Three Up, Three Down: Owatonna, Eagan, Central are threats

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Up</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owatonna (13-8). The Huskies were under .500 but this young team has bounced back big, grew up some, and they have won six games in a row. Those wins including Austin, Century and Albert Lea who have all had some good wins as of late. Owatonna has a couple more winnable games that they can't overlook and then they finish with the measuring stick: Northfield, Rochester Mayo and Mankato East. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='2140710' first='Willie' last='Moore'] recently had 33 points as Owatonna pushed Mayo to the final buzzer (61-60). Moore is scoring 21 a game. Sophomore wing [player_tooltip player_id='2384018' first='Cooper' last='Routh'] just had 34 points in a three score win over Albert Lea. Sophomore 6'5 big [player_tooltip player_id='2873196' first='Jackson' last='Holder'] is becoming a more consistent player, and 6'5 senior William Halverson has had some strong games averaging in double figures. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eagan (14-7). Eagan had a rough losing streak but has since bounced back with four straight wins beating Rosemount, Lakeville South, Shakopee, and Lakeville North. This was big after losing six of seven games (after starting with eight straight wins). The thing to know about Eagan is that they are super balanced with six guys averaging between about 6.5 points and 9.5 points a game ([player_tooltip player_id='1560747' first='Alex' last='Schroepfer'] is the leader in everything including his 17 points per game). [player_tooltip player_id='1552751' first='Michael' last='McKenzie'] had a big four three point make game against Shakopee, and [player_tooltip player_id='2118833' first='Kevin' last='Kemp'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2568101' first='Donjae' last='Knox'] have had some good games recently as well. They now have measuring stick games with Farmington, Apple Valley, and Prior Lake coming up very quick. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Paul Central (19-2). The discussion about 4AAAA hoops has always been about.... getting the one seed so you can avoid the 2 vs 3 game. Basically the chatter is between CDH, Tartan and East Ridge in those spots. Right now Central is 19-2 and they will be a big favorite to go into the playoffs at 24-2. They have cleaned house in the St. Paul City Conference this year which includes two wins over Johnson, there are wins over Blaine, Minneapolis South and Armstrong, and the losses to BSM and Minnehaha were close games. [player_tooltip player_id='2710243' first='Sefi' last='Whittington'] scored 36 points in that win over Johnson hitting NINE threes and making seven of eight foul shots. Sefi and [player_tooltip player_id='2120500' first='Eli' last='Moseman'] are the 1-2 punch but [player_tooltip player_id='2917321' first='Damonte' last='Duncan'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2461598' first='Etienne' last='Reyes'] are also putting in big minutes as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Down</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Forest Lake (7-14). The Rangers seemed to have that football season surge pushing them early as they were 7-8 but then lost six games in a row to a range of teams. The Rangers do have wins over Anoka, Park etc and they have four winnable games coming up. Senior Jayden Dillard is scoring 16 points per game and he has really developed in the way that the coaching staff mentioned he could in the preseason preview. [player_tooltip player_id='1560745' first='DJ' last='Westman'] is also scoring 15 a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Moorhead (14-7). The Spuds started winning 11 of 12 games with wins over Southwest Christian and Monticello plus several wins over Fargo area teams on the North Dakota border. But in the last four weeks the Spuds have lost six of nine games and while they beat Brainerd and two other North Dakota teams, Moorhead has lost six of their last seven games against Minnesota teams. They have a key game against Osseo tomorrow night as they try and get back on the winning side against Minnesota teams. Moorhead has the talent to bounce back though, this group of [player_tooltip player_id='2451500' first='David' last='Mack'], [player_tooltip player_id='2417305' first='Romeo' last='Kromah'], Jett Feeney, and [player_tooltip player_id='2140557' first='Austin' last='Dryburgh'] is an athletic group that are all non-seniors. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rochester Century (8-13). Century is super interesting to me. They have three wins over currently ranked AAA teams in Mankato East and Northfield. They have beaten Austin and Faribault, they are a team that teams know they have to prepare for. And credit to Century who has scheduled tough, they just played Tartan, Lakeville South and others. But they have lost games to Red Wing, Albert Lea and New Prague this year as well. Century is going to be tough going into the playoffs though and with [player_tooltip player_id='2385637' first='Nathan' last='Long'] and Benjamin Martin returning after good seasons, they should be good next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->