The Weekend Menu – Outstate Minnesota is Center Stage

<p>This weekend there are ton of big games in outstate Minnesota.  First place in the Big Nine and CLC are on the line plus several big games will be played.  </p> <p><strong>Tasty Appetizer</strong>. Sauk Centre vs Morris Area tonight just after six.  This game showcases two of the better players in their respective classes and certainly two of the elite players in outstate Minnesota.   Six-foot-1 freshman guard <strong>Jay Neubert</strong> is averaging nearly twenty a game for the Mainstreeters and he will try and match the production output of Morris Area division one offered big <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="850706" first="Jackson" last="Loge"]</strong>.  Jackson, a junior, has led his team to a 9-1 record this season while Sauk Centre is 4-5 in the middle of a rebuilding seasons.  The Tigers have seven blowout wins as they are winning games by an average of 14 points a contest so Loge doesn’t often get to pile up the numbers but he is averaging 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 4.6 blocks a game shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor. </p> <p><strong>Specials. </strong>Alexandria at Brainerd, tonight.  Two seniors having excellent year are <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774753" first="Colton" last="Roderick"]</strong> of Alex, who just went over 1,000 points for his career, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774897" first="Griffin" last="Rushin"]</strong> of Brainerd who is scoring 25 points a game.  Roderick is committed to Bemidji State while Rushin is going to St. John’s.  Alex is undefeated and Brainerd is 8-2 on an eight game wining streak.  These are the two teams in the Central Lakes Conference this season.  Alexandria second leading scorer and point guard <strong>Kris Hoskins</strong> committed to play football for PJ Fleck and the University of Minnesota today. </p> <p><strong>Main Course.  </strong>The battle for first place in the Big Nine is up for grabs tonight and I don’t think most out there realize that it’s Rochester Century and Mankato West playing for it.  West is actually in full control of first but if they fall to Century, Century would then be in a tie with West as well as Owatonna for first.  So how did Century get to 8-2 on the season in a big surprise?  Key wins over Mayo and Northfield have led the way as has a defense that is allowing only 53 points a game.  6’4 senior <strong>Noah Deedrick</strong>, 6’5 junior <strong>Jaden Wysocki</strong>, junior guard <strong>Jub Ogak</strong>, and sophomore <strong>Ryan Ohm</strong> are leading Century but do they have enough and talent to deal with the Scarlets? <strong>Mehki Collons and [player_tooltip player_id="958702" first="Buom" last="Jock"]</strong> can only be matched athletically by a few teams in Class AAA and the West guard play has been stellar. </p> <p><strong>Dessert</strong>. A pair of games that have my attention Saturday are in southeastern Minnesota and that’s PEM (8-1) vs Goodhue (6-4) and 6th ranked Stewartville facing Lake City (4-3 with losses in their last two games).  It’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="567035" first="Will" last="Tschetter"]</strong> and the Tigers getting back on track after their national TV game against Minnehaha Academy, and it’s a young Goodhue squad facing a true up and coming PEM team.  The Bulldogs may have the best backcourt in the state that many haven’t heard of and that’s the senior duo of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="774814" first="Blake" last="Herber"] and Conner Schumacher</strong>.  Goodhue is bigger but the combo of 6’5 sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="962224" first="Will" last="Opsahl"]</strong> and 6’5 junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="958721" first="Dayne" last="Wojcik"]</strong> will win a lot of games. </p> <p>Also keep an eye on Pelican Rapids vs Breckenridge. </p>