Mountain Lake 83 Madelia 59: Five Things to Know

Prep Hoops was in St. Peter last night to see Mountain Lake take on Madelia.  The Wolverines are moving on but there was so much to talk about. 

One.  Atmosphere.  The gym was packed.  These are Class A teams from towns of 2,628 (Madelia), 2092 (Mountain Lake), and 375 (Comfrey) but it was hard to find a seat anywhere in the building.  The standing room only spots above the baseline were also full.  The crowd had everything:  packed student sections, a band that played in such a powerful way my head still hurts, families that brought an elementary school full of children that were pumped up to watch their local idols, townspeople that were smoking cigs in the parking lot, you name it!  The building was loud for the Madness of March and it was a lot of fun. 

Two.  Ball Movement.  For Mountain Lake/Comfrey: Damon Khamvongsa scored his 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting with six assists, Carter Olson scored 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting with four assists and eight boards, Kolby Kremmin scored 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field and he made all five of his foul shots plus dished out five assists, and Ashton Toll had 11 points and seven rebounds. 

I don’t have a final count on the Wolverine points in the paint but a great majority of their 83 points were at the rim because the ball movement of this team was fantastic (they needed only three threes).  They moved the ball in a way that found the Madelia defensive breakdown and most times Mountain Lake found that breakdown quickly.  Jumpers weren’t often needed because the final cut was found for the Wolverines and the putbacks were regular.  Strong team basketball.  They shot 29 of 54 from the field. 

Three. Ja’Sean Glover.  To say that Ja’Sean drew a lot of attention would be an understatement.  Glover had the initial defender working on him but also Ashton Toll – the Wolverine who was “defending” the Madelia center – was really standing in the paint and stepping in the direction of Glover.  And every Wolverine player was two steps off their help to defend Ja’Sean.  

The attention was extreme but still Glover scored 30 points on 12 of 24 shooting.  To make half of his 24 field goal attempts going through an average of three guys.  My biggest takeaway from Glover (and there were several) was his ability to make contested jumpers.  Of his dozen field goals, half of them were pull-up jumpers made with players hanging all over him.  I was also impressed by Glover’s vision.  Ja’Sean had assists on six of the other 11 field goals his team made.  I was also impressed how will Glover used his jump stop to get through the many defenders to find space.  And then you had the power.  Glover powered up over several players for his other six scores at the rim plus he jumped over and/or out muscled opponents for his 15 rebounds.  

Glover has had curious college coaches coming by all year.  Last night Minot State and a full Kirkwood Community College staff were watching.  To me this is a scholarship talent.  Physically he is ready now as a 6’4 guard.  Glover is an above average scholarship athlete, he’s quite efficient despite having so much defensive attention on him, a better shooter than given credit for as he’s shooting through multiple players every night, and it will be interesting to see him play in a situation where he only has to beat the initial defender.  Or catch the ball in a situation where he has space. 

Four.  Youth of Mt. Lake. This sophomore group from the Wolverines is really good.  Don’t get me wrong, Senior K – Damon Khamvongsa and Kolby Kremmin – will be missed next year.  But Olson is a 5’10 sophomore guard and Toll is a 6’2 sophomore forward, and both of them a very important to his team right now.  In addition, guard Grant Oakland and guard Kody Wassman also played key roles for the team last nice in reserve.  That’s four sophomores that will return next year with excellent experience. 

Five. Special Moments.  There were some moments last night I won’t forget.  Here is my list: 

1. Kolby Kremmin was about to shoot a late foul shoot, he looked left at his student section and parents, saw their excitement, and just smiled in a big way.  It was a moment that he seemed to realize that he just played a big part in helping his team win the sub-section title.  
2. Madelia was emptying their bench putting five in but a Madelia player (can’t recall if it was Blake Altenburg or Hayden Jones Hayden Jones 6'6" | PF St. James | 2022 State MN ) but one of them blocked a player from coming into the game.  His point?  To allow Glover one more possession.  One more whistle.  And when that whistle game Glover received the standing ovation from his crowd that his career deserves.  Pretty cool. 
3. Watching all the Madelia kids mimic and point out moves that Glover made. 
4. The level of coaching and professional approach from Shawn Naas and Jeff Van Hee on the sidelines.
5. Thought the officials did a great job.
6. A Mountain Lake reserve hit a buzzer three and nobody from Madelia seemed to get mad and I am glad they didn’t.  Pretty cool for that reserve to score a basket in this big game situation no matter how much time was left in the game. The excitement from the bench and crowd was massive.