Five Things to Know: Jefferson 58 Burnsville 53

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Jags beat the Blaze in a back and forth game led by a double-double from Junior Star [player_tooltip player_id='1151197' first='Daniel' last='Freitag']! Here are five things to know. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Freitag Everywhere</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1151197' first='Daniel' last='Freitag'] scored 28 points on 10 of 22 shooting from the field and 8 of 13 foul shooting plus he grabbed 16 rebounds. Ten of those boards were offensive rebounds. In watching Daniel I could not help but think of three guys in watching Daniel play. The first was former Hopkins wing Joe Coleman. Like Joe, Daniel used his explosive athletic ability to consistently score around the rim in various ways. Between the attacks and the relentless offensive rebounding, it was just about all paint buckets for Daniel which is what Coleman often did. In addition, the incredible explosiveness also reminds me of former CDH Raider and NFL first round pick Michael Floyd. Daniel is in that realm of next level explosive but he is also that combo guard sized hooper with skill which made me think Tyler Johnson (the former Minneapolis North star). You take all of that wrap it into one, you have Daniel who was simply too much for the Blaze to stop.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. JT the Prospect</strong>. It was fun to watch [player_tooltip player_id='1226375' first='JT' last='Thornton'] finish his season in so many exciting ways. Thornton hit three jumpers on Tuesday that really caught my eye as the form looks better and he looked so comfortable releasing the basketball. JT led Burnsville in scoring with 19 points on 9 of 14 shooting and that total included two explosive dunks. We've seen the agility and defensive potential from Thornton in the past and now we've seen some improved skill in terms of the handling and the touch. Thornton is a player we continue to believe has good potential at the college level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Sophomore Surprise</strong>. Jefferson sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='2103381' first='Marcus' last='Horton'] was a key player to the Jefferson win as well. He had a highlight behind the back pass that was a big score in the Jefferson late game momentum followed by another assist to the same guy ([player_tooltip player_id='1220361' first='Anthony' last='Thorman']). In addition, Horton hit two corner threes that were also important to the win. Horton looks like a player that could have a really bright future for Jefferson.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Blaze the Trail</strong>. Burnsville won nine games this year which was a nice improvement although not quite the improvement I thought we may see with Thornton joining the fray (the injury to PG [player_tooltip player_id='962309' first='Henry' last='Saykeo'] surely hurt their W-L record). In my opinion they would have won last night if they put forth even a below average defensive rebounding effort in the zone but Jefferson just had way way too many second and third chances. That said, the Blaze could take an even bigger step forward next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>They have a couple nice juniors back in double figure scorer Jeremy Sherlock and seven footer [player_tooltip player_id='1293941' first='Henry' last='Buchanan'] as well as a really good sophomore group in [player_tooltip player_id='2109855' first='Collin' last='Heckman'], [player_tooltip player_id='1617729' first='Charlie' last='Pettis'], and [player_tooltip player_id='1617797' first='Soren' last='Leafblad']. Heckman had a 13 point game last night and Pettis averaged double figures this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Love Eagan vs Jefferson</strong>. I really like this second round game in the section coming up between Jefferson and Eagan. Both teams have a tad bit of size surrounded by a lot of good guards. [player_tooltip player_id='962213' first='Emmanuel' last='Schmitter'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1151197' first='Daniel' last='Freitag'] lead the way but both teams have a few other guards that can produce for their teams as well. Should be fun. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->