Twin Cities Takedown: Gaustad and Beeninga Come up BIG

The Twin Cities Takedown kicked off Friday night and monster performances from [player_tooltip player_id='2433532' first='Max' last='Beeninga'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1819128' first='Bryce' last='Gaustad'] highlighted the night.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Gaustad Paint Domination </h2>   Powerhouse Minnesota and [program_tooltip program_id='2075310' first='Northstar' last='Titans'] were locked up in a tight game and then with about seven minutes to go, the biggest man on the floor [player_tooltip player_id='1819128' first='Bryce' last='Gaustad'], all 6-foot-9 inches of him, took complete control of the game using that touch and frame. How?   Low post shot contesting/shot blocking. Powerhouse Minnesota is an aggressive attacking team that was able to get downhill, but sometimes when you are traveling downhill you can run into an obstacle. Gaustad was that low paint obstacle. He blocked five shots in the paint and contested countless others to the point of a 19 of 51 shooting game for the opponents, and eight of those 19 makes were at the arc.   Inside, Gaustad dominated the rebounding efforts. Considering he is bigger than all of his opponents by five or six inches this is to be expected, but some players Gaustad's size don't do the job. Bryce did the job! He grabbed SIXTEEN rebounds completely controlling the defensive glass, and when the opponents were being physical with him on the offensive end forcing misses, he was able to collect his own misses to finish often.   The touch. Bryce has a really nice shooting touch. Three of his ten makes were at the arc and two of his makes were eight to ten feet touch shots off of a post move. He used his size deep to score but Bryce also used a touch to finish, and he did it with Concordia-St Paul, Winona State, St. Cloud State and others watching the game.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Beeninga for 33! </h2>   What we saw from Minnesota State-Moorhead commit [player_tooltip player_id='2433532' first='Max' last='Beeninga'] last night in the [program_tooltip program_id='2075672' first='Minnesota' last='Fury'] 74-61 win over Hoop Habits will not soon be forgotten....   Thirty Three Points. Eight Three Pointers Made. 12 of 19 field goal shooting. And DEFENSE! Max did this while making things miserable for a couple Hoop Habits guards. Beeninga would have made a monster impact on this game without the eight threes he was that tough defensively. But when you add that Max knocked down five first half threes and eight threes for the game, it was a memorable, incredible performance.   And this wasn't a 33 point game where he played all 32 minutes, Fury has depth and Max sat down for a third of the game! It was 33 points in about 24 minutes!   One of the best individual 17u games I have seen in a long time.   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Quick Hitters</h2>   Max was the MVP but [player_tooltip player_id='2140675' first='Owen' last='Brezinski'] was outstanding. When you looked around the gym at the Fury vs Hoop Habits gym you saw six NSIC schools, another six D3 teams, and a pair of NAIA schools watching. Who was motivated by that? You would think the answer is everybody but I can surely tell you the answer was Owen who out fought everybody, his own teammates included, for 14 rebounds! Owen ended a ton of Hoop Habit possessions with outstanding effort on the glass. Also scored 13 points.   [player_tooltip player_id='2140590' first='Cody' last='Benson'] of [program_tooltip program_id='2075310' first='Northstar' last='Titans'] (Spectrum HS) was the second best player for the Titans in the win over Powerhouse. He was another high effort guy that scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and defended hard with the ability to stay with their speed.   [player_tooltip player_id='2126458' first='Luke' last='Schroeder']. This shooter can only be contained for so long. Fury did a really good job on him for about the first..... 19 or 20 minutes but Luke always finds a way. He gave Hoop Habits a chance in the second half with his five three pointers made on his way to a 17 point game.   [player_tooltip player_id='2126460' first='Donte' last='Branch'] earned some quality post-season honors for his 21 points a game for the South St. Packers this year, and it looks like he will be the main Powerhouse scorer this year as well. Hit five threes against good defenders scoring 19 points with six rebounds and four assists last evening.   [player_tooltip player_id='2464702' first='Elijah' last='Benepe'] is a 6'5 junior that played off the Johnson bench last year and after seeing him last night, I think he and [player_tooltip player_id='2392217' first='David' last='Addai'] can make a really nice pair for the Governors next season. Benepe is long and agile with good potential. He scored 15 points with 12 boards for Powerhouse in the loss to the Titans.   Finally [player_tooltip player_id='2362161' first='Matthew' last='Johnson']. Last night he saw Fury teammate [player_tooltip player_id='2433532' first='Max' last='Beeninga'] scoring a ton. He watched Owen put out a double-double. This was not going to be a big scoring night for Johnson..... so as the usual main option did he sulk or find another way to contribute? He found a ton of ways to contribute! He blocked shots, he locked up his guy, Matthew chased down eight boards and when he did get a chance to shoot, he made the most of his seven shots making five. I think I was more impressed with his efforts last night than I was when he was the main option! Willing to do whatever it takes.

The Twin Cities Takedown kicked off Friday night and monster performances from Max Beeninga Max Beeninga 6'1" | PG Wayzata | 2027 State MN and Bryce Gaustad Bryce Gaustad 6'9" | C/PG Anoka | 2027 State MN highlighted the night.