The Granite City Classic – Ten Games You Need to See
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This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the fine people from Breakdown Sports USA is hosting the Granite City Classic, three days of games that will include 38 boys teams from the state of Minnesota. Here are the best ten games to see over the next three days!
For the entire schedule click the link below. Make sure to note the date, time, and location of the games as they are spread across three days and four different locations!
(1) #5AAAA Prior Lake vs #7AAAA Park Center - Friday at 5:15pm at St. Cloud Apollo High School.
It's the latest battle between Dawson Garcia and Dain Dainja. When the pair met last year as juniors and this summer at MBCA Camp the battles were incredible. Do not miss 5-star Garcia vs top 50 Dainja battling inside and out. The beautiful thing is that UND signed Tyree Ihenacho is playing as is up and coming 2021 Malcolm Jones for Prior Lake while Park Center has some of the state's best unsigned players in the state in DT Frierson, Joshua Brown, and John Grigsby. Park Center started the year as the preseason #1 before losing to East Ridge while Prior Lake lost to #1 Eden Prairie this season.
(2) #1 Henning vs #2 BOLD - Saturday at 10am at St. Johns University
There is only one 1 vs 2 match-up this holiday season and it's Saturday morning at St. John's University. The defending champs are 6-0 beating teams by an average of 37 points a game but they really haven't faced a still challenge as of yet (they have two big tests this weekend). BOLD on the other hand is a battle tested 5-0 having knocked off top ten ranked Minneota, top 20 ranked Nicollet, and top 20 level Morris Area already this season. It's true 1 vs 2 with Drew Sagedahl and Gavin Vosika leading BOLD vs Blake Wallevand and Parker Fraki.
(3) #7AAAA Park Center vs #3AAA Mankato East - Saturday at 2:45pm at St. Cloud State
The potential guard match-up of the holiday season matches Jax Madson, Joich Gong, and BJ Omot from East against Josh Brown, DT Frierson, and David Ijadimbola of Park Center. Excellent 1 on 1s all over the court. Now, how do the Cougars plan on dealing with Dain Dainja up front? Dainja, Frierson, and Madson all played together on the Howard Pulley EYBL team this past summer (and it's somewhat of a memorial team as Pulley will no longer be playing in the EYBL 17u level of play this year).
(4) #3AAA Mankato East vs #10AAA Mound-Westonka - Friday at 12:30 at St. Cloud Apollo High School
Before East can worry about Park Center they have a Friday afternoon battle against top ten ranked Mound-Westonka. The White Hawks are well coached and have a great pair in Jameson Sexton and Jason Speath. This will be a great match-up of smart coaches on the bench, smart players on the floor, and hard working talent all over.
(5) #7 Waterville-Elysian-Morristown vs #1 Henning - Friday at 3:45 at St. Cloud Apollo High School
Henning's fans might be thinking 1 vs 2 but the players and coaches are fully aware of the 33 points a game Grant McBroom is averaging for WEM. The 6-foot-3 senior is on an all state pace but can he put up those numbers against the fierce defenders from Henning? Remember that Henning defense completely slowed Cade Goggleye a year ago at state and will look to do the same vs McBroom and the Bucs on Friday.
(6) Champlin Park vs #7AAAA Prior Lake - Saturday at at 1pm at St. Cloud State
The Rebels came into the year ranked 10th but they've dropped one score games to Totino-Grace and Armstrong resulting in a 3-3 record. Champlin Park has won big games this year though having defeated Waseca on the big stage of the Tip Off Classic and now Cooper Olson, Jared Walter, Francis Nwaokorie and company need to slow Dawson Garcia.
(7) #6AA Maranatha Christian vs #6AAA St. Cloud Apollo - Friday at 7pm at St. Cloud Apollo High School.
MCA grabbed our attention with a win over Jordan where as Apollo has followed up a great summer with a perfect start including wins over Alex, Princeton, and Cambridge. Young Jeremiah LaVelle is one of the many young Mustangs playing well along with seniors Hakim Daniels and Maciah Harut. Their tough task is trying to slow one of the state's best young season stories in scorer Chang Hoth along with 21 point per game guy Michael Gravelle and Puoch Doboul up front.
(8) Lakeville South vs Champlin Park - Friday at 2pm at St. Cloud Apollo High School.
The Cougars started the year in the top 15 when the Breakdown yearly preview arrived in the mailbox of many and now they are knocking on the door of the top ten at 6-0 on the season. The Rebels went to the state title football game this year but it may have resulted in a slow start in hoops at 3-3 dropping them from the top ten. Now with juniors Nwaokorie vs Riley Mahlman in the middle, juniors Joshua Strong vs Reid Patterson on the perimeter, and then a host of Rebel senior role guys facing Cougars role sophomores, a great game is in front of us.
(9) Spring Lake Park vs #9AAA Delano - Saturday at 1pm at St. Cloud Tech High School.
The most underrated match-up at the event. Delano is 6-1 and Trey Longstreet looks like the next Tyler Wahl. Longstreet is doing some of everything including feeding bigs Terron O'Neill and Keagan Smith who are combining to score 40 a game up front. Spring Lake Park is looking for their first big win. They've beaten who they should but lost to CDH and Totino-Grace. Blake Remme (20 a game) and Gabe Myren (16 a game) lead the Panthers.
(10) #9AA Osakis vs Albany - Saturday at 6pm at St. John's
Undefeated Osakis and one loss Albany should be excellent. Behind the 24 points, six boards, five assists, and two steals a game of Daniel Savageau the Silverstreaks are a perfect 7-0 so far this season. Cake schedule? Not even close. Osakis is battle tested having beaten Melrose, Sauk Centre, and Eden Valley-Watkins so far this season. Albany is a quality test led by Nolan Reuter.
Next Ten
Cass Lake Bena vs #7 WEM - Saturday at 10am at St. Cloud Tech
Maple Grove vs Lakeville South - Saturday at 4:15 at St Cloud State
#2 BOLD vs Cass Lake Bena - Friday at 2pm at St. John's University
#10AA Rockford vs Cristo Rey Jesuit - Saturday at 10am at St Cloud Tech
STMA vs Spring Lake Park - Friday at 3:45 at St Cloud State
#10AA Rockford vs Princeton - Friday at 2pm at St Cloud State
North St. Paul vs #6AAA St. Cloud Apollo - Thursday at 7:15 at St. Cloud Apollo High School
North St. Paul vs Maple Grove - Friday at 12:30 at St. Cloud State
Minneapolis Henry vs Sauk Rapids Rice - Friday at 5:15 at St. John's
Big Lake vs Alexandria - Friday at 11am at St. John's University
