Preps Game Blog: Cooper vs Minnetonka

PREGAME BLOG

Vince Taylor and Trent Tucker walk in together checking out this game…Sedrick McBounds has replaced Andrew Latzke in the starting line-up for Skippers…This game is being played with the shot clock on…

FIRST HALF

McBounds is guarding Rodney Williams Jr.. Williams beats him off the bounce twice already but Williams misses one and then creates for a teammate who misses…Williams already has two monster blocks in this game…Now Williams catches an alley-opp over McBounds and the kids here love Rodney already, and they have Tonka blue on…CJ Erickson also has a couple impressive blocks…

Cooper is playing a zone and it is giving Tonka open threes. Erickson hits one and its 5-2…Williams is once again being forced to only take jumpers. The Tonka help is over an extra step minimal like everybody else has been on Williams all year. Rodney has missed three jumpers now…Great play called out of a time-out by Cooper coach Kurt Pauly. A cutter got Rodney open as the attention went to him and when he cleared Rodney spun backdoor for another alley-opp…Anthony Tucker hits his first look and its an NBA three with a defender in his face, 12-4 Skippers…Latzke hits three once he checks in and its getting away from the Hawks fast at 15-4. Cooper just has to get some production from somebody so the entire Minnetonka defense isn't playing all over Williams…

Anthony Tucker surprises everybody and jams with two-hands with Williams in hot pursuit...Anthony looked back to see where Rodney was and instead of trying to compensate he put down a strong dunk in the open floor. Love that aggressiveness…Tonka junior Kyle Risinger is playing some real tough on-ball defense. His pressure his making the first pass real hard for Cooper…

Williams is a show right now. After making three of four free throws he comes down the next possession to hit a sweet fading jumper over the lengthy McBounds. Then he steals the pass at mid-court and gives the crowd what they came to see. He has 11 of their 12 points but Tonka up eight points…Wow, Williams blows past everybody going right and scores, gets fouled, and makes free throw…Skipper forward CJ Erickson is really showing off his range tonight. He hits another three and its 27-17…

Tucker hits another three in the smoothest fashion there is and it starts a run for Minnetonka. They are playing a very confident, relaxed style of basketball at this point in the year and everybody is involved. All seven of their seniors have scored and they are up 36-20…Williams makes two more free throws and he's at six of seven for the game…

SECOND HALF

Erickson continues to be on fire from the outside. Hits another three for the Skippers…This game has just kind of held steady for the entire second half thus far. Tonka has lost a little spark and Cooper is ever so slowly creeping back in with their hard working defense. They are trapping Andy Burns hard in the backcourt right now and it has caused a few issues 56-43…

Tucker just scored with a back-cut and then hit his third three-pointer of the game. Cooper has been playing hard and will likely keep playing hard but that took some wind out of them…Williams has had a couple two hand slams here at the mid-point of half number two but he's set the bar so high right now that fans expect him to do a 360 or something every play…

Williams is fighting as hard in this game as I have ever seen him. He's just working his tail off around the bucket to get offensive rebounds and he's finishing both his contested shots as well as his free throws…Latzke has hit some shots here and he can thank Burns for the passes. They can all thank Burns tonight as he has opened a lot of players for shots through the Skipper offense plus he's made some of his own looks as well…

This game could set a record for fouls called, both teams in double bonus already at the halfway put off the second half…Rodney was in the post and spun off the defender quickly to dunk for the seventh time in this game. Its almost like the Skippers want to see him dunk as badly as the fans do…Minnetonka continues to score continually and its everybody as Cooper has nobody getting back on defense. Tucker just strolled on the break for three straight transition baskets, two of them dunks…

Williams has shot free throws pretty well tonight but he's struggled from beyond the arc. I would guess he's about 0 for six from three-point land tonight…Tonka has had so many open floor buckets that Burns just pulled up and coach John Hedstrom wanted some work done on the halfcourt stuff…Skippers are spreading the floor to four corners plus the lead guard running things from the top of the key. Cole Stefan gives everybody a look at his beautiful jumper with a made three…92-78 is where the game finishes.

POSTGAME BLOG

Rodney finishes with 14 boards, six blocks, and 38 points. He shot 13 of 32 from the field and made 12 of 16 free throws. Anthony Tucker scored 22 points making nine of 13 shot attempts including three three-pointers and his lone free throw attempt…Tonka had five guys in double figures as Tucker led with 23, Burns, Erickson, and Tyler Schilling scored 13 while Latzke put in ten...

Outside of that exciting Sibley-Tonka battle at the start of the year and the dogfight with DeLaSalle at the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic, no Minnesota team has come close to beating Minnetonka this year. They are 13-1 on the season with 12 double figure wins and 11 of those have been by 20 points or more…How exciting is this first match-up with Hopkins going to be? Minnetonka and Hopkins are far and away the best teams in state right now and you may have to be at the game by school's end to get a seat…

Cooper falls to 9-4 on the season and all their in-state losses have been to teams from the Classic Lake (Tonka, Hopkins, Edina)…Within their own conference Cooper has been destroying teams including last night's 27 point win over Fridley. They are undefeated in conference right now as is Benilde-St. Margaret's and they have a huge game coming up next Tuesday…Williams ups his average to 21 points a game on the year while Cooper's second leading scorer Joe Bright (a 6-foot-2 junior scoring 16 a game) had a tough game with only nine points…