Minneapolis North 73 Minneapolis South 50 – The Rundown

Last night the heavyweight North Polars defeated the up and coming South Tigers 73-50. Who stood out and why? Check Prep Hoops for, The Rundown. [player_tooltip player_id="774735" first="Davon" last="Townley Jr"], a 6-foot-6 senior power forward from North, instantly made his impact on the game as South could not get a body on him to keep Davon off the boards. Townley is quick to his second jump which was another problem, but his first two scores were basically Davon simply moving young players out of the way and doing what he wanted at the cup. There were two first half occasions where Townley just took a defensive rebound out of a player’s hands and put it back up for a score. Townley’s movement to space around the basket led to a quick dozen points (either putbacks or finishing off the delivery) and an early 15 point Polar lead that they never gave away. He also moved off the screen and roll to score off a nice pass from [player_tooltip player_id="850709" first="Willie" last="Wilson"], a 6-foot-2 junior point guard from North, Wilson was too big for the players guarding him and he used his size advantage to score early. The first bucket was an attack to the left side of the rim and the second time Wilson just muscled over the top of the South guard like his brother Odell would on the block. Willie certainly looks to of added several pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior year. There was also a play where Wilson twice froze his man with the hesitation move and then went to the rim to playmake. Guys stopped as if Wilson had special ice powers with the move. On another play Wilson didn’t need any freezing powers, he just caught on the move and threw down an impressive two hand dunk as the defender ran by and made contact. A more explosive finish than what I was expecting. Play of the night? I’m going with the Townley catch mid-lane. Downley faced up and used one dribble left to get to the rim and he used that explosive two hand jumper to dunk over a South frontcourt player physically. Also credit Wilson there for the nice pass to Townley who flashed into the high post. Another memorable Townley play was the 4-star football prospect using his quick hands to pick the pocket of the South point guard. Davon had 18 points and 16 boards. Speaking of Wilson again, we’ve talked about Wilson as.... Transition Gold!.... many times before and last night there was an early second half play were Wilson switched the push dribble right to left moving through Tigers. Then at the rim Willie extended a left arm out to complete while TWO South 6-foot-8 frontcourt players had their arms up to contest the shot. The speed of Wilson moved him to the small window to complete that impressive play. More.... Transition Gold!... occurred when Wilson went with the two hand ball fake to remove the defender and then completed the play on the right side of the rim. How about that Willie jumper? Made a couple second half threes on his way to 19 points. Jerome Williams Jr, a 5-foot-9 freshman point guard from South, kept his team in the game early. The ball was rotated to Williams in the corner where he knocked out his set shot three pointer with a confident comfort (showed range on that shot later hitting a triple about three giant steps behind the arc). Moments later North sent a couple defenders to double Williams in the corner but the speedy young guard moved away from their attempt and drew two more defenders to him before leading Ring to a two hand finish. Williams took four defenders away from the play to create that attempt. Camren Smith, a 6-foot-3 freshman shooting guard from South, has the look of a legit wing prospect. The way he moves with the ball and into passing lanes catches your eye as does the way he smoothly uses his length to go to the rim and complete plays. He made a first half three and then smoothly went the other way with those long strides, got into his stance, and took away a first passing option. Smith has the look of a prospect with huge potential. Knocked out two threes as well on his way to double figures. Catching the eye with the shooting stroke last night was [player_tooltip player_id="774741" first="Clifford" last="Brown III"], a 6-foot-1 junior shooting guard from North. Brown is a left handed shooter that three times knocked perimeter jumpers out of the corner. The Polar passing opened up Brown for wide open looks several times and Brown did his part. Mario Sanders, a 6-foot-0 junior point guard from North, scored several times sprinting out in transition and I liked the rim protection from [player_tooltip player_id="774808" first="Marcus" last="Owens"], a 6-foot-7 senior center from North, The one thing North didn’t consistently do was keep a body on Chiang Ring, a 6-foot-8 freshman power forward from South. Ring is in that Trevor Mbakwe mold of player that is so quick off his feet hunting for aggressive dunks. Ring scored off the Williams penetration once and the rest of his four makes were second chance production. Ring is so quick off his feet that he was meeting the carom above the rim. He has the potential to be an amazing rebounder because he can get to balls in spots that others can’t. Chiang can collect the ball above the rim (most players need to wait out the flight before it can get to a spot for them to collect), and he can launch himself to board outside of his area as well.