Preps Game Blog: Simley vs Sibley

PREGAME BLOG

Simley will be without scoring guard Kaleb Saindon, a 6-foot-1 senior, and Peter Goettsch, a 6-foot-1 senior starter. Saindon has a shoulder injury while Goettsch has mono…Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore is here to check out Sibley's Mike Bruesewitz…Sibley's 6-foot-11 sophomore center Jake Kreuser really played well in the junior varsity game. He was finishing a ton of his shots in this game, grabbed just about every offensive board, and also had some impressive passes that went for lay-ins…With Noah Kaiser back from injury and playing well Sibley is starting with Bruesewitz and Chris Halvorsen as the front court…Last year at Simley, Sibley fell 66-61. The same score St. Thomas Academy lost to Simley by earlier this month…

FIRST HALF

Simley is playing a zone and the combination of Bruesewitz and Halvorsen has eaten it up early. Bruesewitz scored with a spin turned jump hook off the block and then the next time down he fed Chris an easy look after receiving the ball on the baseline…Bruesewitz is guarding Simley senior Alex Ewing who is a 6-foot-3 small forward who has played very well this season. You have to notice that Mike is very vocal defensively continually talking to his teammates…High-low against zone works for a Halvorsen to Bruesewitz combo bucket and its 9-0…Game is at Simley but yet about 25 Sibley students are here making all kinds of loud noise…

Bruesewitz dunks from the baseline and its 13-2. Mike has some surprise explosion as he gets off his feet quicker then you would think…Simley makes a comeback as Jordan Roue scores twice. Jordan drove once for two and then Muresuk Mena penetrated and dished to Roue for a lay-up and a 15-9 score…Roue drives by the Sibley defense for a third straight score and this is a four point game. Jordan is a division two or three football prospect at wideout and you can see his quicks on the floor right now that have presented him with opportunity…

Two quick buckets from Kavon Martin and a three from Maurice Hernandez makes the score 20-11. Martin has been hampered by a leg injury for a long time now and it's a shame that people were not able to see this kid explode for dunks like he used to before the injury. Hernandez is a nice shooter who could be D-2 while Roue has scored twice now with his jumper. First a pull-up, then a three, and Roue has scored 11 points in a hurry…Jordan hits a pull-up jumper from the elbow making his six straight shot. Jordan has a pretty jumper and when he's on he can light things up fast…Sibley coaches not happy about this defensive effort right now…

Offensively the Warriors have scored just about all 31 of their points in the paint. There is just no size on the floor for the Spartans and Marcus Garcia has scored three lay-ups inside. Exhibit A on the size mismatch, 6-foot-8 Halverson was just guarded in the post by the 5-foot-9 Mena…Hernandez hits his third three-pointer and its 37-22 Sibley…Simley is keeping this competitive with their hard work and the fact that they are very athletic, small, but quite athletic. They have spread the floor out and guys like junior Thomas Sims are taking defenders off the dribble to the hole plus the help isn't getting there from the backside. I believe I confused a Roue lay-up or two with buckets that Sims has scored. They are similar looking athletes both playing well…Roue hits another deep jumper, this one with Hernandez right in his face beyond the arc…Sibley is now hitting three-pointers and everything in the paint. At this pace they could score 100…Alley-opp from Hernandez to Halvorsen has the Warrior crowd crazy and Sibley up 49-29 at the half…

SECOND HALF

I'm not really seeing any help defense out of either teams and its 58-33 a couple minutes in as everybody is penetrating for buckets…Hernandez hits his fourth three-pointer as these teams are getting looks up fast and furious. Maybe two fast, two furious…Pretty pick-and-roll sees Bruesewitz catch at the baseline, square up and finish nicely at the rim. That pass was from Peter Leslie who then gave Mike a beautiful no-look feed after splitting the defense at mid-court. Bruesewitz would catch and get absolutely crushed by two Simley players and still finish…

Sibley is really playing well. Recent victories over St. Thomas and Stillwater have proved that this is surely a top ten team. After the bumpy start against the three best teams in state, they have regrouped as a unit playing well from all angles…Chris Halvorsen has scored a couple times in the transition game in the last minute. He's a mid-major D-1 player that will really excel in an up and down game. Teams like Montana and NDSU have offered plus there is a lot of interest out there, most recently from Davidson…

Ewing scores with a drive extending to finish with his long arms. Alex has a nice touch and at 6-foot-3 with some decent athletic ability don't be surprised to see him helping out a MIAC team out there in the future. There are a few here watching him including Carleton plus Bethel likes his game…Brueseiwitz gets another dunk off a Hernandez feed and its 80-42. Mike has scored all his buckets inside in this game….Sibley has shared the basketball tremendously well in this game…They are up 87-48 with seven minutes left…Roue hits a three and that is his first bucket of the second half. After watching Sims and Roue score on them a ton in the first half Sibley's help has been right there in the lane to slow the Spartan pair in the second half…Sibley is chanting "Put in Janquart". I think that needs to be switched to his likeness, Clark Hazzard.

The only drama left in this game is if Sibley hits the century mark. Its 93-54 with 4:22 to go at a time-out…Bruesewitz scores points 99 and 100 with a jumper and there is still 2:30 to go in the game…Kreuser comes in and scores immediately…Now Kreuser scores with a nice looking ten-foot jumper. The improvement is definitely coming for this huge sophomore…Kreuser catches high, keeps the ball high and softly lays the ball in. Three quick field goals for him…But he's out after a couple minutes as the rest of the bench gets in…112-64 is final score…

POSTGAME BLOG

This is Sibley's 9th victory in a row. They have not lost in 2008…They have a huge game with Tartan Monday night, to bad Ill be stuck in continuing education class because this is going to be a huge game. Not only for Classic Suburban Conference standings but also for section as Tartan and Sibley are in section play together (4AAAA) along with Stillwater, Central, and Cretin-Derham Hall…

Simley now sits at 5-10 but their victories are over St. Thomas, Minnehaha Academy, Braham and a couple others. All those teams are going to be big section competitors so Simley will be someone do deal with. They just have to get healthier and find some consistent play…

Simley was led by the 19 points from Roue, the 14 from Sims, and the 13 that Ewing put in playing wing against some much longer and taller defenders…Sibley has six guys in double figures starting with Halvorsen's 18 points, Bruesewitz and Garcia has 15 points, Hernandez had 14, and Martin produced ten. Then there was Leslie who was consistently scoring throughout putting in 16. Peter really has a good choice of division two schools to choose from. That list includes Southwest State, Bemidji State, UMD, and Concordia-St. Paul…