Eden Prairie 83 Armstrong 67: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The EP veterans stepped forward giving the deeper team a much needed win as they withstood a breakout performance from an Armstrong sophomore. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. EP Depth Comes Through</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1574221' first='Max' last='Lorenson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1560851' first='Hamze' last='Yusuf'] got their numbers but I think it was [player_tooltip player_id='1560877' first='Grant' last='Sprute'] hitting five threes and scoring 15 points, [player_tooltip player_id='2137323' first='Carter' last='Pulrang'] scoring nine on three threes, [player_tooltip player_id='1575344' first='Colin' last='Kirk'] scoring eight points with nine boards, and [player_tooltip player_id='2119596' first='Cooper' last='Fahning'] grabbing nine boards, blocking three shots, dishing out three assists, and scoring a few times, it was all of that that was the difference. Those guys also defended solid, and that deeper team effort led to the win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. [player_tooltip player_id='2452111' first='Carter' last='Olson'] Breaks Out</strong>. Technically..... the Armstrong sophomore started his year with 10 points in game one and then he popped for 25 points in game two against top ten ranked St. Louis Park. He's been solid since but last night, when Armstrong was down nearly 20 points, Olson exploded. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was back to back threes, a long jumper, another three, a transition lay-up, and three more threes. It was an eight basket barrage making eight shots with seven of them being long jumpers. Armstrong went from down I think 18 points to being within 56-53. And it was Olson exploding. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From there.... EP was able to limit Olson some, and the ball not moving to him in open spots also limited what he did down the stretch, but Olson had a 28 point game overall hitting seven threes total, and 10 of 13 shots overall. He finished the game making his last nine attempts! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Hamze Run</strong>. About the time Olson stopped getting looks, Eden Prairie junior [player_tooltip player_id='1560851' first='Hamze' last='Yusuf'] started getting his. Hamze made six of his last eight attempts with one three and five basket attacks. When Hamze made his run from a four free throw make game to a 17 point night, the game flipped back to EP for a comfortable victory. Yusuf had his 17 on 6 of 13 shooting with six boards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Big Number Scorers.</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='1574221' first='Max' last='Lorenson'] took 22 shots, he made 10 of them for his 25 points with seven boards and five assists. I would say it's an okay game for Max, he likely wanted a few more attempts near the rim to drop but his numbers were needed. [player_tooltip player_id='1448601' first='Desmond' last='Ware'] always needs to run the team and get baskets for Armstrong to win. His first half showed great balance in moving the ball in taking the right shots. That really carried over to start the second half, but down the stretch Ware faded missing nine of ten attempts and the game got away. He had 19 points on 8 of 29 shooting. Matt Phillips was solid for Armstrong hitting three threes and scoring a dozen.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Can EP make a run?</strong> They have a chance over the holidays. They are in the East Ridge holiday event. They play Eastview and East Ridge which will be tough games but they are also winnable games. Two wins there would be huge for the Eagles as they enter the New Year with Chan, Hopkins and Wayzata. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->