Preps Game Blog: Tartan vs St. Thomas

PREGAME BLOG

In the last meeting Alex Schneider had 27 points and the Cadets pulled ahead of the Titans down the stretch with a 60-47 victory. Both teams are trailing Sibley by two games in the conference standings and any chance at tying with the Warriors means a win tonight…Game is featuring a pair of Cadets up for the Mr. Basketball award as Schneider and Fritz Waldvogel were named on the final 20 this week…Its youth night here at Tartan as all the younger Titans are on the side of the court, were in the locker-room for the pregame speech for this big contest, and they have made an enormous tunnel for the starting intros...Tartan's junior varsity coached by Bill Fetch remained undefeated on the season with a 20 point victory…

FIRST HALF

Injured all year Sam Ryan looks to be moving a little better and he hits a three-pointer to start this game. Waldvogel comes back a couple possessions later to complete a tough three-point play. Fritz has one of the best defenders in state on him in Aaron Hoverson and before this make Aaron forced two wild looks out of Waldvogel. Regardless of what the Pioneer Press says Hoverson is an elite defender…

Good looks are hard to come by as both of these teams are very disciplined and very tough defending teams. With that said junior Michael Fitzgerald has hit two three-pointers flaring off the screen to catch and release before Marc Sonnen could recover. He had little time to release but that little time was all that was needed…Cadets up 16-11…

This game has hit a very slow point with several fouls called. Not surprising with the physicality of these teams but the combination of the whistles and the intensity has made this a very slow contest. Tartan's defense has turned things up a level as a trap from James Pritschet and Hoverson forced a turnover with an over and back call, Waldvogel threw away a lob pass, and then Fitzgerald put up an airball. It sounds bad from the Cadets but it's a lot of Tartan's defense as well. A drive resulted in free throws for Sam Ryan and it's an 18-18 game with five minutes left…

The Cadets are doing an excellent job taking away both penetration and post entry passes. Tartan big men just don't have the strength to hold Schneider long enough to get an entry for themselves. And that's not a shot at their big men its just that Alex is a beast…But Tartan has defended Alex very well playing behind him and receiving good help when Schneider is looking for the lob on the offensive end…24-24…

Game remains tied with a 28-28 score. Neither coach is happy with officials going into the break….Half ended with Sonnen making a couple pull-up jumpers and not only are his shots as smooth as you will find but he has good lift on his jumper….Waldvogel showed his blazing speed going coast to coast for a lay-in…A couple times Schneider was isolated defending Sonnen but Alex moves his feet just well enough, has just enough length, and has help close enough to not let Marc blow by him…

SECOND HALF

8-0 run for Tartan as the Titans first get several ball reversals ending in Sonnen's hands for a curling three. Then Sonnen throws a pair of gorgeous passes to Pritschet, one of which became a travel while the other was kicked out to Sam Ryan for a made 18-footer as Sam was wide open due to several Cadet rotations. Then a pair of offensive rebounds become a Sonnen three from the same spot as his last three-pointer and Tartan grabs the momentum while the Cadets need a TO…

The Titans have also done a great job defending Schneider since the start of the game. At the end of the first half and in this second half Tartan has limited Alex's touches and Pritschet has worked his tail off to keep Schneider from seeing the ball…A teammate blows another gorgeous Sonnen look off the bounce so the next time down he takes it himself with another three-pointer from that same spot again and hit his third in a row from that spot. And these shots have been hotly contested…

Its 43-37 as Schneider finally gets his first real look inside in the second half with seven and a half minutes remaining. He finishes and each possession is a war right now. These are long possessions and a shot clock would not be welcome here…Hoverson makes a huge three as he up-faked his man and then had a clear look off a baseline in-bounds pass. Back the other way Fitzgerald hits his second shot from the right wing in the last couple minutes. He looks very confident shooting the basketball right now…46-39 Tartan…

Schneider fouls out on a real bad offensive call inside. I don't agree that this is a conspiracy like the Cadet fans behind me are saying but this game has had a ton of official time-outs that is getting everybody in here cranky. And that was a real bad call that got rid of Schneider…

Sonnen gets a penetrating bucket and against the press Tartan moves the ball quickly through the air and finds Pritschet under the hoop for a pair of lay-ins…Cadets just having a world of trouble getting good looks as Schneider was neutralized in the second half by Pritschet and Shawn Marlowe then Alex fouled out. And Fitzgerald has been closely guarded by Sonnen but just hit another jumper and its 55-47…

Watching Waldvogel against Hoverson has been quite interesting. Both guards are around 5-foot-8 and both are very hard working, laterally quick defenders who apply good ball pressure. And both have limited what each other could do on the floor in terms of point production for the most part…Tartan up 56-49 and the Cadets have had some chances but they just don't have a multi-dimensional scorer to create against a Tartan defense and with Schneider out that takes away their top option…Fitzgerald has had a decent game shooting but with no Schneider on the floor Tartan is playing Michael in his hip giving him zero room to shoot or get open for the most part,,,59-49 is final score…

POSTGAME BLOG

Sonnen finished with a game high of 26 points including five three-pointers….For the Cadets Fitzgerald led with 13 points while Schneider was limited to seven for this game. Waldvogel scored nine while Cadet junior guard Tom Anderson scored eight…Tartan also received ten points from Sam Ryan, nine from Hoverson and eight from Pritschet…

Tartan is now 19-4 on the year with the losses to St. Thomas earlier, Sibley, Elk River, and Verona in Wisconsin. As nice of a year as they are having Tartan is still fighting just to get a home game in sections. Right now the bet is that Cretin-Derham Hall gets the one seed in section 4AAAA, Sibley is looking at the two, Stillwater seemed to have the three but they just lost by 11 to Forest Lake while Tartan has a big win over the Cadets here and they are looking at the four but you do have Central at 17-6 in that five spot. Tartan's game against Sibley on March 7th is the last of the regular season and is after the seeding pairings come out…

St. Thomas's section looked like a walk in the preseason but section 1AAA has a 17-5 New Prague club with a 17-5 record and then St. Thomas now at 15-6. Then Red Wing is 14-7, Faribault is 12-10, and then the rest of the teams are in single digits for victories. The Cadets have four games left including Tuesday's game with Henry Sibley and an end of the year match-up with DeLaSalle…