Champlin Park 83 Chaska 68: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Champlin Park is deep, experienced, and talented. Tonight they took on the challenge of an up and coming Chaska team and had control for most of the night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Wagner on a Roll</strong>. The first three games of [player_tooltip player_id='1288748' first='Tyler' last='Wagner']'s season were all 30 point games. Tonight he went a step further knocking down a dozen shots in 20 attempts for 34 points. Wagner hit five threes and had four dunks in that total and his confidence is very easy to see: there is a lot of excitement after most of Tyler's scores it seems. Seems more than willing to come in and score for this team and so far, they are a top five squad in Class AAAA.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Such a tough trio to defend</strong>. We will get into what makes the Rebels so deep in a second, first we need to chat on their guard wing trio of [player_tooltip player_id='1874925' first='Preston' last='Thielke'], [player_tooltip player_id='2126450' first='Gavin' last='Walter'] and Wagner that stands about 6'3, 6'4 and 6'6. You have to put a speedy defender on [player_tooltip player_id='2524650' first='Kwatamah' last='Silikpoh'] so that means just about anybody on your team that isn't the big has to be moving with Preston, Gavin and Tyler, all skilled wings that are going at the rim, that can shoot, and that are playing efficient basketball. It's a tough task to handle. We talked Wagner, but I really liked [player_tooltip player_id='2126450' first='Gavin' last='Walter'] at lead guard. I thought he ran the offense really well and made great decisions. He had nine assists plus scored four baskets but what I really loved was the quality possessions he gave his team. Then you have Thielke making the most of the eight shots he gets scoring on six of the for 16 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. The Sophomore Match-up</strong>. There is way too much noise about these sophomore point guards out there instead of just letting them settle in and be good young players (and no, me talking about it doesn't help). Kwa Silikpoh and [player_tooltip player_id='2126118' first='Tyler' last='Forrest'] are very good young players. They play different roles for their teams right now: Silikpoh is a ball pressuring player that offers more talented depth that makes CP a top five team, while Forrest is in a spot where he has to have really good games against teams like the Rebels or they can't compete buzzer to buzzer for a win. Two different roles but two really good players. They both had their turnovers and their fouls, Kwa the quicker with the ball pressure forcing mistakes, Forrest the bigger leading to a couple blocks, and both shot 6 of 13 for the game. Kwa had 14 points, Tyler 13. Pretty much about what we knew going in, both good players, both will grow and should be allowed to grow. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Rebel Depth</strong>. Most teams don't have a skilled tall trio of guards/wings complimented by a Silikpoh, but most also don't have the depth supporting those four either. I really liked the role forward [player_tooltip player_id='2422769' first='Mo' last='Jalloh'] played scoring on three possessions, grabbing six boards, defending well, and moving the ball for six assists. [player_tooltip player_id='1560760' first='Kyler' last='Pust'] is a really nice guard t have coming off of the bench. Cristian Plunkett and Raphael Kilby are good 7th and 8th men it appears. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Hawks are Tough, but lack some punch</strong>. Forrest got them 13 which is above his average, but it was a tougher night for leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id='1575345' first='Tray' last='Lenzen'] who had been getting 20 a game, but tonight was 4 of 10 from the field and missed a couple foul shots getting to only 12 points. That meant others needed to step up and [player_tooltip player_id='2452106' first='Noah' last='Slinde'] really did scoring 16 points but they needed more. [player_tooltip player_id='2104517' first='Jimmy' last='Coddington'] had seven boards and five assists, but shot just 2 of 8, Evan Atkinson got his average on five attempts (8 points) and the smart, tough and sneaky Kalin Jochim was above his average with nine (plus six boards and four assists) but the Hawks needed more. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->