Eagle Ridge Academy @ Lutheran – Five Takeaways

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Eagle Ridge Academy's length will give opponents match-up problems</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eagle Ridge Academy is a top 4A team whose starting lineup's height is `just under 6'6. This allowed them to make passes over Lutherans guards and find mismatches throughout the game. While many of the top 4A teams have some big players no one can match up with ERA's height across the board. Their starting lineup consists of 6'3 PG [player_tooltip player_id='1420178' first='Peyton' last='Torres'], 6'5 W [player_tooltip player_id='1420176' first='Hunter' last='Hill'], 6'7 F [player_tooltip player_id='1420183' first='James-Kyren' last='Allen'], 6'6 F [player_tooltip player_id='1420190' first='Cameron' last='Seifert'], and 6'8 C [player_tooltip player_id='1420184' first='Christian' last='Seifert']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='1578024' first='Kade' last='Speckman'] can hang!</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While Lutheran did not come away with the win they should be very excited about their freshman big man. On the fastbreak, the freshman showed off his athleticism by making a contested one-hand dunk. He also showed off his good instincts by finding open spots near the rim for dump-off passes. Kade also had two impressive post finishes over defenders. On the defensive end, he got lost a few times but made up for it with his effort, he made a hustle play chasing down an opponent for a good contest on a fastbreak, not allowing the opponents to get an easy two. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1420178' first='Peyton' last='Torres'] stretched the floor for ERA</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This team is very long but does not have a ton of shooters in their starting lineup, but [player_tooltip player_id='1420178' first='Peyton' last='Torres'] got hot early knocking down two threes in a row to lead ERA on a good scoring run. Peyton brought great energy to his team allowing them to take an early lead that Lutheran never quite came back from. He shot the ball well and ran the break well to get easy layups.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lutheran's backcourt can score</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lutheran's guards may not have matched ERA's size but they were able to score on bigger defenders. Their backcourt duo is made up of junior [player_tooltip player_id='1577954' first='Braydon' last='Jacob'] and senior Brendan Kooienga. These two did not quite get it going from three-point range but did a very good job of attacking the rim. Brendan was the primary ballhandler and he did a good job of getting downhill and finishing a few layups through contact, Braydon created off the dribble for himself and made a few slick cuts to show off his crafty finishing ability at the rim. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>ERA wings were too athletic and long</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1420176' first='Hunter' last='Hill'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1420183' first='James-Kyren' last='Allen'] showed off their length and athleticism by attacking the rim. Kyren did a good job attacking Lutheran's zone from the high post/elbow. From the elbow, he knocked down a jumper and used his rip-through and long strides to get to the rim where he scored most of his points. Hunter did a good job of moving without the ball, making two baseline cuts in a row for two two-hand slams. He did a good job of affecting the game without the ball by getting good positioning for layups or offensive rebounds. Very few 4A schools even have one wing who can match these two's in length and athleticism.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->