Friday Night Match-Up: Top Five Player Battles

<p>In today’s Friday Night Match-Up we look at ten key games and ten player battles within those games.  Let’s dive in!</p> <p><strong>No. 5 East Ridge at Park of Cottage Grove</strong>.  <em>[player_tooltip player_id="1143877" first="Jamari" last="Walker"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="850708" first="Kendall" last="Blue"]</em>.  I don’t know that Jamari will defend Kendall but Walker does have the lateral agility and size to try and limit the future UST guard.  Last year Walker did a solid job on Blue in the game at Park but Blue is playing at a much, much higher level right now.  He had 17 points, 17 boards, and 7 assists against Mounds View two days.  That said, the last time I saw Walker he put on his own dunk contest vs Irondale that was better than what the NBA produced six days ago.  </p> <p><strong>No. 2 South St. Paul at St. Thomas Academy</strong>.  <em>[player_tooltip player_id="962306" first="Michael" last="Kirchner"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="958636" first="Alonzo" last="Dodd"]</em>.  First and foremost STA needs to get the 17 a game up front they get from [player_tooltip player_id="958750" first="Nathan" last="Johnson"].  SSP is small so Johnson has to be a threat.  And from there STA has to get some production from top guard scorer [player_tooltip player_id="962306" first="Michael" last="Kirchner"].  Dodd gets top defensive jobs all the time so I am guessing he will be on Kirchner.  Nobody is going to stop Dodd from making a big impact but Kirchner and teammates need to try and limit Alonzo’s point production by keeping everything in front when they can. </p> <p><strong>Glencoe-Silver Lake at No. 4 Annandale</strong>.  <em>[player_tooltip player_id="958704" first="Mitchel" last="Jaskowiak"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="958689" first="Brady" last="Spaulding"]</em>.   This is an excellent match-up of physical, versatile athletes.  Jaskowiak is an Idaho signed division one football player at 6’4 and 225 pounds.  Mitchel is a physical player at the rim that scored 19.5 points a game but he’s also versatile and has some skill with the ball.  Spaulding - headed to SJU for hoops - is 6’6 and also versatile.  He is physical in a different way as he is well built and quite agile.  Brady often handles the ball for his team plus gets double figure scoring and rebounding numbers. </p> <p><strong>Buffalo at Hopkins</strong>.  <em>[player_tooltip player_id="850738" first="Antonio" last="Bluiett"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="962199" first="CJ" last="O’Hara"]</em>.  These are two teams in great need of a win and they will lean on their versatile talents to win this game, and that is Antonio and CJ.  Bluiett will handle some, playmake often, and look to get to the rim first and foremost.  CJ is one of the more physical defenders and is bigger than Antonio.  It’s an excellent match-up to watch.  Both have two big roles:  CJ is a scorer and top defender, Bluiett is a scorer for his team and a playmaker. </p> <p><strong>Coon Rapids at Andover</strong>.  <em>[player_tooltip player_id="1268456" first="MJ" last="Galimah"] vs Sammy Musungu</em>.  Galimah and Musungu may or may not face one another tonight but the match-up of these two team leading scorers is something to watch.  Both teams have three guys they lean on for scoring production so if MJ or Sammy have a bit of an off day, their teams can still win.  That said, if one of these players had a big game, their team is likely to win. </p>