Columbia Heights vs Cretin-Derham Hall – The Rundown

<p>Columbia Heights enters the season at two in Class AAA while CDH enters the year as the second ranked team in AAAA. </p> <p>We enter back into the Fresh Coast Video vault and another one of the clipped games.  Columbia Heights and Cretin-Derham Hall from the Breakdown Fall League in…. The Rundown! </p> <p>The first item that catches my eye in watching this game is the different ways that [player_tooltip player_id="958666" first="Donnavin" last="Hinsz"] was around the ball and rebounded the ball.  Minutes in, Hinsz already had two tap outs to teammates, a d-board pushed the other direction, and a putback of his own miss. </p> <p>Another player that caught my eye quickly was [player_tooltip player_id="958742" first="Terrence" last="Brown"].  CDH has some pretty good athletes but it didn’t take long for the Hylanders returning point guard to attack them and get to the rim for a score, a foul, and an assist.  And back the other way he was backed down by [player_tooltip player_id="850701" first="Tre" last="Holloman"] but still kept his position blocking a Tre shot around the basket.  Love the Brown timing on both ends especially on that behind the back pass knowing that Burton was trailing him on the move and in stride to the cup. Brown looks better and he’s definitely been more vocal than I recall from the past. </p> <p>The CDH talent that caught my eye early was [player_tooltip player_id="1293963" first="Mekhi" last="Edwards"], the 6’5 sophomore transfer from Irondale.  Edwards poked the ball out of the hands of Hinsz at one point starting the break for Holloman to score and then Tre returned the favor attacking and kicking out to Edwards in the corner for a good looking three.  He also helped over and blocked a shot out of the hands of [player_tooltip player_id="850729" first="Muja" last="Burton"].  Edwards has really good ball handling skills for a young big and his touch on the move really caught my eye.  </p> <p>Edwards played his role well, as did 6’3 junior [player_tooltip player_id="1220383" first="Adam" last="Tauer"] and a player who I believed to have been 6’4 forward [player_tooltip player_id="958746" first="Charlie" last="Plum"].  Tauer is that active off ball player that is always moving to the rim on cuts, that is always setting a screen and moving to open space.  These tactics led Tauer to three first half scores plus defensively his direction and vocal communication was quality (and is always appreciated by good teams).  Plum scored off the ball actively twice as well.  </p> <p>The player making the biggest first half impact? [player_tooltip player_id="850729" first="Muja" last="Burton"].  In fact this was some of the best basketball I’ve seen Muja play.  He looked confident, aggressive, his stroke looked really good, and I really liked how he moved on and off the ball.  Burton completed plays within the flow as if the defense wasn’t there to make a play on him.  Burton looked like a matured senior scorer and I loved the way he went at CDH.  I really liked when Burton moved off the screen, caught, saw the big man in help, and floated a score over the top with a nice touch on the attempt.  Burton continued to comfortably and confidently knock out jumpers into the second half as well. </p> <p>Speaking of impact, Raider guard Donavhan Cain helped keep the game close with a couple late half scores.  There was one open floor bucket but also a three.  And on that three we saw a really confident looking jumper for the transfer from Wisconsin.  He then made another triple off a ball reversal when his man took a step back as Cain sunk into triple threat position.  The Raiders built their lead to double digits off a third three from Cain and a cut to the rim where Holloman found him on the move.  Really liked how Cain timed his attempts using the ball screen and releasing in an open window, as well as when he read the defender sinking deeper off the arc in fear of the attack. </p> <p>The clincher was a pair of Holloman feeds to Cain for dunks and a 66-55 victory.  Tre’s creation all game was at an elite level all game.  In fact, Tre’s ability to pass the ball ranks in the top five of all Minnesota players that I have covered in my time covering Minnesota high school basketball.  And, his ability to get others to follow his lead also ranks with the best.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>