Tuesday Night Preview, Prediction: JCC vs BP for Big South title

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8AA Jackson County Central at Belle Plaine in the Big South Championship Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: Ben Gallagher of JCC. This is a 5'11 guard that is a playmaker, that is a creator, and this is a very good shooter. Ben is the third leading scorer for JCC and he's been a key part to this winning 15 of their last 16 games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: This is totally a 50-50 game and these are key teams in sections 2AA and sections 3AA that have good chances at the state tournament. The [player_tooltip player_id='1601069' first='Roman' last='Voss'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] match-up is one of the best you will see, I think JCC wins by two scores. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>9AAAA Hopkins at 2AAA DeLaSalle</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: [player_tooltip player_id='1560839' first='Xavier' last='Frelix']. If Hopkins is going to go on to the Island and beat DeLaSalle, they will need a good shooting game and the Royals player that can extend that Islander defense is Frelix. Xavier just had 26 points in the loss to Wayzata and 14/7 in a win over Edina.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: Coach Novak needs two wins to tie the record, if Hopkins can get this win tonight, that would be massive towards getting the record this season so the focus turns to finishing off this season. Hopkins likely has that focus but outside the team we are watching Hopkins for many reasons. Can they beat De? We say Islanders in a battle, 71-69</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Annandale at 6AAA Becker</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: [player_tooltip player_id='2488736' first='Gabe' last='Westman']. Gabe is a long and athletic wing at 6'5 who is versatile that can finish through contact at the rim. He uses that quickness and length to help his team defensively in several scenarios and he is becoming a more skilled player as well. He's scoring 15 points a game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: Becker is on a nice stretch of wins but this will be the toughest opponent they have faced since losing to Osseo. The Cards have slipped up lately with two losses in their last three games. We think they bounce back and win by a score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>10AAA St. Cloud Apollo at St. Cloud Tech</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: [player_tooltip player_id='1874853' first='Ikenna' last='Nwachukwu'] and Goay Huth. The Apollo fourth and fifth starters. The two guys scoring 11-12 a game for Apollo that may not be at the top of the scouting report but they are the two guys making Apollo a deeper team taking advantage of opportunities. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: This is a big rivalry game that will likely go down to the wire. Apollo beat Tech 76-55 earlier this season and we think they win again tonight but in a closer game (71-64). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>8AAAA Chaska at Waconia</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: 6'9 freshman [player_tooltip player_id='2841981' first='Jed' last='Keenan']. Keenan is scoring 11.4 points a game shooting 51 percent from the floor, 46 percent from the arc on the five threes he takes per game, and 71 percent from the foul line. When it comes to freshman in big school basketball, Keenan looks like one of the elite as he is doing this for a top ten team in Class AAAA. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: Last time Waconia got 37 points from [player_tooltip player_id='1560741' first='Will' last='Kirsch'] - who just committed to UST football - but Chaska had six guys scoring nine or more points for the game led by Keenan hitting five threes for 23 points. Waconia has been a great surprise but we feel like [player_tooltip player_id='2126118' first='Tyler' last='Forrest'] is just too much for the Cats who win 83-78.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Minneapolis South at 3AAA Richfield</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: [player_tooltip player_id='3510466' first='Laviance' last='Gales']. Gales is a strong frontcourt junior giving the Tigers 11 points and eight rebounds a game. He does a lot of hard working stuff for the Tigers who are about to play in the Twin Cities Championship game for the first time since 1989. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: The Tigers are having a great season but Richfield has a chance to have THE season. Richfield wins by 15 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nicollet at 10A Wabasso in the Tomahawk Valley Conference Championship game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Player to Know: Nicollet 6'3 junior forward Carson Kettner will be a multi-year all league guy after this season and he's leading his team in scoring, and the Raiders are a surprising 21-5 this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: It's been another step forward for Nicollet who struggled two years ago, hit .500 last year and now they are a 20-win team. Can they beat Wabasso? We don't think so but as Wabasso should win by a dozen. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->