Millard West Over Omaha Burke: Standout Performers and Evals

<p>Millard West traveled to Omaha Burke Thursday (1/21/21) evening and had little trouble dispensing of the home-standing Bulldogs 78-40. Burke did jump out to a 14-7 lead early and led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, but it was all Wildcats from there. Millard West held the Bulldogs to just four points in both the second and third quarters, building as much as a 39 point lead midway through the final frame before both benches were emptied to finish the contest.</p> <p>In such a lopsided affair, any true storyline can be difficult to find. However, the nearly 40 point route did produce an individual school-record setting performance. </p> <p>Players of Note:</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/01/ryan-larsen.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1120328 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/01/ryan-larsen-248x300.jpg" alt="" width="248" height="300" /></a>[player_tooltip player_id="958192" first="Ryan" last="Larsen"]  SG  Senior  6’3  Millard West High School</p> <p>That historic performance came from the 6’3 senior [player_tooltip player_id="958192" first="Ryan" last="Larsen"] (#2 pictured). Larsen, the #71 ranked senior in Nebraska according to Prep Hoops, scored a game and career high 33 points on Thursday evening. What made the performance memorable was that Larsen connected on a school-record 8 made three-point field goals. Throughout the evening, Burke used combinations of zones from a 2-3 to a 3-2 to slow down the inside threat of [player_tooltip player_id="890478" first="Evan" last="Meyersick"] and the playmaking of Wildcat point guard [player_tooltip player_id="958185" first="Dom" last="Humm"]. However, this allowed Larsen the opportunity to bomb away from outside the arc. The record-setting 8 threes were even more impressive when given the fact it only to the Wildcat shooting guard 10 three-point attempts to accomplish the feat. Larsen spotted up, came off screens on under out of bounds plays, dribbled into shots; basically making his long-range shots from every which way.  His final scoring stat line read: 12/15 FG, 8/10 3FG, 1/1 FT, 33pts. At 6’3 and a little over 165lbs, the senior is garnering some NAIA interest.  After a performance like Thursday, that interest will continue.</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/01/24-domm.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1110871 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/01/24-domm-262x300.jpg" alt="" width="262" height="300" /></a>[player_tooltip player_id="958185" first="Dom" last="Humm"]  PG Senior 6’0  Millard West High School</p> <p>Humm (#24 pictured) once again showed great patience in his approach Thursday evening.  The "true" point guard did not force the action, even as Burke jumped out to a quick and unexpected lead. Facing a packed-in zone defense all night designed to keep him out of the paint, Humm facilitated to others nicely. In transition he was able to attack before the Bulldog zone could get set, finishing at the rim several times. The #30 ranked senior in Nebraska according to Prep Hoops, finished the night with 12 points on 6/9 shooting while dishing out a team-high 4 assists.</p> <p>Senior Pacey Queen came off the bench to pace Burke with 10 points on 5/6 shooting, while fellow senior Sam Sorensen grabbed a game-high 7 rebounds for the Bulldogs.</p>