Five Stars: Maple Grove 73, Waconia 60

<p>I jetted home for a quick warmup before the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic Friday night to get a non-conference matchup between the Crimson and Wildcats. A rough-and-tumble, physical game was slowed down astronomically by the officiating and despite a monster output from the Waconia star, Maple Grove was balanced enough and hung on for a 73-60 win.</p> <p>Here are five stars plus more notes on the game:</p> <p><strong>Lovell Williams (PG, 6-0, Sr., Maple Grove) - </strong>The MIAC needs to get on Williams fast. He's reliable with the ball in his hands and has long arms for being 6 feet tall. He paces in transition extremely well and I was impressed with his balance getting to the rim in traffic. 14 points, 8 assists on the night orchestrating Crimson offense to almost a brand-new rotation. He's got a 3.4 GPA, too.</p> <p><strong>PJ Hayes (SG, 6-4, Sr., Waconia) - </strong>The Wildcat offense understandably runs through PJ, and even on a volume of shots he was effective against anyone MG threw at him. Lots of mid post touches for turnaround jumpers and drives from the top into the paint that the Crimson just couldn't stay in front of for his 28 points. A lot of that came at the FT line too. It'll be a daily occurrence for him to score in the 20s, he has that innate scoring touch the D2s and elite D3s love.</p> <p><strong>RaShaun Parker (SG, 6-0, Sr., Maple Grove) - </strong>I think Parker can make his case as one of the best heat check guys around, as evidenced by Friday night. There was a sequence of three Crimson possessions where he received the ball on an L-cut to the top, waited, had a foot of space and fired from the volleyball line, making two of three from that spot. When he gets hot, he gets hot and it's deep. He'll be a huge momentum-swinging shooter this year and local jucos should be checking in on him.</p> <p><strong>Ryan DeLange (SG, 6-3, Sr., Waconia) -</strong> It was all Hayes offensively for the Wildcats in half one, but Ryan DeLange stepped up with some crafty finishes early in the second frame for an energy boost. I think Waconia's biggest question is who will be that second threat every night on offense for them. DeLange showed why he can be one of the options for it, crashing the glass for offensive boards and slicing past second waves of defenders for rim scores. He chipped in 10 for the Wildcats.</p> <p><strong>Henry Fahnbulleh (C, 6-5, Sr., Maple Grove) - </strong>Maple Grove junior starter Caden Boettcher grabbed two fouls early and had to sit the rest of the half but one of the bench frontcourt replacements was Henry, a senior highflyer. His job was to grab every rebound and play tough interior defense. He did exactly that in the first half for the Crimson, hitting 4-4 FTs for 6 points and adding 6 boards. There's some depth maybe 9 or 10 guys deep for Nick Schroeder to work with that could be valuable every other night when starters don't go the way they should.</p> <p><em><strong>Other game notes:</strong></em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Connor Schwob </strong>scored 13 fighting hard inside for Waconia. Schwob is another option for that second fiddle to Hayes and can always be relied on for dirty work under the basket anyway. I was impressed by his willingness to keep fighting in the paint despite getting clobbered every other play.</li> <li><strong>Sean Bergstrom </strong>scored 12 for the Crimson showing a nice array of post moves and scrappy putbacks. He's improved defensively guarding without fouling from last year.</li> <li>Couldn't tell you how many fouls Waconia picked up throughout the game, but it was a lot. And Maple Grove was called for 33 personals, 23 in just the second half. Lou Smith and company!</li> </ul>