State Tournament Blog - Minnetonka vs St. Cloud Tech

FIRST HALF

Anthony Tucker is guarding Nick Wolters so the Skipper star is guarding the Tech star while on the other end Tech junior Nick Jordan is shadowing Tucker on the other end to start…CJ Erickson fully extends to swat a perimeter jumper of Tech sophomore Alex Hanks then CJ swats another and he's establishing the paint right away for the second game in a row…Swat number three already for CJ, just like yesterday…Sedrick McBounds just hammered Hanks in the nose with a accidental elbow and the blood is flowing. Both were fighting for the loose ball, nothing vicious…8-7 Tech…

Tonka offense struggling with Tech's defense thus far and CJ has had a couple rough looking jumpers…Kyle Risinger brings down a tough board and outlets up to Tucker and Anthony hits an effortless looking three and for the 1000th time, that form is simply flawless. Wolters didn't close out on Anthony all the way out of the fear of the drive…Tonka running game again produces as Risinger outlets to Andy Burns who then goes across court to Anthony for a score and the Tech coach has to be mad about his team not getting back and stopping the ball…12-8 Tonka…

So far Anthony Tucker has given Wolters only long jumpers and denied the Tech star the ball effectively. This is as active defensively as I have ever seen Anthony and he's looking good…Burns hits a three on a skip pass and its 17-8. Remember that Tonka is playing mostly seniors save Risinger while Tech is playing mostly juniors…Alex Hanks scores inside powering over Tucker and I love the motor Hanks plays with…Beautiful cross-over shake from Burns as he simply messed up the feet of Hanks and then Andy had an easy lay-up. This is in danger of becoming a blowout right now…19-10 Tonka…Hanks scores on Tucker and Alex crossed up Anthony's feet with a move then Hanks did a great job of finishing while shielding CJ with his body…

Andrew Latzke is the guy who has lost some minutes with the transfers but he's made the most of his time today. Tech had closed the gap to three points but then Andrew hit a three and a lay-in up transition…Nick Jordan hits Tech's first three-pointer after ten attempts coming with two and a half minutes to go in the first half. 27-21 Tech…Just beautiful ball movement pushing the ball up the floor and back across to the open Tucker three…Tucker just pulls up from NBA range and hits another…Now in transition and it's a third in a row for Tucker in about a minute!!...CJ with a dunk off the turnover and man was that fast as Tonka put up 11 points in about 90 seconds making a 27-21 close game a 38-21 potential blowout…Its half time with that score…

SECOND HALF

Yesterday Tonka has the big lead but then coasted and the game became close. How do they come out today?...CJ gets another block early and then completes a three-point play inside…Hanks makes a three and Alex is one player who has really made a name for himself. He's shown the ability to hit from deep, penetrate and score, and of course the hustle as he just forced a turnover and put in a lay-up. Great showing by sophomore Alex Hanks…But another basket inside from CJ and Erickson has put up big numbers this evening…Tech is crashing the boards like crazy and has a number of caroms on the offensive end. If Tonka does finish this game with the W they will need to sure that up for Saturday…Latzke with another three and he may be the 8th man for the Skippers but he is still going to play college basketball with that three-point stroke at 6-foot-6…53-34…

Gorgeous bounce pass from Tucker to Tyler Schilling and that was a beautiful dime…60-36 Skippers…CJ continues to put some points on the board including dunks and even though there are eight minutes left its like both teams have conceded the outcome judging by their body language…Tucker scores on the drive with a pretty touch as he drove through three people in the lane to lay it up softly. He makes it look so simple…Alex Hanks with another three-pointer and keep an eye on this kid for the future…68-51 and it's a 17 point game with five minutes left but this is clearly over…

Alex Hanks penetrates middle and hits a jumper over the top of two long Tonka forwards. Very impressive touch dropping it over the Tonka players….CJ dunks over another Tech player and he continues to rack up the points inside. That was his third dunk and he and Anthony have combined for 49 today…Anthony just head-locked Andy Burns on the bench and looked up to see himself on the big screen and let go with a hilarious look. That's about the entertainment right now as the benches have been cleared…Tonka wins 83-59…

POSTGAME

Anthony and CJ were the lone Tonka pair in double figures as Anthony put up 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting and CJ scored 24 making 11 of 17 shots. CJ had another six blocks in this game. Tyler Schilling had a nice game on the glass grabbing nine boards with seven points and Sedrick McBounds totaled 11 boards with six points.

Alex Hanks scored 21 points although he needed 21 shots to get there. Regardless he was the motor and Alex and Nate Wolters will provide Tech with another great year next season. Tech's lone senior in the rotation Collin Stinogel put up nine points with 11 rebounds. Tech was able to pull down 24 offensive rebounds.