Preps Game Blog: Burnsville vs Eastview

PREGAME

Tarell Clark has his hair out in one of the biggest afros I have ever seen and it looks…interesting…In the last meeting Burnsville defeated the Lightning 78-72 in overtime playing on the road…Clark is a Mr. Basketball finalist and deservedly so…

FIRST HALF

Tarell hits a three from the same wing where he constantly works and the form looks improved, at least with that shot. That is a good sight as his jumper was always such a curiosity…I walked in right as things were starting so either Carlos Emory was pulled fast or he didn't start. Confusing because he's the only guy on bench without a warm-up…Love that Clark just took a charge to start the game and then he stands in to try and take another…

It's 9-6 early with Eastview up and Tarell is sitting out with foul trouble and he has been on the bench a lot in the early stages of this game…Eastview is playing excellent halfcourt defense and all five guys are down in a stance and looking active. Giving the Blaze offense some real issues…Again Burnsville goes about 40 seconds with no look and then turns the ball over. They have had a couple travels just trying to force the ball into the lane off the bounce and Eastview is taking away the middle with what has thus far been an excellent defensive game plan….

Eastview up 15-7 after Johnie Sanders sends a full-court pass to a streaking Emory who catches, get fouled, and finished. Five-foot-10 Tyler Spanton has done a good job of getting deep penetration and kicking out for the Lightning. He's opened up made three-pointers for seniors Patrick Coyne and Spencer Pratt. Its 15-7 and still Tarell Clark has barely played due to foul trouble…Coyne and Johnson each hit jumpers again for Eastview maintaining a 24-14 lead after Max Vanordstrand buried a three for Burnsville…

Emmory is a machine on the glass. He rebounds extremely strong with good two-handed strength and decent feet getting off the floor…Clark checks in after about nine minutes on the bench and instantly the Blaze defensive pressure gets better…Pratt is left wide open and that can not happen. He makes the Blaze pay as their defensive rotations were messed up giving Spencer a wide open look at his third made three…The Lightning are on fire from deep as they kick out to Drew Johnson this time for a three. Eastview is getting very deep penetration and with shooters everywhere this is a difficult offense to defend because you also have to focus on Sanders as a slasher around the paint…

Clark gets tip-on and its 30-22. Tarell gets a ton of offensive boards every time I see him play. Also, Tarell's guarding Pratt chest to chest everywhere giving away the help because Pratt's shooting has opened this game up so much…Perfect execution from Eastview at the end of the half. They go spread with what looked like scissor cuts at about 49 seconds and they wind it down to ten seconds. Then Spanton attacks deep leaving a nice pass for Coyne who scores inside with a few ticks left and its 38-22 at the half…

SECOND HALF

Clark gets an extremely bad charge call on him as he attacked. With 15 minutes to go its 42-28 Eastview and Tarell has to play if they want to get back into this…Burnsville is getting back into this extending the game full court and getting some pull-up mid-range jumpers from sophomore stud Devan Knopke and senior Zachary Pfeffer…Its 42-33…

Clark has made a couple crazy athletic plays here first grabbing a rebound that was ridiculously out of every body else's range but not his. Then he had the most amazing two handed steal I've ever seen as he swiped a bullet of an outlet pass out of the air with his two extremely long arms. He also had a steal but then all three times he flew the other way to the bucket but then got into trouble as Eastview is well coached and they get back quickly. While Tarell was able to get to the middle on these plays, and others, he constantly gets doubled or tripled as you can see it has been Eastview's game plan to over help on him all night. And because of this Tarell's athletic ability has produced hustle plays but not his normal point production at this point and he looks a little wild with the basketball tonight. You have to love the heart and energy he plays with and because of its his team is hyped and only down 44-37…

Very important jumpers right there from Pratt and Sanders. Johnie catches, squares, and scored from the elbow then a couple possessions later Pratt gets loose to hit his fourth three and it's a ten point game with Eastview ahead…Nice looking wrap around pass from Sanders to Emory for a bucket. Johnie was able to beat Clark off the bounce and then create….

Blaze is rolling right now as senior Nicholas Krogstad hits a three then Clark steals the pass coming back up court and takes it at the bucket. Tarell made an athletic lay-in scoring while being fouled then making the free throw for a 49-47 game…Clark flies by the defender off the bounce going baseline. He stepped out of bounds before rising but the ref didn't notice and the bucket counts…Pratt hits his 5th trey of the night and this game has really became fun….

Clark has taken the game over and is now putting Burnsville on his back. Spanton turns the ball over to Knopke who sends it ahead to Clark for a monster jam. Then Clark gets about his sixth steal of the game right after that and flies for his second monster dunk in 15 seconds and this gives the Blaze the lead at 55-54…

Another late turnover as Knopke forces Spanton into a five second violation and then Clark scores again, this time with a tip-in….Clark misses a pair of free throw attempts…The Burnsville defense has taken over the game and Eastview can't do anything. Sanders should have been called for a five second violation right there but a bail out call puts the ball on the sidelines….Johnie Sanders is now the trusted Eastview player with the ball playing point…Sideline OB play goes right to Pratt who is wide open and hits three-pointer number six!...57-55 Eastview…

Clark drives baseline to opposite free throw line but just dribbles into defenders and drops the ball. I don't have a clue what the plan there was…Vanordstrand steals the in-bounds pass from Eastview, sends it to Pfeffer who misses but Clark with another follow-up at the rim and this Clark basket ties the game at the buzzer…57-57…

OVERTIME

Tarell Clark for three to open the overtime period and that shot looked pretty good from start to finsih….Another nice highlight as Sanders drives in traffic, makes shot plus gets taken out but no call? What?...Now Sanders with another great drive on the next possession and he finishes, but they take it away! Not sure if the was the Blaze player was there or not and it seemed close but Sanders let go of the basketball well in advance…60-59 Burnsville…

Another great defensive possession from Burnsville and it becomes yet another Clark steal who went the other way with the ball but blew a dunk. No matter as Krogstad has the ball and makes one free toss after being fouled….Eastview misses a shot at the buzzer and Burnsville gets impressive 62-59 OT victory…

PREGAME

Clark was the only Burnsville player in double figures as he scores 22…Clark is an outstanding rebounding guard. The numbers were gone as fast as the Blaze stat guys but Tarell had to have been close to a triple double here with points, boards, and steals…Tarell is an interesting guy to look at in terms of prospect rankings. If you are a run and gun team looking to press, fast break, and play up tempo with quick shots Tarell is a minimal four star player that you want in your college program for sure….But if your game is a little more half court, a little slower you would look at Clark with two or less stars sometimes because he penetrated into nothing so many times….

Whatever your taste Tarell is a game changing athlete who is so much fun to watch. He's a fantastic athlete who is a highlight waiting to happen. If he was more skilled in the halfcourt game and a more consistent shooter I think he would be good for Minnesota because Tarell would be a perfect fit for Tubby Smith's defensive schemes…I predict that he will be one of the top 20 juco recruits in the nation for 2010…

Spencer Pratt hit six three-pointers and scored 24 points for Eastview. I fully expect to see him performing well for a MIAC school down the road if he has the plans to stay local…Sanders will go juco most likely and it will be interesting to see what he develops into…

Eastview falls to 16-6 on season while Burnsville improves to 15-8 and is on a four game winning streak…These teams are the favorites in section 3AAAA and its very possible that they may see each other again…Both teams a couple games behind EP in conference now as the Eagles slaughtered Kennedy tonight…Burnsville has now beat Eastview twice this year and both games went to OT…