Orono 66 BSM 62: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In front of a packed house and rather angry crowd, Orono outlasted Benilde-St. Margaret's 66-62 to earn a spot in the 2023 State Tournament. Here are five things to know. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Free Throws</strong>. This was a four point game. The Red Knights shot 7 of 16 from the foul line for the game while Orono got some clutch foul shooting from [player_tooltip player_id='1189958' first='Isaiah' last='Hagen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='962230' first='Kyle' last='Kallenbach'] down the stretch. Orono made 11 of their last 12 foul shots while BSM missed five of their last six. And of those five of six, two were front ends of one and ones so they missed on seven of eight foul shooting chances in what was a one score game late. Orono made the foul line chances to earn the win, </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Veteran Play</strong>. Orono is very much a veteran, senior team. Benilde-St. Margaret's is a very talented, but very young team that has a senior for an 8th/9th Man and that is it for their 12th graders. You can't help but think about that experience versus youth in this situation when you think about the foul shooting, and you think about the four turnovers that BSM had coming down the stretch in about five possessions time. Or the fact that [player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] (14 points on 6 of 11 shooting) started so hot and the ball handlers rarely got him a touch down the stretch. Meanwhile Orono seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1491768' first='Zach' last='Close'] (8 points, 9 boards) and [player_tooltip player_id='962314' first='Grant' last='Gunderson'] did a great job defending, rebounding and limiting quality touches to their guys, senior [player_tooltip player_id='1336696' first='Riley' last='Nelson'] knocked out some key threes (scored 11 points), and despite a rough shooting game, Hagen wanted the basketball and made his foul shots down the stretch as well as made a few plays to get his team late game scores. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves']</strong>. The smooth game and pretty touch of sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] was the player that got loose against the BSM defense. The Red Knights are talented and athletic, and they were able to consistently keep length in front of Hagen and get help to him when he was attacking the rim. However, Groves was able to find consistent space and be that reliable shooter/scorer in a big game situation. He came through with makes on six of nine shots for his 16 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. BSM Improvement.</strong> When the season started I had Benilde-St. Margaret's about 6th or 7th in the state. I thought that is where they would finish because it's such a young team, although a young team with a bright future. By the end of the regular season you could make an argument that they could be ranked number one in state (you could make that argument for a few teams actually). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>BSM beat DeLaSalle who is ranked number one at this very moment I thought Damian Johnson did a nice job getting this young and talented squad playing above expectations. [player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] has a very strong chance to be a first team Class AAA player, [player_tooltip player_id='1560867' first='Christian' last='Wiggins'] is a top freshman in the state, [player_tooltip player_id='1284155' first='Jayden' last='Daisy'] took a huge step forward and could be a scholarship talent (scored 16 points last night making some big shots), [player_tooltip player_id='1572691' first='Jaleel' last='Donley'] has big potential and [player_tooltip player_id='1574215' first='Abu' last='Keita'] has become a really good defender. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. The Atmosphere</strong>. Last night was an incredible atmosphere. There were college coaches from Minnesota, Northern Iowa, and Minnesota State Moorhead in the building, there were several Minnesota high school basketball former stars watching, and there were some packed fan sections. Everybody was there watching a really good high school basketball game with a lot of drama and a lot of excitement. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Was every possession full of something that fans felt they needed to scream at the refs about? Yes, it's been a wild week of parents hollering at the officials regardless if their team is up 30, down 30, or in a one score game. Parents are completely out of control with their crowd behavior and we might be approaching hockey level of wild. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But outside of that it was a picturesque version of high school hoops: packed gym, a lot on the line, one team going wild in celebration, another staring on watching them go wild and learning one of life's great lessons, sometimes things don't go your way so what are you going to do to get ready for this spot next year?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->