Hopkins 92 Minnehaha Academy 85 - Five Things to Know

The Hopkins Royals picked up a very important 4th win of the season on Tuesday when they knocked off the Redhawks 92-85 in overtime. It was an outstanding game with talent everywhere. One. The Talent. Let's start with the obvious, Kerwin Walton and Jalen Suggs were outstanding. Kerwin had 29 points and 13 rebounds (8 of 17 shooting, 10 of 12 from the foul line) while Jalen scored 41 points with 14 boards, four assists, four steals, and four blocks (my stats add up to 40 points on 12 of 24 shooting from the field, 12 of 19 from the foul line and four threes, I must of missed a free throw or maybe Jalen hit five threes). By now Kerwin and Jalen have been evaluated to the point that everybody here knows what they can do. But what made Kerwin special on Tuesday was his ability to come back from a rough first half (two fouls and two points) and turn it into a special evening. Kerwin's patience with or without the ball turned into dribble separation attacks and open movement into catch and hit threes is outstanding. And Jalen showed that if needed he can be a monster rebounder as well. Without Chet Holmgren the team needed Jalen's rebounding and they got it in a big way. Both teams sent multiple, athletic defenders at Kerwin/Jalen but both players are versatile to limit. Two. The Officiating. There was constant talk after the game about the officiating so it's something to bring up. First off it must be known that calling this physical type of game with so much talent on the floor is quite difficult. When you have guys that are able to attack defenses with the speed and physicality that these teams have, it makes things very hard for an official because there are constant plays with contact. You either have a game where there are fouls called every 30 seconds or you have a game that can be physical but you let it go even though many many people will be angry at times. I think the officials got themselves stuck in a spot where they called some touch fouls early in the game and it resulted in the best two players on the floor - Kerwin and Jalen - picking up two early fouls. Seeing that the best two players had two fouls, the officials seemed to change how they were officiating contact plays which then sent coaches and fans into moments of rage. Let me emphasize, coaches and fans in a rage, who cares?!?! That's going to happen regardless because they have a heavy bias. The big problem the officials ran into was that at one point Minnehaha Academy had 11 second half fouls and Hopkins only had 3. The Redhawks lack of defense in that stretch led to a lot of late defensive reactions and more fouls, and Hopkins was playing better position defense so they should of been called for less. BUT for about six minutes I felt that when Minnehaha was getting calls against them, the officials missed a couple similar calls that should of gone against Hopkins within that same time frame. BUT again, the officials had both teams in the double bonus well before the second half was over so it was very close to even in my opinion. The officials did not lose Minnehaha Academy the game, Hopkins playing better team basketball is what lost Minnehaha Academy the game. Three. Emerging Players. Two players that had big games on Tuesday were Hopkins junior Jaelen Treml and Minnehaha Academy junior Isaiah Davis. Treml may have been the Hopkins MVP because with Walton slow to get started it was Treml that kept pace with Suggs allowing Hopkins to keep pace with Minnehaha Academy. Jaelen has always been known as a steady two way player that coaches trust and on Tuesday he did that, and more. Treml knocked out two first half threes, scored in transition multiple times darting up the floor from his position in passing lanes, and overall made seven of eight first half attempts. Treml only took a combined two shots in the second half and overtime but one of those was a three point make leading to 23 points on 8 of 10 shooting. Chet Holmgren has missed the last three games and Terry Lockett has yet to play this season. With the pair out, Isaiah Davis has moved into a bigger role and both games Prep Hoops was at, Davis stood out in a big way. Minnehaha Academy is having trouble getting consistent help from everybody as the ball isn't moving all that much but one guy that is working his way to off ball production is Davis. Once again Isaiah used his agility and activity to make 6 of 10 shots for 15 points with seven boards. At about 6-foot-4 we knew Isaiah was athletic but what we are seeing this year is a player that is also very hard working off the ball and intelligent in how he works off the ball. Four. The Solid Veterans. Cornell Richardson is another player that helped Hopkins earn the victory. His 11 points, five boards, and steady decision making allowed for players like Kerwin and Jaelen to produce. And before he fouled out senior Sawyer Shrake scored three times and defended in the right spots to limit the rest of the Redhawks team. Prince Aligbe is only a sophomore but in his third year as a varsity player he can be called a veteran. Prince grabbed 11 boards and scored four times nearly recording a double-double. Five. What's Next? Minnehaha Academy was being called "the best team ever" at one point and that's something I didn't agree with. They have to form that chemistry first if they want to be talked about with the Hopkins 2009 club. Now they are quickly being flipped in on as a disappointment by some people. Meanwhile, nothing has changed. This Redhawks main goal is still a Class AAA championship and they are still the favorite to earn that title. That said, if their chemistry as a unit doesn't improve it's going to be a rough road to the title they hope to earn. Hopkins has four new starters this year so there was going to be some pitfalls early. Those pitfalls were seen in the early two losses. Tuesday and Saturday (a win over Nicolet) are great examples of how their chemistry is coming together quickly. And if that's the case, Hopkins will be a legit title contender come March as everybody knows Ken Novak Jr teams always get better as the year goes on.