The Race for Mr. Basketball: Chase vs Nolan Part 1

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The favorites for the Mr .Basketball award went head to head this weekend and lived up to the hype. If the stars align, it could happen again. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Orono vs Alexandria, Nolan vs Chase</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a Minnesota High School basketball instant classic, the favorites for Mr. Basketball went head to head last Saturday. [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson']'s Cardinals beat the [program_tooltip program_id='2075852' first='Spartans' last=''] of [player_tooltip player_id='1579885' first='Nolan' last='Groves'] 96-94. Along the way, Nolan had 38 points and nine assists in the one score loss, Thompson scored 31 points and hit some clutch foul shots. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Could they meet again? It would have to be at state and Orono has quite a section to navigate through. But they navigated it last season so it will be interesting to see if there was a second game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Against Chaska, Groves had 38 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals, and then this week against Chanhassen, Groves totaled 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Thompson had 27 points and eight rebounds in a win over Fergus Falls last night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final Five Candidates</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574223' first='CJ' last='Armstrong'] had 35 against Brooklyn Center, and then 28 in an upset loss to Holy Angels. A loss to AHA surely hurts here. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574227' first='Chace' last='Watley'] exploded for 16 second half points leading TG to a win over Champlin Park going head to head with [player_tooltip player_id='1288748' first='Tyler' last='Wagner'] in a big game against his former teammate. Waltey had 32 points on 14 of 21 shooting with four rebounds and four assists, plus he had 21 points in the Rogers win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Next Up</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1310206' first='Tommy' last='Ahneman'] has returned to the CDH line-up and just played three games. Tommy had 21 points and 10 rebounds taking ten shots total in his return against Roseville. He then had 12 and six against Woodbury and then 24 points and 15 rebounds on 11 of 15 shooting against DeLaSalle. He can jump right back into the top group as he plays more games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874916' first='Micah' last='Curtis'] had another big week of scoring the basketball. He had 20 points and eight rebounds in a win over New Prague, he had 41 points and 14 rebounds against Southwest, and then had 39 points and 13 rebounds. Micah is playing well but his team is just a game over .500.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1567964' first='Isa' last='El-Amin'] hit 30+ in all three of the games he played in the past seven games. It was 100 points combined beating Armstrong, Edina, and EP with 20 assists to go with it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1437303' first='Brogan' last='Madson'] still has his team at number one. Brogan had 24 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and four steals to help East beat West in the rivalry game, and had 30 points in the win over Rochester Mayo. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574212' first='Anthony' last='Smith'] is the Hopkins scorer, he had 23, 17 and 16 in the recent games against Wayzata, Washburn and STMA. He made about half of his field goals in each game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1288748' first='Tyler' last='Wagner'] had 17 points in the win over Centennial, exploded for 40 points to beat Maple Grove, had 36 on 10 of 23 shooting with six threes and 10 of 10 foul shooting in the loss to his former team, Totino-Grace. Rebels are still top ten. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1572689' first='Jalen' last='Wilson'] and BSM is on a four game winning streak but stats have not been reported in any of those games so nothing to add here. He did score his 2,000th career point though which is a very big deal. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->