Preps Game Blog: Henry Sibley vs St. Thomas

PREGAME BLOG

The area rivalry of Cadets vs Warriors has brought out a nice crowd and a big student section from Sibley as they usually come out in full force against STA…And if you like the good ole "Taco in a Bag" Sibley does have the best…Interesting match-up should be Mike Bruesewitz against Alex Schneider in the post. Alex has been playing extremely well for the Cadets while Bruesewitz is the hot name on the recruiting scene right now…Sibley has won five games in a row and is 9-4 on the year. All their losses are to top ten teams including three losses against the top three teams in state…The Academy enters the game off a big victory over Tartan and they are also 9-4 on the season…

FIRST HALF

Cadets are up 6-3 early and this game is being played with lots energy. St. Thomas has five fouls called on them already and their coaches are all up in arms…Looks like St. Thomas is going to try and make Maurice Hernandez beat them as he has been open numerous times early…Mike Bruesewitz is having his struggles early with two missed free throws, some missed shots inside and a failed jumper. Guarding him is Alex Schneider who looks huge these days. Looks like all that time at "The Grove" in Inver Grove Heights is really paying off. He's played well and just hit a beautiful turn around jumper out of the post with two guys on him. 10-5 at this point, Cadets ahead…St. Thomas is starting with a spread with Fritz Waldvogel taking a lot of time off each possession…

Schneider is hot early as he just made his third jumper in a row out of the post and he's playing strong defense on Bruesewitz who has really struggled early missing about his first six shots…St. Thomas has made this game their style playing tough aggressive defense and allowing no fast breaks with their patient offense surrounding Alex on the perimeter….Down 16-7 Sibley crawls back to 16-12 with their first fast break points of the contest…

Five minutes to go in half and Waldvogel gets third foul. He goes out and instantly St. Thomas turns the ball over. It will be interesting to see if Sibley takes advantage before the half…And the Cadets turn the ball over three times in a row and its 18-17 with Cadets up…Schneider has played an excellent game thus far. He just had a monster block crushing the basketball against the backboard after hustling in transition. He also saved the Cadets from a fourth straight turnover with his dive on the floor, followed by scoring on the next two possessions…

Refs were a little questionable with Cadets early and its been evened out with questionable calls against Sibley at the end of the half…Peter Leslie hits three free throws and the game is tied at 22…Leslie makes a three and the score is 25-24 as Sibley takes the lead going on a run with Fritz out. It could have been worse if not for Schneider. Now sophomore Billy Chapman makes a three for St. Thomas to close out the half. Big shot there and its 27-25 with Cadets up at break…

SECOND HALF

St. Thomas is just playing smarter right now as Sibley as thrown several balls away and then Michael Fitzgerald sneaks behind Chris Halvorsen for an easy basket as Chris just wasn't looking at his man. Then another turnover gives Schneider a bucket in traffic and its 38-29…Fitzgerald gets loose from Halvorsen again and hits a three. Back the other way Bruesewitz misses another lay-in and he is just really struggling to find the bottom of the net from any range…41-31 Cadets ahead…

Leslie makes a shot inside, gets hammered and his head bounces off the floor and the ref looked right at the play and shook his head no for no foul…Waldvogel looks like Bob Cousy out here dribbling time off every possession before the Cadets get started. Tough to get a count on a player with that quick of feet and they are already stalling the game out…Ball enters to high post and cutters clear room giving Noah Kaiser the space to get a handoff and a lay-up over Schneider, 41-37…Bruesewitz has had several strong rebounds in this game and he really does get up quick for the board…Maurice Hernandez with a big three followed by a Halvorsen lay-in and this game is tied at 22 with seven minutes to go…Now you have Halvorsen flying over everybody for boards and his latest results in a put-back for the Sibley lead…

Schneider scores again turning around and facing with a jumper. He's so strong that he can get deep seals and then just bump off his man with his shoulder when he turns. Alex has looked very good and he looks an inch taller this year as well…Leslie is clutch again hitting a three to give his team the lead 49-46 with three minutes and thirty seconds left…Now Sibley is spreading four corners and it gives Kaiser the room to penetrate for a 51-46 lead…St. Thomas now has to foul Kaiser or Leslie and both are at least 80 percent shooters from the free throw line…Leslie hits four free throws in a row then Sibley get a lay-in from Halvorsen…On the other end St. Thomas has throw up three straight airballs. That is about how its been for them as Schneider scores or nothing and in the last several minutes they are just having trouble getting him the ball…This four corner spread put on by coach Tom Dasovich with a three point lead worked perfectly because all St. Thomas could do was foul Leslie, one of the elite shooters in state…Noah Kaiser just recently returned to the line-up after a long injury and he made some real big plays this evening…62-47 is final score and Sibley finished the game with a 31-6 run…

POSTGAME BLOG

Halvorsen and Bruesewitz were not at their best offensively but both were strong on the glass and played hard. Sibley was able to get offense from other spots and then scored 16 straight points at the end of the game after the score was tied at 46 with three and half to go…Leslie was on fire tonight scoring 25 points and hitting nine of ten free throws…Schneider put up 25 points and really played a hard game. Did a good job of making shots tough for Bruesewitz who finished one of 12 on the night shooting…

Sibley beat St. Thomas for the first time since January of 2006 as St. Thomas has won three straight over their rival. But before that Sibley had beaten St. Thomas three straight games so is this the start of another run?...Sibley improves to 10-4 on the season and they have won six straight games. Next opponent is yet another highly ranked team in Stillwater next Monday night…

St. Thomas falls to 9-5 and starts a string of conference games that are definitely winnable. On February 15th they welcome Simley as they look for revenge after the loss last week…Right now Henry Sibley is the only undefeated team in the Classic Suburban Conference.