Minnesota State Tournament: Wednesday Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We give you the best of the best from a great day of high school basketball at Williams Arena. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Samuel Afagwu of Pequot Lakes (Jr). The Patriots are so balanced that it's hard to pick a guy but I went with Samuel for four reasons: 1) His back to the basket game was really good scoring 14 points turning out of the post on 5 of 9 shooting plus he hit a three, 2) Samuel passed well off the block getting three assists and moving the ball all over, 3) he grabbed eight rebounds, 4) Blake couldn't get much for points in the paint as Samuel had a block, a steal, and a lot of contests down there.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560824' first='Deangelo' last='Dungey'] of Totino-Grace (Sr).&nbsp; The Eagles are so deep that it's tough to pinpoint individuals much but Dungey surely had his run of success on both ends.&nbsp; Dungey on the ball was a menace towards Wright when he had his chance but in full court pressure and in passing lanes Dungey was a game changer with seven steals.&nbsp; Dungey also scored on seven of ten attempts for 15 points, most of which came in rapid transition.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2124211' first='JT' last='Graupmann'] of Northfield (Sr).&nbsp; When the Raiders were flipping the game around from a Cougar 11 point lead to a Raider seven point win, Graupmann gained confidence with every touch.&nbsp; Even better, he forced nothing, and made the Cougar defense work until they couldn't any more, and Graupmann fired over the top for five three point makes.&nbsp; JT scored a game high 22 points making 8 of 11 attempts overall.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2416947' first='Ayden' last='Green'] of Minnehaha Academy (Jr).&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='2416947' first='Ayden' last='Green'] went 15 rounds.&nbsp; He watched Russell do his thing but made sure his team was the one with their hand raised in the end.&nbsp; Green defended and did his best to force other Jays to beat the Hawks and that worked.&nbsp; Green pushed the ball quickly in transition for a big part of his eight assists and that was big.&nbsp; And he scored a key 22 points including two threes and several clutch foul shots to move his team to the next round.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2574749' first='Gideon' last='Horne'] of Richfield (Jr).&nbsp; Horne was a part of a balanced Spartan effort to move on to the semis but I think Horne was Sartell's biggest problem.&nbsp; Horne grabbed four offensive boards and was a big part of the Sartell turnovers (three steals).&nbsp; Gideon is a 6'4 jumping jack that is so quick off his feet, and so quick with his cutting step that the defense has almost no chance to react to him if they aren't in perfect position.&nbsp; Horne totalled a double-double of 18 points and ten rebounds.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560740' first='Dothan' last='Ijadimbola'] of Totino-Grace (Sr). The player that Minneapolis South physically could not defend throughout the morning quarterfinal was the Drake bound Eagle senior.  At 6'6 agile and strong Dothan had bodies in front of him early which may have led to some misses, but eventually Dothan and his teammates wore on those defenders to the point that Dothan was able to get where he needed to.  He scored on 9 of 13 foul attempts and his three score second half run earned him a 22 point performance in 27 minutes.  Dothan also had a game high 11 rebounds for an impressive double-double. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2121332' first='Deron' last='Russell'] of Waseca (Sr).  At this point I have said just about all I can say but I am going to try again….. First of all his pull-up jumper is magical and can be hit from all over the court.  Second, Russell's big game feel and big game finishing ability ranks with the best I have ever seen. And third, this is a high major basketball player if he wanted to be some day.  Maybe it would have taken a year of being amazing at a mid major but Deron is that good.  He scored his 51 points always facing multiple defenders making good 15 of 26 shot attempts including 6 of 9 threes plus 15 of 18 foul shots. Simply incredible.  Yes you should be wondering if he gets votes to win Mr. Basketball. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126102' first='Jaeden' last='Udean'] of DeLaSalle (Jr). Udean has a shooting touch that most defenders aren't prepared for: it's quick, it's deep, and it can come at any time in a possession.&nbsp; The Hawks were not ready for it today as Udean hit four quick threes and compounded that with five transition scores to the rim.&nbsp; He scored 24 first half points and joined the rest of the starters sitting out most of the second half as the Islanders rolled against Grand Rapids.&nbsp; He had 26 pints total on 10 of 14 shooting.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->