Maranatha knocks off Southwest Christian, Moves to 25-3

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maranatha Christian Academy knocks off Southwest Christian 92-71 and moves on to the section final.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>MCA has been an interesting team to follow all season. How good are they? It was tough to know as they lost to Lake City (14-13) and Minneapolis Camden (9-18) the first two weeks of the season and they lost to Southwest Christian by 12 points over the Holidays. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Mustangs then went on an 18 game winning streak heading into last night's game with wins over St. Croix Prep, St. Croix Lutheran, Minneapolis North, Blake, Legacy Christian, and some others. Some good wins but how good is this team really? How can we know?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We Know Now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>My biggest takeaway from last night's MCA win was their defense. MCA made the Stars uncomfortable all night and Southwest Christian was able to do nothing about it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Guys like [player_tooltip player_id='2569231' first='Chaz' last='Clark'], Brian Daniels, Ira Thomas, and [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'], they were all over the ball pressuring the Stars guards into a total lack of comfort. [player_tooltip player_id='2447536' first='Jed' last='Streed'] got some really good touches to score early and when Streed touched the ball, it was success. But Southwest Christian could not get Streed the good touches because of that ball pressure, because of the defense from [player_tooltip player_id='1525457' first='Teni' last='Phillips'], and because the Stars simply couldn't get offensive actions going to get him the ball in comfort. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then you had [player_tooltip player_id='2845973' first='Jack' last='Burke']. Jack is the leading Stars scorer at 22 points a game but last night he was in some tough late possession spots having to try and score. Phillips and company had a hand in his face all game, and they frustrated Burke all game. Burke had 26 points but it was on a 9 of 32 shooting night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>MCA is a threat. This is a wide open Class AA and the Mustangs play defense with passion and they play defense with effort. They will be quicker than just about anybody and they have a lot of guys that can pressure the ball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Player Rundown</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2569231' first='Chaz' last='Clark'] (Jr). The 5'10 junior was an effort guy both ways. I kept watching him last night thinking.... that is how a role player should play! He competed hard, went to the rim and drew contact, and he pressured the ball. Scored 13 points highlighted by 5 of 6 foul shooting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] (Jr). Marcus had a really interesting night. He didn't have a good shooting night or a great shot taking night BUT he made the biggest impact plays of the game. Every Marshall make seemed like it was very important for momentum including a three at the half time buzzer, a three in a big second half run, and an And1 late that was the dagger. Marcus moved the ball for five assists, chased down six boards and scored 21 points on 7 of 20 shooting. He is going to be tough for Blake to stop.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1525457' first='Teni' last='Phillips'] (Sr). If you are going to stop a team with size you need a worker to stop them around the basket, that was Teni. If you are going to quick transition you need somebody to defensive rebound, that was Teni. If you are going to free up space for scorers in the half court, you need somebody to screen, that was Teni. And if your attack runs into help defenders you need somebody to dump the ball off to for a score in the paint, that was Teni. A 14 rebound, five bucket game for a double-double and his defense was great.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2447536' first='Jed' last='Streed'] (Sr). When Jed fouled out he was very frustrated and I felt for him. MCA could not stop Jed when he touched the ball, the Stars just couldn't get him the ball enough. When Steed got low post position and caught the ball he scored just about every time with a good move. Jed scored his 24 points on 11 of 13 shooting! I think Streed would be a great spring D2 add for a small scholarship, the size, agility and productivity are there. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ira Thomas (Soph). I loved the game that Ira Thomas played last night. It seemed like every time MCA forced a turnover, Thomas was in the middle of it. Every time MCA was scoring and then digging in to get a stop, I felt like I was adding a basket for Thomas. Thomas hit two early threes and scored 24 points total on 9 of 16 shooting. A take notice game for sure. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->