Osseo Beats Centennial for 20th Win

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Osseo now has 20 wins heading into the playoffs putting together a better season than I think some expected. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Osseo</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560826' first='Joel' last='Saah'] of Osseo (5'11 Sr). Joel played a steady game. He was defensively on Centennial helping pressure for turnovers or to pressure to rattle the opposing ball handler. Joel also did a really nice job handling transition/fast break situations sending leads to others or scoring high percentage attempts himself. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2524650' first='Kwatamah' last='Silikpoh'] (5'11 Jr). Osseo started seniors on Senior Night and they did solid, but when Silikpoh came in the game seemed to change. Osseo as a group of guards pressured Centennial into problems and Kwat was a part of that, but it was his hard charging drives that really grabbed my attention. Not only is Silikpoh quick, he is strong, and when help got there he has the strength to not let it affect him moving through contact to finish at the rim. He did that twice and hit a three after stepping on the floor. Kwat continued to attack the rim and find ways to score on the move to the cup throughout the game. had a team high 15 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Donovan Smith (6'8 Sr). Smith is a long armed, thin frontcourt player that got the game going for Osseo making plays on both ends. He blocked a shot right away, contested some others, and then ran the floor to make some plays offensively. Scored in the paint with a short touch, then he dunked home a lob, and then caught a post entry and finished with touch. Smith has some potential, the length is there and if he could add some core strength I could see him helping a D3 college team some day. As the game wore on, Smith continued to contest and block shots, he smacked one Hanson shot off the baseline wall. Finished scoring in double figures with three or four blocks. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2175487' first='Trey' last='Shaffer'] (6'4, Sr). I liked the effort of Shaffer. Set some good screens to really help is teammates, defended hard getting to his spots and scored a few times powering through Centennial players. Played a tough team game that helped Osseo get the win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Centennial</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560850' first='Tristan' last='Hanson'] (6'5, Sr). There is a confident scoring touch to Tristan that is just a bit different. The facials are steady, the motions are fluid, and Hanson is a guy with a pretty touch that can score in a lot of ways. His first two scores were active off ball, then he caught out of the post and squared to hit followed by a wing three. There were just so many different ways that Hanson made plays that impressed: was really good with pick and roll decisions sending a pass to teammates for scores, he posted to score, back cut to score, etc. Centennial stayed with Osseo to the end and Hanson hit a lot of big threes late. Scored an impressive 28 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wes Kukkonen (6'1, Jr). Osseo threw a lot of guys at Wes and the pressure was bothersome but I did respect the fight of Kukkonen to keep competing. Centennial does some good stuff moving off the ball and Kukkonen scored on a cut and assisted on cuts plus made a couple jumpers after Osseo tried to pressure him but couldn't force a turnover. Osseo kept pressuring but Wes and his team kept handling it to stay close. As the game hit its most important times the strong guard had a transition assist and hit a big corner three getting to double figures. Eventually Osseo took the pressure off which was kind of a nod to how Centennial/Kukkonen handled it as the game moved on. Had 12-14 points in the loss. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->