Minnetonka 81 Andover 75: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a very entertaining game at Hamline's holiday event, Minnetonka came back to defeat Andover. Here are five things to know. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Oddly Entertaining</strong>. There was a lot different about this game. It was completely void of student fans so the Andover bench acted like students hollering at the opposition throughout the game in various ways. Poor sportsmanship? At times maybe. But did all that noise give a gym void of student representation more atmosphere? Absolutely. There were a load of foul shots taken and when all the noises were made from Andover, Minnetonka noticed and it hurt their foul shooting (8 of 15 in half one). This was also a game in the historic Hutton Arena which is always fun to be at with it's deer stand video area, it's windows open in the winter, it's hardwood bleachers that hurt the booty terribly bad, and all the banners of the past that make you look at them with curiousness whenever there is a whistle. It was a memorable setting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Tonka Pressure</strong>. The difference in this game to me was that Minnetonka's group of guards and wings - Jalen Cain, [player_tooltip player_id='1567964' first='Isa' last='El-Amin'], [player_tooltip player_id='1574218' first='Duke' last='Richardson'], [player_tooltip player_id='1288767' first='Greyson' last='Uelmen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1284083' first='Andy' last='Stefonowicz'] - were able to pressure Andover into a growing number of turnovers that ultimately led to Andover's demise. And as Andover started to lose players to foul trouble, the turnovers built. And as the game moved later into the night, Andover's shot quality decreased allowing Tonka to go from down multiple scores to up multiple scores. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Alex Kopetzk</strong>i. A year after watching Ben Kopetzki making difficult contested shots and pretty much every open shots he was given, brother Alex steps into the same role, and did the exact same thing. Alex gave Andover 32 points on 11 of 21 shooting (four threes made) with 6 of 7 foul shooting. My mind went from "that's not a good shot" when Alex was shooting to "wow he made a tough shot" to eventually "he can make that contested attempt". Alex is a 6'1 junior who is about to have a really nice two year scoring run so if you are a defender in a good spot and the 6'1 guard touches in a score right over your contesting hands, you are not alone. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Kayden Adds New Element</strong>. At about 6'5 with the ability to guard low post players and to clear the defensive glass [player_tooltip player_id='1296153' first='Kayden' last='Wells'] is giving Minnetonka a guy with some size around the basket. This is something they need so badly and while Wells may not be 6'9, he's also not 6'2 which helps the Skippers tremendously. Last night Wells had a team high 20 points scoring most of his points in active ways at the rim finishing off Tonka possessions. His shot contesting around the basket forced several Andover misses and his defensive boards into a quick outlet allowed Tonka to push with their numerous scoring options. And last night those options led to five guys in double figures (Wells, Richardson, Stefonowicz, Uelmen and Cain) plus El-Amin had six or seven assists (my notebook is in the garage and I'm too lazy at 6am to go out there and see if it was six or seven). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Andover Still Solid</strong>. Kopetzki is the scorer. [player_tooltip player_id='2423569' first='Luke' last='Fenton'] is another shooter that has been giving Andover 20 point nights. [player_tooltip player_id='2361394' first='Luke' last='Dehnicke'] is 6'6 and can score around the basket. I love the defense that Mikey Detion played limiting Stefonowicz to 1 of 6 shooting and one assist in the first half. Detion had seven assists and eight rebounds when he fouled out of the game. [player_tooltip player_id='1450039' first='Cameron' last='Begalle'] is another solid guard. Andover will be a tough team to play each night. With [player_tooltip player_id='1441798' first='Chase' last='Pemberton'] hurt they won't be as good as they could have been, but they are still tough. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->