Johnson runs away from Winona

The Governors of St. Paul Johnson will move on to the class AAA state championship after their 80-55 victory over Winona this afternoon. The final numbers heavily favored the Governors but the game was much closer than people will realize for the first 28 minutes. The Winhawks stuck with Johnson until the energy reserves tapped out and Johnson jumped on them with a 31-7 run to close the game.

Simply put Winona played with Johnson for 28 minutes but the depth and overwhelming pressure of the Governors led the team from St. Paul to a dominating last ten minutes. The 11 man rotation of Johnson wore down the Winhawks and with no time-outs to use with five minutes to go all Winona could do was watch Estan Tyler, Jordan Pluff and Roosevelt Scott run away with the game.

Give some respect to what Winona did early, junior forward Mark Blacklock went into the half with 16 points on seven of ten shooting and an under the weather Alec Brown was the shot blocking presence that several college coaches in the stands expected him to be swatting away nine for the game. In fact Alex was a single block away from a triple double at 15 points, ten rebounds, and nine blocks. Brown had some early troubles hitting shots from the field but later in the game he did much better job getting his feet under him on balance to finish.

Johnson's defense was the difference though. Pluff and Max Rosenbloom did a nice job pushing Brown up the lane making him work even harder to get position when Alec was already less than 100 percent in terms of health. They forced the Winona big into five of 21 shooting for the game and also held Blacklock to two second half scores. Brown was bent over trying to catch his breath for parts of the game and when the whistle blew Pluff and Rosenbloom attacked Alec perfectly with physical bumps and shoves working down low.

Then there was the Governor pressure on the Winona guards. Johnson forced Winona into 19 turnovers (they scored 28 of their points off those miscues) and the Winhawk backcourt scored a total of 20 points making a combined five of 13 shots. Add in that Johnson dominated the glass 38-23 and those numbers pretty much tell all.

Jordan Pluff had a career high 20 points making eight of ten shots and Rosenbloom just missed a double-double next to Pluff as Max totaled 15 points and nine rebounds. Wing Roosevelt Scott put on a show smashing a couple dunks and making six of seven shot attempts for 13 points. Point guard Estan Tyler was the reason numerous college coaches were in the stands (including Minnesota, Colorado State, North Dakota State, and several others) and he didn't disappoint sinking three of four three-pointers for 13 points with four assists.

All in all the combination of depth, defense, and athleticism was to much for the Winhawks especially with Alec Brown playing the full 36 minutes with a sickness. Johnson maintained their perfect record and will play the winner of the Grand Rapids versus DeLaSalle contest that is being played now.