Border Battle Game Blog: Maranatha vs Barneveld

PREGAME BLOG

Shooting around before the game, you notice that the rims here are soft as any place, including Williams Arena which always seemed like the pinnacle of soft rims…Games are played at eight minute quarters so that will be a change for Minnesota…Maranatha Christian Academy is number one in Minnesota's class A at 14-0 while Barneveld is 9-4…Barneveld was ranked before the season but has lost three of four coming into today..

FIRST QUARTER

Very good high-low gets David Hanson a bucket from brother Josh Hanson and it's the first basket of the Border Battle. Now David hits a fading 18-footer…David gives MCA an 8-2 lead with a beautiful fake left, strong right then the next time down he feeds Tyler Campion for his second basket. And David Hanson is bringing up the basketball…

Hanson is so fundamentally sound. He fake cuts baseline to get his guy out of position then receives at the free throw line. Next David puts the ball down and beats his guy with a crossover step-back jumper. He's done everything here hitting another pretty fade, blocking a shot, and then grabbing boards…18-9 with MCA up after a quarter and its Hanson and Campion with all the points…

SECOND QUARTER

Hanson's crossover step-back has gone for four baskets now and he's on fire. And I don't think I've seen a better move all year. Now let's see what else he can do to create for himself as the defense starts to adjust…Beautiful move from Barneveld's Trent Sullivan who just crossed-over the younger Hanson with a sharp move and finish…MCA continues to hold a double-figure lead. Shawn Monson of the Eagles has done a nice job of playing David more physical but the ball movement of the Mustangs has pushed the lead to 32-20…Monson now scores twice for his team and its an eight point game…

Love the movement from both teams as they look well coached…The Eagles have used the flex cut for a couple buckets now and its looks like the MCA coaches have made their kids more aware as they are doing more talking to each other…Barneveld tries to slow things down but David Hanson is overplaying Monson stepping into the passing angle so David gets a steal and sends the ball ahead to Darian Pittman for a lay-up at the buzzer and its 39-24 with MCA up at the half. Credit coach Jeff Wall for making adjustments on the Eagle offense as his team is communicating more…Hanson has 18 points and six rebounds thus far…

THIRD QUARTER

When people shoot free throws in Wisconsin its like the quiet you hear before a shot in golf. Its very weird and you have to talk lower or everybody in the gym hears your voice…Barneveld has increased their full court pressure and MCA is struggling. Sullivan just nailed a three and combine that with a three-point play and another three and this is a seven point game…MCA has three straight turnovers and the Eagles have all the momentum with the crowd behind them…41-34 MCA but it's a 10-2 run to start the half for the Wisconsin team…

It's so weird, the fans are giving Hanson a lot of flack but when he shoots free throws its dead silent…The third quarter has been quite slow. MCA has scored only twice and Barneveld put up that quick ten and has went scoreless themselves for about five minutes. Josh Hanson shows a lot of similarities to his brother David when he was a sophomore. Strong rebounding is the big thing and now he hits a three-pointer for MCA right before the third quarter buzzer…46-34 at the break…

FOURTH QUARTER

Fourth quarter was just a lot of running through the motions as Barneveld continued to struggle. After scoring ten quick points at the start of the second half they managed just seven the rest of the game…Hanson has been a monster rebounding in this second half… The final score was 65-41 as MCA played steadily through the end to finish strong…

POSTGAME BLOG

David Hanson was named MVP scoring 27 points on 12 of 17 shooting for the game. He missed his three three-pointers but was steady the rest of the way. David also grabbed 16 rebounds, had four blocks, three steals, and three assists…Campion played a strong game himself for MCA putting up 17 points while Sullivan scored 11 to lead the Eagles…Maranatha improves to 15-0 on the year…