“Mankato West 62 Rochester Century 44 – Five Things to Know”

<p>Mankato West took complete control of the Big Nine last night defeating second place Rochester Century 62-44.  Who stood out?  Why did the Scarlets control the game? NHR breaks it down now. </p> <p><strong>One.  [player_tooltip player_id="958360" first="Mekhi" last="Collins"] Goes Video Numbers</strong>.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that West junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958360" first="Mekhi" last="Collins"]</strong> did a lot of everything.  The 6’5 205 pound forward made his initial impact defensively.  Mekhi blocked a pair of shots and contested several others in help.  Collins had five steals and I would guess matched that number in deflections.  He also controlled the defensive boards (11 boards total).  Mekhi pushed the transition run the other way (off of the steals and defensive boards) with a number of high percentage fast break points plus there were times he went with the full court outlet for scores (7 assists total).  Throw in three dunks, a couple perimeter jumpers, a handful of power moves around the basket and you have a 20 point game on 9 of 17 shooting.  Bringing that all together Mekhi totaled 20 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, five steals, likely five deflections, and a couple blocks.  All of this in a big game for control of first place in the Big Nine.  I don’t know if Collins will play college basketball or college football but I expect him to be great whatever path he picks.  As a basketball player he’s a sure starter because you can name your agenda as a coach and Mekhi will go out and execute your wishes.  Whatever they are. </p> <p><strong>Two. Some Ugliness</strong>. This was Century’s toughest game of the year and the result was somewhat predictable.  Mankato West is an experienced team with most of their guys having a couple years of varsity time under their belts.  On the contrary Century was a senior dominated team last year that won 19 games.  In 2021 Panthers have surprised everybody with their 8-2 start but there are a bunch of new faces.  It’s been a good story but they haven’t faced a team with Mankato West’s combination of experience and talent (Austin is close, they beat Century, and West beat Austin).  Mankato West was very good defensively and Century’s nerves were triggered into a rough offensive game.  In fact Century was lucky their bench came to play because the starting five gave the Panthers only 18 points on 7 of 38 shooting!  And eight of those points (and nine boards) came from junior forward <strong>Jaden Wysocki </strong>who I think has some promise as a potential college player at the local level.</p> <p><strong>Three.  Louis!</strong>  They tell me 6-foot-5 junior <strong>Louis Maggers</strong> is a hell of a baseball prospect and I’m sure he is, but the young man can really hoop as well!  A problem Century had was their two frontcourt players were much too slow to move with Collins and Maggers.  Louis pulled his guy away from the rim to hit three threes and went right around the Century size to board and attack the cup.  Good skill, good mobility, active, and it all led to 18 points, nine rebounds, and three assists in an excellent performance.  It’s bad enough that teams have to gameplan for guard attacks, the explosiveness of [player_tooltip player_id="958702" first="Buom" last="Jock"], and the all around All League play of Collins, but if teams have to stick their slower or lesser frontcourt defender on Maggers they are going to get hurt just like Century was. </p> <p><strong>Four.  Panther Bench</strong>. As bad as Century was last night - too many bad turnovers to count and seven airballs - they still had a chance in the second half because of their bench play (<strong>Noah Dedrick</strong> also had two threes and six boards that helped, plus Wysocki had his moments).  Century senior <strong>Jaecan Fratzke</strong> came off the bench to hit two threes and score two first half And1s (15 points for the game).  <strong>Jub Ogak</strong> scored a couple times off the bench and number one (don’t have a roster to know him) aggressively went at the basket for production.  I’m really interested to see how Century responds to this loss.  They have Mankato East next which will be tough and then three winnable games versus JM, Albert Lea, and Northfield. </p> <p><strong>Five.  6 of 14 in Support</strong>.   West separated early on two runs: one by Collins and one by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774798" first="Mason" last="Ellwein"]</strong> who attacked his guy off the dribble three times scoring at the cup.  Mason and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958702" first="Buom" last="Jock"]</strong> were both 6 of 14 from the field, both scored a dozen points.  Ellwein went colder later, Jock was cold early.  But both players were constantly engaged and took advantage of chances created by the Scarlets have court offense.  Ellwein saw the Century defense stretched and slow to rotate so he beat his man several times on hardline attacks for baskets.  Most of Buom’s production came later when the floor opened up and he rim ran to complete possessions.  We were able to see one of Jock’s explosive dunks late in the game.  Also, one of the quieter contributions but quite valuable was the six assists from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="796953" first="Brady" last="Haugum"]</strong>.  </p>