Winter Lakes Classic: The Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Who were the top players at the Winter Lakes Classic on Saturday? We run down the top performers including [player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] and record breaker [player_tooltip player_id='1284153' first='Jay' last='Neubert']!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1492613' first='Ian' last='Fahje'] of Pelican Rapids (sr).  Fahje continues to show that he has a college future as a stretch big man.  Today he scored on four more threes. Plus Ian used his touch around the basket scoring off the pivot.  He had 20 points making 8 of 13 shots plus Ian grabbed seven boards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1358621' first='Tysen' last='Gerads'] of Albany (sr).  Gerads has an edge physically that makes such a big difference for Albany.  At 6-foot-3 and playing the wing, Gerads is stronger, sometimes taller, and always way more explosive than those guarding him.  He scored 22 points yesterday and that agile lift gave him the edge of first step, lift into the jumper, a quicker burst on the cut, and of course the bounce to finish, and block/contest shots.  Gerads came up big in a team win over Perham. His steal and dunk in the middle of the second half was a huge momentum play that seemed to put the game away for his team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove'] of Alexandria (jr). Orono was very physical with Grove getting behind him and hitting him hard while getting help that dug hard into Grove and surrounded him with physical bodies.  Grove was able to step away from the defense to show off that really nice perimeter touch including a late half three and a momentum grabbing second half three before his team lost late.  Grove also scored around the cup on his way to a 29 point game.  His inside/out abilities, ability to run the floor, ability to move laterally off ball screens, and his ability to step up and play big against top opponents has Grove looking like a top five junior prospect in Minnesota. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] of Orono (sr).  Hagen is back on the court and after some rough outings Orono is back to their winning ways.  Orono picked up a big win over Alexandria and Hagen just picked apart the Cardinal zone and he scored in transition to get his 32.  Hagen back on the court means that the Orono guard play is once again full strength and when they are full strength Orino is a title contender. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stewart Jones of Osakis (sr). Loved everything that Jones gave Osakis and its started with toughness.  Pound for pound one of the best rebounding efforts I have seen this year grabbing 12 and doing it with great hustle.  Osakis beat DGF with great ball movement and Stewart had five assists plus he scored the attack putting up 13 points on seven shots. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962228' first='Owen' last='Leach'] of DGF (sr).&nbsp; We have said it many times but it was as relevant today as we've seen, Owen has to do a lot for his team to win.&nbsp; He handles, he's their post threat, their perimeter threat, their main rebounder, and often their top shot creator.&nbsp; With Osakis all over him Owen hit the 30 point mark making 11 shots including three threes.&nbsp; Leach was at the foul line a dozen times and I felt he should have been there at least 20 as he took a ton of contact around the basket.&nbsp; Had a rough day shooting foul shots but did grab 13 boards and dish out three assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284153' first='Jay' last='Neubert'] of Sauk Centre (jr).&nbsp; Today Jay needed 23 points to break the Sauk Centre all time scoring record (in the 1.7k area) and he scored 26.&nbsp; More importantly, after a hot start, and then his team getting down, Neubert had a pair of foul shots and an attacking And1 late that put his team over the edge in getting the win over Pelican Rapids.&nbsp; Jay was nine of 20 from the field, 8 of 10 at the foul line, and most importantly Neubert was the toughest player on the floor. Love the way he competes.&nbsp; There were several scores today where Jay took contact, controlled the contact, and touched in a score in the paint.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288685' first='Micah' last='Thompson'] of Perham (sr). If you weren't a [player_tooltip player_id='1288685' first='Micah' last='Thompson'] believer before, you should be one after yesterday.&nbsp; Perham certainly struggled but Thompson did everything he could to keep his team in the game.&nbsp; This is a ball skilled bigger player at 6'5 that can play several spots and as we saw yesterday, score in several ways.&nbsp; Thompson has the ball skills to play on the perimeter leading to part of his 30 points, but also the physical approach and size to do things around the basketball which helped him get a dozen boards.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->