State Tournament Blog - Henry Sibley vs Cooper

FIRST HALF

Rodney Williams wins the tip and he may be one of a few guys in state who can out tip Sibley's Chris Halvorsen…The Sibley buffet of screens finishes with Noah Kaiser picking off Williams so Halvorsen can rise up and flush an alley-opp for the first bucket of the game…WOW, Chris Halvorsen dunks on top of Rodney Williams as both had a running start at the hoop!!!! Chris was fouled by Rodney but still dunked on the four star wing's head and hit the free throw. What a start for Halvorsen and its 8-4 Sibley…

Cooper has tried the alley-oop to Rodney twice but Sibley has scouted that out well and is bumping Rodney every time he tries to cut for the pass…Few people seal and use their body as well as Sibley's Marcus Garcia. Marcus, a senior 6th man, is fantastic getting the defender on his back side and then catching the lob like he just did on Joe Bright for a lay-in. Garcia seals and scores again and its 12-4 forcing Cooper to get a time-out. Marcus is a big kid and he does have those Fred Flintstone like twinkle toes plus the soft hands…Garcia seals again for the lob and scores and TV time-out gets Cooper out of a jam, 14-4…

Mike Bruesewitz, the Wisconsin commit, just drove baseline past Bright and after missing his first few shots Mike scores here. And coming down the floor Rodney Williams just elbowed Mike in the head coming around to work for position. That looked like an accident as Rodney's arms are extremely long but he caught him good…Now Rodney just pushed Maurice Hernandez in the head and Sibley coach Tom Dasovich is heated and he has a right to be as that was no accident. That ref just watched that and did nothing…Rodney is being very aggressive going at the hoop but Halvorsen's length is giving him some problems when Rodney is trying to get looks at the rim. Williams just dropped two free throws and his stroke looked good there…

Williams is so quick off his feet. Halvorsen partially blocked that shot so it missed but Williams vaulted back off the ground fast to finish, 19-11 Sibley…Cooper went zone and instant threes from Peter Leslie and Maurice Hernandez extend the lead. Love that hustle from Leslie after he turned the ball over but then raced down to strip from Bright on a lay-up attempt…Williams finishes this alley-opp tapping it in and there should have been a foul there as Halvorsen grabbed his arm…Williams now sitting out and Bruesewitz and Halvorsen each drive to the hoop for lay-ins with the shot blocking threat out and its 26-15…Cooper on a run and the second hoop came from a smart skip pass from Williams over the top to Quincy Bethea, 26-20…

Another note about Rodney Williams, he's guarding Sibley's point Kaiser and showing some very good lateral quickness in addition to straight athletic ability. There are Minnesota D-1 wings who look athletic but don't move well laterally, Rodney is not that type of guy…From NBA range Rodney got his legs under him and makes an NBA three. When Rodney gets his legs under him he is a much, much better shooter and exhibit A was right there as Cooper is now only down four points…Now we have two fantastic drives from Leslie where he absorbed the contact and then finished the lay-in coming down out of the air. And on the other end of the floor Cooper is now having free throw problems again…Sibley has a big size and girth advantage in this game and they are using it well with lobs and high lows. This time it goes to Bruesewitz for points and he's nearing a double-double already. Sibley has really controlled the glass…36-26 Sibley at half…

SECOND HALF

Rodney starts the half with two free throws and then he just caught an amazing alley-opp on a pass that was thrown from almost 60 feet away. Williams caught it coming hard and finished it hard with two hands. That was awesome!...When Rodney came down he did land with a step into Leslie and Rodney bumped him with a shoulder. Now, Peter is the best flop artist in Minnesota so that's a tough one to actually figure there, so we move on...Bethea threw that pass and Bethea now how it a three. It's a three point game at 36-33. Bethea, Bright, and Williams are all juniors and they are the foundation of this team which all should be returning next season…

Leslie takes his charge per game right there and as good as Peter is at getting some flops, he's even better at stepping in there and taking a charge…Cooper has taken the momentum with Sibley turning the ball over some and then taking some quick shots. Now KenQuane Brown and Rodney Williams each attack off the bounce for athletic buckets and Cooper has the lead 39-39. Brown has really finished here today and he's another good junior for Cooper…Right now Rodney is looking to athletic for Halvorsen who has shut down a lot of good players this year…Williams now with a sensational block smashing the Kaiser shot off the glass but Earl Johnson did commit the foul and Kaiser finally gets Sibley back on the board, 39-39…

Bruesewitz and Williams just went for a loose ball and Mike looked to be tackling Rodney more then going for the ball drawing a foul…Bruesewitz and Williams are still going at it. Mike just fouled Rodney fairly hard and Williams retaliated with a chest bump…Now we have Bruesewitz pushing Williams in the back with an arm when Rodney went up for a board and then Williams retaliates with an elbow swing to Halvorsen's head and draws a technical…Tied at 41…

Sibley pulls ahead with a Leslie shot, a Garcia hook shot, and then a Bruesewitz put-back. Now the lefty Noah Kaiser makes a shot and then Garcia scores on a put-back and it's a ten point game 54-44…Garcia is just playing huge. Kaiser missed a free throw but Marcus rebounds and finished and he's been as big or bigger then anybody today…58-46…Bruesewitz gets Williams in the air with a great up-fake so he goes to the line and knocks down the tosses and this game looks over at 62-46 with about three minute to go…If it wasn't sealed before that Bruesewitz jam right there should do it…Final score is 68-52 and Sibley will play Tonka…

POSTGAME

Remember that earlier in December Sibley played Minnetonka with the Skippers winning 78-74. Sibley was without Noah Kaiser and Kavon Martin in that game and Minnetonka was without Kyle Risinger. But let's face it, so much of these programs has grown sense then that you can really only compare it so far.

Mike Bruesewitz scores 18 points with 16 rebounds shooting eight of 15 from the field. Leslie had 14, Garcia finished with 12, Kaiser totaled ten, and Halvorsen scored seven points, with six rebounds, and three blocks.

Rodney Williams completed ten of 21 shots including three three-pointers. He totaled 26 points with five rebounds playing 34 minutes. Brown was the other Cooper player in double figures with ten points.