Park of Cottage Grove 56 East Ridge 53 – Five Things to Know

<p>Park of Cottage Grove is the current king of the South Washington County hill having now beaten Woodbury and East Ridge.  The Wolfpack have arrived.  Here are Five Things to Know from the Park 56-53 double overtime win over 6th ranked East Ridge.</p> <p><strong>One.  Mike Weah’s Wolfpack is Double (OT) Tough</strong>.  Park didn’t beat East Ridge because they were an offensive juggernaut, they didn’t beat East Ridge because they got hot from the perimeter, and Park didn’t beat East Ridge because they were stronger, or taller, or more talented.  The Wolfpack won this game because they were tougher than their opponents.  <strong>Mike Weah</strong> has his team competing hard and believing in themselves.  Junior <strong>Jamari Walker</strong> had a tough day finishing, but when the game was on the line he blocked the game winning shot attempt, and when the ball was coming off the rim Jamari was often the first one there.  If it wasn’t Walker to the board it was Pharrel’s board, block or shot contest.  Then you have [player_tooltip player_id="774875" first="Jayden" last="Lane"] who had a terrible regulation shooting the basketball but once the clutch time hit Lane put the game away offensively.   Tough kids that have beaten East Ridge, Woodbury, and White Bear Lake. </p> <p><strong>Two.  Pharrel Payne is a D1 Talent</strong>. At 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 with Reggie Lynch type length and a quick bounce off his feet, junior <strong>Pharrel Payne</strong> has the talent to some day play division one basketball.  Why?  What he brings is rare.  First off teams need size and there are only so many humans standing 6-foot-8.  Second, there are only so many players with Payne’s length and shot blocking instincts at 6-foot-8.  Third, there are only so many players at that size, at that length that move as well as Payne does sprinting the floor, quickly getting off the ground, and moving laterally.  Fourth, there is a small amount of players that are his size, his length, and his agility that play this hard.  He’s a mid-major talent, at least.  And Payne had 19 points on 6 of 14 shooting plus 11 rebounds and five blocks.   </p> <p><strong>Three.  Tough Day for Blue and North</strong>.  It’s not often that we talk about players that have a rough day but <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="850708" first="Kendall" last="Blue"]</strong> is talent with a lot of potential therefore he handles the ball for his team and a lot of the playmaking goes through him.  But with so much going through his rough day was key as he made 5 of 24 shots plus had seven turnovers.  Credit the Wolfpack defenders for making most of those shots go over the top, their defense was constantly in position.  If he has his average performance things are different but the Park defense forced 19 misses and seven turnovers from him.  Also having a rough day was <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957208" first="Ben" last="North"]</strong> who fouled out early picking up his fourth foul followed by a fifth for a technical because of his response.  With North out it forced Blue to both handle and score.  North scored seven points while Blue had 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. </p> <p><strong>Four</strong>.  <strong>The Clutch Lane</strong>.   <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774875" first="Jayden" last="Lane"]</strong> missed eight of his first nine shots.  Without his two hand dunk he would of went into the clutch time without a field goal.  Once overtime hit, Lane wanted the heat.  The 6-foot-2 guard scored an And1 pull-up jumper at the foul line while being fouled and then made the free throw.  Jayden made huge foul shots and then scored the game winning basket attacking left and hitting a runner mid-lane before the help could arrive. Lane scored 16 points on 4 of 13 shooting with nine boards and three assists.  He made 8 of 9 foul shots total.   </p> <p><strong>Five.  Raptor Size.  </strong>East Ridge once again has one of the biggest teams around.  Blue does a lot of the ball handling and he is 6-foot-6.  At 6-foot-7 they have <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774754" first="Zac" last="Thomas"]</strong> who is injured, reserve <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1071192" first="Luke" last="Budzyn"]</strong> who scored a couple baskets, and <strong>Rodrick Payne</strong> a post who had nine points and ten boards.  Payne went toe to toe with his brother Pharrel early before foul trouble landed him on the bench.  At 6-foot-8 East Ridge uses <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774745" first="Drew" last="Adams"]</strong> at power forward where he is a stretch four.  Adams had 11 points and seven boards making half of his eight shot attempts (two of them were threes).  Also at 6-foot-8 on the East Ridge roster?  <strong>Brayden Carlson</strong>, a freshman who plays on the JV.  </p>