The Minnesota Hoops Weekend: Orono vs East at the Clash!

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's a big week for both Mankato East and Orono and they finish it off at the Community. Here is your weekend preview of high school hoops in Minnesota. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Friday Metro Combo</strong>. Start with Hastings at Two Rivers at 6:30! Hastings is 12-4 on the season and needs a win here to keep pace with Tartan. Hastings has great balance led by the 17 points a game from [player_tooltip player_id='1560773' first='Matthew' last='Foss']. Hastings has won six of their last seven games. Two Rivers is 8-10 led by the 15 points per game game [player_tooltip player_id='1560793' first='Lamont' last='Michaels']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then, it's always fun to go to the Target Center to see who is playing on the NBA court! At 8:30 the tip off Liberty Classical and their 15-2 record takes on Climax-Fisher (3-13). Sam Rupnow is scoring 28 points a game for Liberty! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Weekend's Best</strong>. 6AAA Orono vs 1AAA Mankato East (Saturday) at Delano at the Community Clash. One key item here, Orono just played BSM in a huge game last night, East plays JM (15-2) in a huge conference game tonight. Both will be coming off of big games, Orono though will have more rest and less travel (East is at JM tonight, then travels to Delano tomorrow). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I looked at this game and think again, does Orono have enough depth? They almost won last night despite BSM having way more depth, can Orono beat East despite the lack of depth in comparison?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1391203' first='Mitchell' last='Kauch'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson']. Kauch is a really good role player for Orono that is dependable, but I'm not sure he or any other Orono player have the ability to stop Brogan from going where he wants. Groves maybe, but you can't have Groves scoring nearly 40 AND defending Madson. Not sure any human has the wind to pull that off. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2424180' first='Grant' last='Hansen'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1560798' first='Lucas' last='Gustafson']. A couple of shooters, Gustafson is more experienced and the more consistent scorer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2103251' first='Ganden' last='Gosch']. Will it be Gosch on Groves? Nobles? [player_tooltip player_id='2424013' first='Dwuan' last='Reliford']? Gimmick defense? Whatever the case, good luck. Groves has been incredible. Gosch is a good player too that Orono will have a tough time stopping. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gavin McGuirk vs [player_tooltip player_id='1886972' first='Amari' last='Nobles']. Nobles is a versatile forward that scored in double figures, McGuirk a worker 5th starter/6th Man type.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1484016' first='Brady' last='Wooley'] vs Braden Petzel. The centers! Woodley more agile, Petzel stronger and more low post. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bang for the Buck</strong>. The Community Clash is being held this weekend at Delano, Becker, and STMA. Many contests are a girls/boys combo so communities can see both of their teams play back to back.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the boys side of the house, STMA and Chaska open the STMA games followed by all girls games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Delano has the monster Orono vs Mankato East clash plus Mound-Westonka vs Osseo, Holy Family vs St. Anthony, and Delano vs Owatonna are all slated for the Tiger sit. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Becker has Anoka vs Moorhead plus Becker/Fridley, Big Lake vs Apollo, and a sneaky good Cathedral vs Esko game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Weekend Games</strong>!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) 6AAA Orono vs 1AAA Mankato East (Saturday) at Delano at the Community Clash</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) 7AAAA Minnetonka at 2AAAA Wayzata (Friday)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) 10AAAA Sauk Rapids-Rice at 2AAA Alexandria (Friday)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) 1AAA Mankato East at Rochester John Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Marshall at 2AA Waseca</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) 7AA Jackson County Central at Belle Plaine</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Fertile-Beltrami at 7A Park Christian</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Moorhead vs 9AAAA Anoka (Saturday) at Becker at the Community Clash</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) 4AA Breck at St. Louis Park (Saturday)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(10) Chaska at STMA (Saturday) at the Community Clash</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->