Minnetonka 59 Waconia 58 – Five Takeaways

Ryan James January 22, 2020 @ 12:12 PM

With a one point win at Waconia on Tuesday the Minnetonka Skippers won their 7th game in eight opportunities improving to 9-5 while Waconia dropped to 9-4. Prep Hoops was live to observe the contest. One. Skippers are hitting their stride. After a 2-4 start the Skippers have been able to dig in and find a winning formula since the holiday. The stretch has included wins over Edina, Buffalo, STMA, Moorhead, and now Waconia plus they lost to ranked Chaska by a single score. With Wayzata, Hopkins, and Eden Prairie coming up the competition steps up a bit but the Skippers now seem prepared. What has changed? For starters they have a new coach so familiarity is likely growing there. The senior core of players has also taken a step forward and that includes guys like JT Gaffney and Brock Banken. Last night the biggest sequence of the game was back to back threes from Banken and fellow senior Evan Anrdt stretching a one point lead to about a 6-7 point momentum edge. Add in the young but talented guards (sophomore Cohen Kellogg and freshman Jalen Cain) have become more comfortable and you have a team playing very well together. Two. JT Gaffney is a Top Defender. Who is JT Gaffney? JT is a 6-foot-5 senior that played JV a year ago but has now come into his own as a defender. Gaffney spent his Monday night chasing around Matthew Willert and holding the Buffalo standout to three baskets. Last night Gafney used good lateral quickness, quality length, and some excellent defensive footwork and positioning to force PJ Hayes into 3 of 9 shooting in the first half. Gaffney didn't guard Hayes as much in the second half as you could see he was getting tired but the job done for that time period was impressive. Gaffney is also helping in the scoring column averaging plus ten a game including a recent 28 point game vs STMA. Three. The Difference was Steele. Cameron Steele put 18 first half points on the board against Waconia knocking out four three-pointers in his stretch four position. What separates Steele from other players at 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 is certainly the skill he competes with. It's tough for big players to move to the perimeter and contest his shots but in addition Steele is a very crafty player off the ball. Sets quality screens, moves to open spots to catch and shoot or be a cutter to the rim or to the block. Half two touches were limited but Steele had 22 points on 7 of 10 shooting and 5 of 6 foul shooting. Four. Waconia's Size. The Cats may not have a skyscraper line-up but they will be bigger than most teams they play at three spots (at least) starting 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, and 6-foot-6. Senior Ryan Delange has really come along as an all around senior handling the ball some, scoring 3-4 baskets a game, whipping the ball around as a passer, and guarding a few spots (had 8 points, 5 boards, 5 assists last night). Delange allows PJ Hayes to play more off the ball where Hayes is scoring nearly 25 a game. Last night PJ had 24 points on 8 of 25 shooting plus he got help from junior Spencer Swanson. Swanson was a Breakdown Summer Series Standout that has used his excellent positioning in a strong 6-foot-5 frame to be a double-double threat. Swanson is the second leading Waconia scorer at 13.1 a game and last night hit that average with 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting plus grabbed nine boards. Add the 6-foot-5 size of double figure scorer Connor Schwob and you have a tough line-up that is Class AAA top ten quality. Waconia is 9-4 on the year versus one of the tougher schedules in Class AAA basketball this year but I still think they will enter the playoffs as a 20 win team. Five. Riley's Story. Riley O'Connor is one of my favorite type of players that you see develop. A guy that plays JV as a sophomore and gets a bit of varsity time, is a 4th/5th starter area guy as a junior, finds the right summer team that allows him to both improve and flourish in the summer showing schools what he can do and resulting in scholarship offers, and now Riley is a second option on a good Class AAAA basketball team. He is scoring 13-14 a game scoring in high percentage ways taking ten shots a contest. And he does it all working hard and playing the right way. You have to appreciate that.