The Tuesday Night Elite – Loge Dominates

<p>The Tuesday Night Elite. The top players that shined starting with another near triple-double from [player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"] of Morris Area.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Loge Stuffs Minnewaska Area</strong>. The West Central Conference is a bear and in a year where conference games are the majority of the schedule, it’s even tougher. The two teams battling for the top of the league are Class AA 3^rd ranked Melrose and 10^th ranked Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta. Behind them is Minnewaska Area who returned four starters from a season ago.</p> <p>Last night the Tigers crushed Minnewaska for the second time this season (58-28 in January, 75-35 last night). The game was nothing close to competitive. The Tigers had the perfect brand of ball movement to slice the Lakers zone with junior forward Toby Gonnerman putting on a passing exhibition and junior Brandon Jergenson knocking down shots from the perimeter. Another junior who passed well, shot well from the perimeter, and just about everything else? Six-foot-8 [player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"].</p> <p>Just a week ago Loge had 24 points, 15 boards, and 11 blocks in a win over 3-7 Montevideo. Last night Jackson had 35 points, a dozen boards, eight blocks, and four assists before taking an early seat. It wasn’t the pile of numbers that impressed as much as it was the way Jackson went about his business.</p> <p>Early in the game Jackson stretched out the zone with a corner three (Jackson attempted three threes last night and made all of them) and then ran back the other way to block a pair of shots. Jackson sent the early message that there would be no attempts in the paint on this night. After five well times swats, the Lakers simply stopped going to the rim.</p> <p>Offensively Loge was doubled inside regularly with the Lakers sending two players to Jackson within the zone. Loge moved the ball for a couple quick Jergenson baskets and then went to work himself.</p> <p>Loge’s offensive mix was impressive and it all revolved around a versatile touch and intelligent footwork. We mentioned the three threes but there was also the score where Loge took one dribble away from the defense and made an 11-foot jumper. He had two scores where the pass led him away from the defense and while the ball was floating to him, Jackson turned into the shot, caught, and one hand released beautifully. Throw in a couple unstoppable spins for scores and you had a 35 point day on 13 of 26 shooting (6 of 8 at the foul line).</p> <p><strong>The Andover Kids</strong>! Coming into the year I expected Andover would take a nice step and then really start knocking off bigger names next season. They are pushing a year ahead of the schedule I was thinking and likely many opposing teams were thinking. But not the players at Andover, they are on their own schedule!</p> <p>Last night’s overtime victory over Spring Lake Park has the Huskies at 9-3. Add that to a win over Osseo plus a 7-0 record over teams they are expected to beat and you have a true 7AAAA state contender.</p> <p>Sam Musungu took over last night’s game scoring 30 points! Sam continues to show that he is one of the quickest players in his class. He’s attacking hard off ball screens, blasting into gaps, and pushing hard in transition to score. At 17 a game he leads the Huskies along with fellow sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="962246" first="Ben" last="Kopetzki"] (14 a game).</p> <p><strong>The Hot Hand</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id="567044" first="Francis" last="Nwaokorie"] has received a lot of the headlines and deservedly so, he’s a double-double guy for the number one ranked team in the state. That said, right with Francis in the talk for Class AAAA First Team discussion, is Rebel point guard [player_tooltip player_id="774746" first="Joshua" last="Strong"]. Strong scored 32 last night in a win over Elk River continuing his hot hand. In a recent win over Park Center Strong scored 24 with seven assists and five boards. Strong has been in double digits every game and scored 20 or more seven of the dozen games this season.</p> <p><strong>Crusaders Continue to Roll</strong>.   St. Croix Lutheran recently knocked off Columbia Heights, and last night defeated Richfield 68-57.   The Crusaders depth continues to step forward making SCL a tougher team to defend. Connor Mielke and Mark Jovanovic are playing better basketball helping take the load off leaders [player_tooltip player_id="774770" first="Owen" last="Bushaw"] and [player_tooltip player_id="774760" first="Zach" last="Longueville"]. Longueville has been scorching as of late scoring 23 last night, 27 in a recent win over North St. Paul, and 33 in the two score loss to DeLaSalle last week. Bushaw scored 16 in last night’s win.</p> <p><strong>Final Note</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id="850701" first="Tre" last="Holloman"] had a big game in a big win for CDH over Mounds View. If I have the time tonight this is a game I want to watch and then have a separate write up on. Also hoping to catch the Johnson/Central film (one or the other).</p>