Mound-Westonka 64 Orono 56 – Top Ten Player Performances

<p>In an important Wright County East match-up Mound-Westonka knocked off Orono 64-56?  Top player performances?  That’s our objective from Friday’s game. </p> <p><strong>One. Charlie Herder</strong> (6’5 Sr Forward) of Mound-Westonka.   Herder had one of my favorite performances of the season.  This is a three/four bucket a game guy who plays his role and against Orono he played his role as well as he’s ever played it.  Orono had a lot of trouble moving with players off the ball and Herder’s off ball movement was perfect.  He did the work moving off the ball and the A+ ball movement from the Whitehawks found him over and over.  Throw in some put-backs, makes on 7 of 8 foul shots, eight boards, and it was a brilliant game for Herder. </p> <p><strong>Two.  Santi Phommahaxay</strong> (5’7 Sr Point Guard) of Mound-Westonka.  The speed at which Santi attacked from point A to point B, the quickness of which he was able to attack space, and the way he passed the ball - sometimes in unexpected ways from all areas on the floor - was something Orono just couldn’t move with as a unit.  One of the most important things we don’t talk about enough as a basketball society is moving the ball from one side of the floor to the other (sideline to sideline and baseline to baseline) and Santi does it as well as anybody. Phommahaxay is five syllables of speed. </p> <p><strong>Three.  Isaiah Hagen</strong> (6’2 Sophomore Guard) of Orono.  I was very happy to get a glimpse of what Isaiah Hagen could do.  The Spartans had a terrible time creating shots so at times they leaded on Isaiah to create as he is the best on his team in that area.  Hagen had a tough shooting game as he needed to take tough shots when the team became more desperate.  That said, his ability to use his quickness and size at guard was eye catching.  There is a fluidity to the way he gets into his attack and pull-up with a touch that will get better.  Made all his foul shots, scored 16 points.  </p> <p><strong>Four. [player_tooltip player_id="1144111" first="Jack" last="Eberhart"]</strong> (6’0 Junior Shooting Guard) of Mound-Westonka.  Eberhart looks to be a specialist on the offensive end and this specialist opened an early gap in the league.  Jack knocked out three triples early to build the lead and those scores allowed MW the leverage the team needed to maintain the lead.  He scored 13 points for the game and did a nice job being a smart position defender as well.  Forced nothing on offense. </p> <p><strong>Five. [player_tooltip player_id="796950" first="Jason" last="Spaeth"]</strong> (6’2 Junior Wing) of Mound-Westonka.  Jason is commonly one of the two main scoring options for the Whitehawks but on this day the shots just weren’t consistently there for him.  What I loved about Spaeth is that he didn’t force his offense.  He moved the ball for five assists, got to his spots on defense, hit a couple threes, and scored 11 points on seven attempts. </p> <p><strong>Six. Graham Beltrand</strong> (6’5 Senior Forward) of Orono.  Graham has been the top Orono scorer this year but he didn’t have the game he wanted to when it comes to finishing in the second half. Had a dozen for the game but he needed a couple more finishes to get his team where they needed to be.  </p> <p><strong>Seven.  [player_tooltip player_id="774928" first="Logan" last="Leonard"]</strong> (6’4 Senior Forward) of Mound-Westonka. Logan did his job in this game grabbing ten boards.  It’s what they needed him to do and he did it well. </p> <p><strong>Eight. [player_tooltip player_id="958716" first="Sebastian" last="Loder"] </strong>(Junior Guard) of Orono. Scored three baskets late giving his team nine points. </p> <p><strong>Nine. Andrew Mande</strong>l (6’9 Senior Center) of Orono. Came off the bench to six three times, grab four boards, and block a couple shots in limited time. </p> <p><strong>Ten.  Mound-Westonka Team Basketball</strong>.  That’s some of the best ball movement and halfcourt activity I have seen from a team in a long time.  Every pass meant something.  They had 11 assists on their first 11 baskets.  </p>