Five Things to Know – Eden Valley-Watkins 64 HLWW 63
The travels of Prep Hoops took us to HLWW last night for an excellent game versus Eden Valley-Watkins. Here are Five Things to Know. The Pain is Real (1). There are no meaningless games in high school basketball. Most student…
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Continue ReadingThe travels of Prep Hoops took us to HLWW last night for an excellent game versus Eden Valley-Watkins. Here are Five Things to Know.
The Pain is Real (1). There are no meaningless games in high school basketball. Most student athletes have a small window of opportunity to play high school basketball at the varsity level. Every game is something to cherish and every game is something players fight for to create memories. We’ve been reminded of that a lot the past several days and most recently the faces of Noah Bush and Carson Woolhouse grabbed my attention right after both missed game winning shot attempts. It’s not who they lost to or how the loss dooms their future chances, it’s a missed opportunity to make a memory. It’s another game gone. That’s why the pain was on their face, because they have put so much time into being high school basketball players and a missed opportunity hits the soul hard.
Streit is a D1 Talent (2). Six-foot-7, 6-foot-8 Eden Valley-Watkins junior power forward Joshua Streit is a top 5-10 level talent in the junior class for many reasons starting with his physical gifts. Last night Streit produced 16 points on a dozen shots (made six), he grabbed 14 rebounds, dished out assists, and blocked four shots. It’s his all around game that makes him the prospect he is. There are few statewide standouts that are as unselfish as Streit nor are many bigs as good passing the ball as Joshua is. He often handled for EVW and then dove into the post to catch and try and score on two different players. Add in Streit’s work ethic and his ability to use his agility to collect boards and you have an interesting prospect. Streit didn’t shoot a jumper last night but he skillfully scored 16 and passed the ball to open up is teammates throughout the night. To me this is a division one prospect who will certainly collect low major chances and he has the potential to be an excellent face-up four man based on his agility and skills to pass as well as handle some.
Better Than Expected (3). Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted was a game under .500 a year ago but they came into last night’s game at 10-5 with wins over teams they should be and a list of losses to a group of several strong teams. This is a team of balance and a group that worked really well together. A squad without stars but with several dedicated basketball players. The Lakers play strong defense – hold teams to 47 points a game – and don’t have a single player averaging double players. It’s a formula that’s worked and almost worked last night. Carson Woolhouse and Brandon Huston all had their moments and last night Bennett Paulson and Cody Dickhausen both scored in double figures.
The Game Winner (4). When Eden Valley-Watkins reviews the tape today they will all get excited when they see that Kobe Beattie and Adam Stommes converged on the in-bounds pass stealing HLWW’s chance to put the game away. HLWW was up two points with about 20 seconds to go. Beattie collected the ball and found the team’s top threat, Streit. Streit attacked the basket but as HLWW had done all night, they sent extra attention at Joshua the second he touched the ball. The problem with sending extra players to Steit is that he has great vision and once he found Luke Jansen at the arc nobody was near the 6-foot-3 senior to get a hand in his face. Jansen hit the game winner with the perfect highlight finish. Jansen hit three threes and scored a dozen, Adam Stommes scored a dozen, and Dylan Utecht had 11 points.
Noah Bush (5). The leading scorer for HLWW is a five-foot-11 guard named Noah Bush. Bush is a player that has an edge, has a confidence, and could turn into an excellent high school basketball player. In fact I think Bush has the tools to be a very nice MIAC player or UMAC player some day. Bush is quick and his read of the defense last night was strong. Bush had 17 points with four boards and four assists (shot 7-13fg).