Cretin-Derham Hall 83 East Ridge 64: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Raiders held on to the top spot in the rankings last night with a win over East Ridge. The Raptors had a two score lead at the start but they didn't have the depth to stay with CDH.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. CDH Wore Em Down</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1560882' first='Cedric' last='Tomes'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1950404' first='Bennett' last='Skinner'] are good shooters, but with defenders chasing them and denying them and helping to them, the Raptors were going to need points from other locations, or at least get some easy baskets for Tomes or Skinner in addition to the tough makes, and it just became too much to do. The Raiders were able to switch quality defenders on each of Tomes and Skinner, and they were able to send extra help to them as well. It was a good gameplan by CDH using their depth. Tomes had an impressive 21 points but the nine makes in 22 shots were mostly crafted baskets that took a lot of effort, and most of Skinner's 21 points came from the five threes. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Raider Paint Punch</strong>. There was a time period where East Ridge got some good defense from 6'8 [player_tooltip player_id='2175451' first='Graham' last='Sanneh'] and 6'7 Andrew Theraldson and that did help the Raptors for a time, but that time was limited and for most of the game [player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman'] was dominant. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tommy isn't just dominant in a "big man, catch ball, turn and try and put ball in hoop" way like others, he is strong, has great footwork, he's agile, and has great hands. That combination at 6'10 or whatever, it's unstoppable when he gets the right touch. His balanced collect and turn is a 97 percent certain scoring rate plus he is putting the ball down a bit to score and his post turn short seven footers are going from whatever angle he goes to. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I am not sure there is a more unstoppable player in the state with a good touch right now. Tommy had 23 points on 11 of 16 shooting with 16 rebounds and three blocks. And the guy working next to him [player_tooltip player_id='1574220' first='Monteff' last='Dixon Jr'] is out here doing his best Dennis Rodman impression scoring from two feet (14 points on 7 of 10 shooting, but 2 of 9 from the foul line) plus rebounding (7), blocking shots (3), and moving the ball in good ways (6 assists, most to Tommy). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Meanwhile, [player_tooltip player_id='2104513' first='Kyle' last='Frendt'] had a great 12 boards and four assists, but he missed five shots in the paint (four points) and his guards need more to be made than that to take pressure off them. And Sanneh shot 1 of 10 from the field and the same goes for him when it comes to the guards needing more scoring support up front. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Two Way Ty</strong>. When I saw [player_tooltip player_id='2126094' first='Ty' last='Schlagel'] was defending Tomes full court denial I immediately thought that was fun and interesting. To know that the Raider staff trusts Schlagel like that on defense is noteworthy. And Ty helped wear Tomes down to the point that Tomes was settling for 30 footers instead of attacking which was a win for CDH. Schlagel's eight point run on his own in the second half was also a big moment as the state's top sophomore attacked to score, hit a three and then hit a three in quick transition to take an eight point game and make it a 16 point lead. Ty had 19 points on 8 of 10 shooting with six boards and four assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Numbers</strong>. I got to thinking more about the frontcourt numbers, CDH got 64 of their 83 points from the frontcourt when you add in the Dre Frierson-Hollie four baskets. Those four Raiders shot a combined 30 of 44 from the field and compared to the 13 points on 5 of 21 shooting from the East Ridge backcourt, that's a monster difference. Shoot, CDH scored those 83 points and that's on a day when [player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith'] was 0 for 9 from the field and Joseph Mitchell was 3 of 8 from the field! Imagine the numbers the Raiders would have had if they were hitting from the perimeter! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Going Forward</strong>. The Raptors are 2-3 and there are no easy games upcoming. Totino-Grace, Chaska, Eden Prairie and Edina are upcoming. The league schedule is much more forgiving in January but there are tough games ahead. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As for the Raiders they are undefeated at 6-0 and I'd be shocked if they lose more than a game this winter assuming they stay healthy. Their line-up packs such a punch that it's tough to see many teams beating them. They have St Thomas and Waconia coming up in the holiday event. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->