Border Battle Game Blog: Minnetonka vs Memorial

PREGAME BLOG

This game should have the most talent on the floor and could be as fast paced as any game today…Minnetonka has seven seniors who will play college basketball while Madison is a talented young team with a couple role playing seniors…Both of these teams are ranked number two in their state's polls for the largest schools…

FIRST QUARTER

Vander Blue shows his division one ability right from the start hitting a contested 16-footer from the baseline and that form looked solid…Now Anthony Tucker scores with a put-back and that is what he does best. Jeronne Maymon averages a double-double and a body must be on him quickly every time a shot goes up…10-5 with Memorial up and they have scored twice now in quick transition. Tonka has to get back…Tyler Schilling is Tonka's most active defender and he's guarded Blue, now Maymon. The Skippers have looked much better defensively this season and it's coming from all five on the floor…

Schilling has cut to the hoop for a pair of buckets and its 10-9. The Tonka penetration constantly brings defenders over and Schilling knows how to read the play very well and a lot of his baskets result from him just cutting hard to the hole…Is Madison really leaving Anthony Tucker this wide open? Two three-pointers to tie the game…Maymon scores twice before the end of the quarter. Once with a spin and lay-in, the other comes off a pull-up jumper in transition…19-15

SECOND QUARTER

Maymon is putting the ball on the floor with effectiveness today as he just penetrated and scored with a scoop. And Jeronne continues to get offensive boards as he's about as tough as there are to keep off the offensive boards. He uses his body extremely well and he has a lot of strength to throw around….CJ Erickson already has four blocks in this game and he is a help side defending terror…CJ is close to going over 1,000 points for his career…A Madison turnover in the transition game produces Anthony's third three of the contest and the halftime score is 31-31…

THIRD QUARTER

Minnetonka has had several offensive breakdowns to start the second half and Memorial has taken advantage particularly the younger Maymon…Tucker uses screens better then most high schoolers you will see and he just drilled a three given a small amount of space off the Taylor Nelson screen…Andy Burns was sat down to start the second half then comes back in to deliver a nice pass to Nelson and the score is 40-38…

Blue nails a three-pointer and Madison has pushed the lead up to seven at 47-40…Lots of exciting shot blocks here as Erickson has about six right now for Tonka while Blue just sent one across the floor for Madison…Jeronne Maymon has been the difference as nobody on Tonka can match his strength around the cup so he's getting all the boards and just had a three-point play in the middle of the action. And he gets another put-back after a time-out. Now Sedrick McBounds misses a lay-in and Maymon throws a long and low bounce pass perfectly on target to Derek Nkemnji. Madison just put together about four buckets in transition at the end of this quarter…56-43 at the quarter break...

FOURTH QUARTER

In the first half we mentioned that Minnetonka was playing a decent defensive game but that has not been the case in the second half…Three point plays from Erickson and McBounds get Tonka within seven points and more importantly puts four fouls on Jeronne Maymon with seven minutes to go…Maymon is sitting and this game is getting closer, Erickson gets a put-back for a 60-55 score, Madison up…Maymon comes in and immediately scores with a floater and has the body control to not pick up the charge call and its 66 to 61…It's been a long time since Tucker has taken a shot, that last was a missed dunk and after letting him get open in the first half Memorial hasn't even let him out of their sights in the second half…

McBounds has strongly attacked the basket with a power dribble twice here in the fourth quarter and scored both times. It's the first time he's done so all game and his team is down five points with two minutes left…Blue makes two free throws for Memorial and its 70-63…Turnover from Tonka and they just can't get the ball to Tucker as Nkemnji and his long arms are stuck to the Iowa commit…Madison has hit the free throws down the stretch to secure the win…78-69 is final score…

POSTGAME BLOG

Maymon was player of the game scoring 30 points while Blue totaled 16 for the game. Tucker led Tonka with 21 points and that included four three-pointers. Schilling finished with 19 points and then McBounds scored ten…Memorial looked like a much better team at the end of the month here in Wisconsin as compared to earlier in the month when they played a pair in Minneapolis…Minnetonka struggled with Maymon as he was just to strong around the basket for any of their forwards…