Orono 75 Cooper 70: Five Things to Know

<p>Last night Orono needed a win versus Cooper to stay on top of the Metro West standings and they got it 75-70 in a fun game. </p> <p><strong>One. Take Notice Game from [player_tooltip player_id="1189958" first="Isaiah" last="Hagen"]</strong>.  Orono guard [player_tooltip player_id="1189958" first="Isaiah" last="Hagen"] has been the leading scorer of a top ten ranked Orono team all season.  Hagen is one of the junior players with solid potential that has went from a young talent to an upperclassmen that is learning to score with consistency.  I was impressed with his basket attacks.  Hagen’s ability to use his first step to get to an attacking lane, his strength to hold off a defender and to get to a balanced attempt despite congestion, and Isaiah’s ability to use solid guard size and agility to get to a good shot, that all impressed me.  So many of those items have helped Isaiah become a legit scorer for his team.  He scored 25 last night and it’s time that we start thinking about the stretch run he is about to have and the 17u season that could lead to opportunity. </p> <p><strong>Two. Handling the Pressure</strong>.  Robbinsdale Cooper has broken a lot of teams with their defensive pressure.  Full court pressure or heavy ball pressure/strong passing lane presence, Cooper has won many games with that pressure.  And last night they turned Orono over a number of times to hold the lead for part of the game.  But Orono was able to withstand that pressure and win the game.  Biggest reason?  I think it’s just Orono having so many guards comfortable with getting the ball up the floor.  Hagen, Jake Farrell, Jack Kopesky, [player_tooltip player_id="850734" first="Cohen" last="Kellogg"], all of them played their part in making sure the Cooper pressure didn’t beat them. </p> <p><strong>Three. Davion</strong>.    Davion should be on a first name basis in Minnesota high school basketball and I think in many places he is.  The Cooper guard came into the game scoring 25 points a game and last night had 27 pushing the ball in transition, hitting the jumper after a dribble, and of course attacking the cup.  Evans is just too quick for defenses to help over to.  He had his team in place to win the game and that is all you can ask out of a top player. </p> <p><strong>Four. David Conners</strong>.  With Michael Cooper out the Cooper Hawks needed a big game from David Conners up front and they got it.  I don’t have his rebounding totals but I had nine in my head meaning he was in double figures (I was late and I’m sure without stats in front of me I missed a couple).  Cooper had three dunks and all three were in transition coming off of turnovers.  His energy was important, his rebounding allowed Cooper to push the ball, and all around David Conners gave Cooper a chance to win. </p> <p><strong>Five. Orono Halfcourt Defense</strong>.  The Hawks scored 70 points but a quality percentage of that 70 was in transition off Orono mistakes or long misses.  I thought Orono’s halfcourt defense was a key items as they were able to limit the other Cooper options - Prince Appiah and [player_tooltip player_id="1172778" first="Sam" last="Massaquoi"] - to limited baskets.  This was a big game and Cooper was without Cooper so they needed the second/third options to score and Orono limited that.  In addition to limiting that, [player_tooltip player_id="958716" first="Sebastian" last="Loder"] had 16 points while Farrell and [player_tooltip player_id="962230" first="Kyle" last="Kallenbach"] each had ten.  </p>