State Game Blog: Hopkins takes it again

First Half

Man is there ever some emotion in the air tonight. After all the stuff that happened surrounding the end of the two double overtime semi-finals last Thursday, some of the Hopkins kids came on the floor walking right through the Tech lay-up lines. That really got the Tech kids fired up feeling that was a big sign of disrespect, and away we go…

Tech's defense stops Hopkins for the first three minutes and 40 seconds of the game until Joe Coleman gets a break away jam for their first field goal. Problem for Tech is they only scored one themselves on a Kellan Euerle bucket, 2-2…Hopkins opens lead to 8-2 after a sharp cutting basket from Siyani Chambers and then D.J. Peterson grabs a loose ball and sends a perfect pass ahead to Joe for a score…Marvin Singleton hits a three and then powers home a score inside and just like that it's a 13-2 game. Things couldn't have become worse for Tech…Now the Hopkins fans with the "This Game's Over" chant already…

There is no way that Alex Hanks of St. Cloud Tech is going to go down without a fight. He hit a three, dove on the floor in Dennis Rodman like fashion for a loose ball, and then stripped a rebound away from Hopkins and scored to make the score 20-14. Then Hanks went with his customary baseline attack move off the spin to kiss a shot in off the glass and this became four point game…Hanks picked up a second foul trying to defend Coleman on the baseline and he has to be very careful. No Hanks means no ball game…Siyani has been quite impressive in the early going scoring on that early cut, with some crisp assists, and his latest bucket was a cool looking three...Now Joe Coleman gets a second foul and he has to sit while Hanks must play for Tech…

Lots of bad three-point shooting in this game with the teams combining to make 5 of 22…Peterson pushed the lead to 34-25 after he attacked and was fouled making free throws and then he stole a pass and went coast to coast in transition. Peterson is such a solid transition basketball player both passing and attacking on his own…Kevin Heysse has stepped up for Tech to keep them close scoring three field goals in the heart of the game…With 30 seconds left Hopkins isolates Marvin on the wing and he breaks down Heysse attacking quickly right. Marvin didn't finish the bucket but he made two free throws as he was hacked. Marvin has the demeanor you love on the floor rarely changing expression regardless of what's going on. He's all business both on the floor and off as you remember this young man is getting Ivy League interest in addition to other colleges looking at him. Can you imagine his athletic ability in the IVY? Or how about on the football field? If he suited up on the football field next year I guarantee he would have numerous college coaches there just to see what he could do because the combo of his physique and athletic ability is amazing at this age. Can you imagine him pursuing you at linebacker or defensive end? I'm scared already …36-27 Hopkins…

Second Half

Scott Nystrom has three points and he was just called for a charge in the open floor. Joe Coleman took it and while Joe has made some plays despite foul trouble I think that was the most impressive thing Joe's done all night…As I say that Joe scoots around the cup for two buckets hanging in the air and we have a 44-32 game with Hopkins up…Singleton is playing like a beast in the second half unstoppable around the hoop. He's made one-dribble kisses from five feet and power scores going straight up. With Tech having little size Marvin has no length in front of him to score over so he's building nice numbers…We have a shorter dark haired official who has missed some calls on the Tech end and surprise surprise things became a little chippy a few possessions later when he failed to make another call. Eventually with guys clubbing each other a whistle was forced. And to nobody's surprise the physical players were Hanks and Singleton…52-39 Hopkins…

Marvin is grabbing just about every rebound out here it seems…On a baseline in-bounds play Joe catches a lob to finish before anybody can react and then Chambers steals a pass that quickly becomes another Coleman score around the cup. The four point splurge expands the Hopkins lead to 56-43…Hopkins continues to expand the lead plus the officials are blowing the whistles three times every minute so the crowd has started to head for the doors. This is understandable as its after ten and the lead is 64-45…An emotional Thomas Korf goes the bench with five fouls. Korf gets a lot of love from his teammates and then the Tech fans are all chanting, "Thomas Korf". In all honestly I have never seen support at the end of the game from the losing crowds like I have today. The St. Cloud Tech, Grand Rapids, Crosby-Ironton, and Sebeka fan bases have proven to be extremely supportive of their team. In fact in two of today's four championship games I felt like the losing team had more support coming their way than the winning team did…Final score Hopkins 76 St. Cloud Tech 56…

Postgame

Coleman made 9 of 15 shots and 3 of 6 free throws for 21 points to go with seven rebounds. Singleton totaled a monster double-double with 19 points and 17 rebounds, Chambers scored 12 points, and Peterson had ten. Tech was led by the double-double from Hanks at 20 points and ten rebounds while Euerle put up ten.

Class AAAA State Tournament All-Tournament team

Grant Soderberg, Eden Prairie

Brett Ervin, Eden Prairie

Jordan Jackson, Henry Sibley

Mike Rostampour, Henry Sibley

Alex Hanks, St. Cloud Tech

Scott Nystrom, St. Cloud Tech

Thomas Korf, St. Cloud Tech

Joe Coleman, Hopkins

Marvin Singleton, Hopkins

D.J. Peterson, Hopkins