The Tune Up: Saturday Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Shakopee High School was full of packed gyms and exciting match-ups. Who were some of the standouts? We give you the run down!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr &amp; [player_tooltip player_id='2119596' first='Cooper' last='Fahning']</strong> <strong>Step Up</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As I walked over to the Real Phenom vs [program_tooltip program_id='2455790' first='Howard' last='Pulley'] game expecting the tip of having just taken place, [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr attacked the paint to finish. The scoreboard changed to 49-30 still in the first half and I thought..... wow Real Phenom has scored a ton. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I quickly found out that [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr was beating all the Panther guards off the dribble, as was Muaath Mahammad, and the Real Phenom guards were constantly hounding the Panthers into mistakes on the other end. In addition to those mistakes, Marshall's speedy attack was leading to a broken defense resulting in threes for him, Fahning, and several others. Marshall, Fahning, and Jamell Willey each had double figure totals by the break. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6'8 Fahning continues to have an outstanding 17u season for Real Phenom and his touch from the perimeter, as well as his one handed touch off the shoulder turn on the block was something the Panthers struggled to defend. Cooper scored 6-7 points a game last year with 7-8 rebounds a contest, and he looks to be on track for a great senior year, and a rise in the prospect rankings as colleges continue to search for skilled, agile players at his size. Cooper had 14 points in the win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As for Marshall, he terrorized the Pulley guards. None of them could stop his basket attack plus the few times he gave them a breather when he decided to show off the perimeter touch, Marshall hit those attempts as well. This game greatly resembled the win that Marshall led a [program_tooltip program_id='2075496' first='Grassroots' last='Sizzle'] team to at 17s earlier in the spring: his mix of beating players off the bounce to get to the rim, or to get to mid-lane attempts was perfect, and Marcus had the right mix of moving the basketball and attacking for his own offense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It led to an 81-56 win over the Panthers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Full Day for [player_tooltip player_id='2126094' first='Ty' last='Schlagel']</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The top ranked Minnesota 2027 has to be one of the most intense competitors in all of Minnesota. A kid that loves to compete, and loves play. I was able to get to the gym on Saturday for the final four afternoon games and of the four games I saw, Ty played in three of them!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the loss to the Real Phenom 17s, Ty had 20 points. He then followed that with 23 points and 11 rebounds making 10 of 16 shots for the Pulley 16s beating Shakopee 65-52. And then in his third game in four hours, Schlagel had to defend the [program_tooltip program_id='2075431' first='D1' last='Minnesota'] centers giving up nearly a half a foot, and he grabbed seven rebounds in that 17s game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So if you ask what separates Ty from some others? You can mention skill, you can mention production, but I would say it's his competitive mentality that puts everything over the line for Schlagel. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Minnesota Gold</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Champlin Park guard [player_tooltip player_id='1560760' first='Kyler' last='Pust'] opened the Minnesota Gold game with WOTN five scores, five boards and five assists and his team never looked back. The speed of Pust was used to chase down long boards, to force turnovers, to push the ball in transition, and attack the rim in rapid fashion. He scored on 7 of 10 shots attempts for his 16 points with six rebounds and six assists and most of that came in the first ten minutes of the game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As the Gold rolled on, [player_tooltip player_id='1874818' first='Dane' last='Skime'] was another Minnesota Gold player that impressed. Dane was solid for Rochester Century this past winter but his family has moved to Orono and now he will join the [program_tooltip program_id='2075852' first='Spartans' last=''] for his final year. His latest impression at 17u was a perfect five for five shooting day and a dozen points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then you had Logan Becker, they tip to buzzer overall most consistent producer for the Gold. Logan combined the perimeter touch with his strong frame going to the point to package together a number of different scoring possessions. Becker had 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Quick Hitters</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There was a small handful of Northern Sun schools in the gym yesterday getting back to work after the Friday holiday. One player that made a nice impression was [player_tooltip player_id='2118449' first='Mason' last='Witt'] of [program_tooltip program_id='2455790' first='Howard' last='Pulley']. Mason made over 46 percent of his threes last winter and that range/touch is a big reason he's such a tough player to defend. He made five threes against [program_tooltip program_id='2075431' first='D1' last='Minnesota']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another quality game from [player_tooltip player_id='1560811' first='Collin' last='Johnson'] of Lakeville South. We've seen him play well for Fury and WOTN this summer and you have to believe he is going to have a nice senior year for the Cougars. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2436914' first='Kellen' last='Troup'] seems to get more height and length to his frame every game, and yesterday we saw him get off the ground quicker for explosive finishes than we have seen in the past. He had eight points and five boards in the Pulley win over Shakoee. At his size, with a developing perimeter touch, and agility, Troup is the type of player college coaches are liking at forward in the modern game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126458' first='Luke' last='Schroeder'] has a special touch. It's hard to truly identify what separates a good shooter to a great shooter, a great shooter to something special, you just know. The best way to describe it is watch how the shooter is defended, and if he is defended with fear that is telling sign. That and of course knocking out several long jumpers no matter what the defense is doing and yesterday, Luke had 23 points on 7 of 13 shooting (6 of 8 foul shooting) against Pulley. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->