had a tough night shooting the basketball but he was able to do other things to help this team earn a victory.  Sam also had ten in the win over AHA.  </p>