Benilde St Margaret’s 66 Chanhassen 65: Five Things to Know

<p>Benilde St Margaret’s knocked off Chanhassen 66-65 in a fantastic Friday night game that had a great crowd, a fun ending, a comeback, several highlights, and a lot of quality contributions. </p> <p><strong>One.  The Ending</strong>.   Chanhassen was up 65-63 with just over four seconds to go in the game.  Damian Johnson called a timeout to talk to his players.  What you saw was Jalen Wilson catch after he moved by a [player_tooltip player_id="796949" first="Ryan" last="Warren"] screen.  Wilson caught and freely moved up the court with Warren up the sideline on the right side and another spread out running up the left. Once Wilson moved past half court Warren moved around his backside and caught a pitch.  Warren then released a shot that was directly on although a tad long.  And it was just long enough as it banked off the backboard and Warren earned BSM a 66-65 victory.  </p> <p>Warren scored a game high 19 points using his one on one dissection of his defender to score at the cup taking contact and finishing through it several times.  Ryan scored on 7 of a dozen attempts and his four of his five foul shots.  Ryan is the BSM leading scorer and having a strong senior season. </p> <p><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">Two.  The Comeback.   </strong>BSM was up double figures fairly late in the game but the Storm didn’t fade away.   They threw on a full court press led by [player_tooltip player_id="1287439" first="Max" last="Woods"] and changed the tempo.  [player_tooltip player_id="962274" first="Braden" last="Barger"] had an excellent finish to the game, [player_tooltip player_id="1155893" first="Jaxon" last="McDonald"] and [player_tooltip player_id="958765" first="Patrick" last="Brick"] each hit clutch threes, and the Storm defense was able to keep the individual late game Red Knight attacks in front of them forcing misses. </p> <p>The comeback seemed to be a sample of the Chamhassen season.  The Storm is a much improved program that has been battling all season earning a 9-6 record coming into the game (their best season in some time).  Woods and Barger are the team leaders in scoring but the team basketball that the Storm is playing comes from that pair as well as a hard working pair of seniors. </p> <p><strong>Three.  Building the Lead</strong>.  The Red Knights are an interesting combination of quality seniors and up and coming young players.  The seniors are Warren, [player_tooltip player_id="850737" first="Maddox" last="Alipate"], Daniel Ijadimbola, [player_tooltip player_id="850707" first="Chase" last="Carter"], and Samuel Best.   The youth is led by Wilson (a freshman), Abu Keita (freshman), and a number of other we will chat about in a little bit.  The point is BSM is one of the more talented groups in the state and they are mixing in a group of experienced players, and talented players with limited experience.  It’s a fun, talented mix to watch.  And they build a double figure lead against a good Chanhassen team.  </p> <p><strong>Four.  New Names to Know</strong>.  We will limit this to veterans here.  Seniors Will Schleicher and Keaton Boll did a really nice job working together up front.   The Storm ball movement for about 60 percent of the game was really, really good and the activity of Schleicher scored five times at the cup.  Storm seniors [player_tooltip player_id="1155893" first="Jaxon" last="McDonald"] and [player_tooltip player_id="958765" first="Patrick" last="Brick"] usually combine for 16 points a game but last night they doubled that (32 points combined) with McDonald scoring 17 and Brick 15.  McDonald hit five threes and Brick sunk four.  Junior [player_tooltip player_id="962274" first="Braden" last="Barger"] was the active slasher and the most dangerous all around scorer for the Storm last night.  He put a dozen in the book and most of if was on the move plus Barger grabbed eight boards. </p> <p><strong>Five. Underclassmen Report</strong>.  There is a lot to go over here. </p> <p>Jalen Wilson (6’6/6’7 2025 from BSM).  Wilson has surely taken another step in his development.  He looks a bit taller, a bit leaner, more agile, more comfortable skill wise, and is scoring a dozen points a game in a variety of ways.  I’ve been able to see BSM three times this year and I certainly feel comfortable saying that Wilson is one of the elite 2025s in this state player wise, and prospect wise. </p> <p>Abu Keita (6’4 2025 from BSM).  Big game for Abu last night.  He has been a regular for BSM but last night he hit four threes and scored 14 key points giving his team double digits for the second time this winter. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1287439" first="Max" last="Woods"] (5’11 2024 from Chanhassen).  The way Woods pressured the ball and forced turnovers nearly won the Storm the game last night.  His lateral quicks and defensive ability changed the game.  I also thought that the first read from Woods offensively was an A+ plus the entire night.  The amount of hockey assists was outstanding as Woods led excellent ball movement.  Had a rough night shooting but his ability was clear.  Woods has led the Storm in scoring all season. </p> <p>Dothan Ijadimbola (2025 from BSM).  Dothan is one of two BSM 8th grade players on varsity.  Only saw him play a bit but he’s a long, lean, agile prospect that looks like he can grow into a big skilled wing talent.  Christian Wiggins is the other 8th grader on the BSM JV/V.  </p>