Johnson, Raiders Pressure Mustangs to Defeat

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders pressured Mounds View into a 16 point loss on Friday night. We took the game in and talk about several of the top performances.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mounds View runs a really good half court offense and does a great job getting high percentage shots within their structure. That's amazing for them and likely why they have won more games than expected BUT if you can't make the first pass into the offense, you have a problem. And the Raiders gave Mounds View a problem. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Raider senior [player_tooltip player_id='1560840' first='Jason' last='Johnson'] has a role and he plays it well. He runs the offense on one end (five assists) and defensively he pressures the ball. And when I mean pressure, the speedy senior is right in the hip pocket of the opposition. Johnson's ability to get after the opposing point guard is such a mental hurdle for the opposition that you can see the ball handler is scared with his first change of direction. I don't how many turnovers Johnson forced but it was a lot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When Johnson is pressuring, [player_tooltip player_id='1560868' first='Joseph' last='Mitchell III'] is like a defensive back ready to pounce. He's either in that passing lane or he's ready to attack with a double and that is why his steals count is so high this year. Mitchell, a future UST Tommie, had 21 points with four assists on 8 of 14 shooting with three threes. I would guess that the other five makes were all lay-ups ahead of the pack in transition. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another player that is a harassing Raider piece is [player_tooltip player_id='2126154' first='Julian' last='Smith']. Like Mitchell, Smith also seemed to be a pressuring defensive back ready attack after Johnson brings the initial scare. Smith had ten points and [player_tooltip player_id='2419839' first='Dre' last='Frierson-Hollie'] - a junior forward - was another active player, he scored nine points making all four of his attempts. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Halfcourt wise I felt the Raiders were a lot better in the second half than in the first. Early in the game it felt like guys wanted their looks early in possessions and the result was Nebraska committed Ty Schalgel not getting his first scoring attempt until several minutes into the game. But once he did the game changed. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Schalagel scored actively at the rim for his first score, hit a wing three, and then hit a quick pull-up three early in the clock. His quick eight points seemed to take a one score game and made it a double figure lead. And as the Raiders moved the ball more in the second half, Schlagel took advantage scoring 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting with eight boards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mounds View may have lost by 16 but this is a team that is going to be a tough out this year. Their top three players are juniors [player_tooltip player_id='2140552' first='Andrew' last='Aitkin'], Reid Defeyter, and [player_tooltip player_id='2140688' first='Rylan' last='Happel'] and all three average in double figures. They mix with veterans like [player_tooltip player_id='2120495' first='Ben' last='Young'] and [player_tooltip player_id='3157004' first='Qani' last='Mohamed'] as well as sophomores [player_tooltip player_id='2324359' first='Will' last='Arnold'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2225509' first='Dominic' last='Barrett'], and form an excellent unit. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aitkin was the go to man last night hitting three threes, scoring 22 points and hitting on 8 of 17 field goal attempts. He has the physical ability and the skill level to score against a team like the Raiders who are one of the best teams in the state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defeyter scored 11 points and forced the Raiders to take notice and locate him. Happell had a tougher game but his five assists were on impressive ball movement once the Mustangs were into their halfcourt stuff. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With five of their top seven back next year I think Mounds View has a chance to be a very good team in 2026-27, and you don't want to see them in the playoffs this March. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->