Tonka rolls over Armstrong

It was another long regular season for the Skippers of Minnetonka falling below .500 for the second straight season despite being one of the more talented teams in state. But last night Tonka put it together on the road knocking Armstrong out of the playoffs 86-61. Cole Stefan played a complete basketball game, Chad Howard set the tone defensively, and Andy Jones caught fire from behind the arc.

With five guys in double figures plus Tor Anderson scoring nine the Skippers put together a fantastic effort against Armstrong showing their full capabilities on both sides of the basketball. Senior Chad Howard set the tone with his harassing defense forcing four steals in the first half before going to the bench with two fouls. Sure his opponent David Weber would shake loose to hit four early jumpers including two threes keeping the Falcons ahead. However, Weber had to work extremely hard just to get the ball in play for Armstrong and eventually it wore on the team.

With Howard setting the tone Cole Stefan and Andy Jones carried the scoring into the first half with a 30-25 lead. For Stefan it was one of his most complete performances of the season talking and fiercely working on defense plus cutting hard to the rim, attacking defenders off the bounce, and hitting some jumpers offensively. In addition Jones hit three first half triples as the Skippers established penetration with Stefan, Howard, and Anderson.

Weber and Marquel Curtis kept the game close in the first half but then the rest of the Skipper weapons joined in the scoring fun and Minnetonka put up 56 second half points. Yes 56 second half points!

No Skipper has scored more total points this year than junior wing Andrew Latzke (he has the second highest scoring average at 15.2 a game) and he didn't score his first points until there were 90 seconds left in the first half. Agile wing Leonard Glass is the third leading Tonka scorer (at 13.2 points a contest) and he didn't produce his first points of the game until a couple minutes ticked by in the second half. Also, Tor Anderson is the 4th leading scorer for the Skippers at 12.9 a game and his scoring production didn't get started until the 11:36 mark of the second half. Despite their late starts the threesome still combined for 33 points and that says everything about Minnetonka's second half explosion of points.

Stefan started his offensive attack early making a pair of right hand drives one finished with a finger roll (Armstrong doesn't have much for size to be a presence in the middle right now) and the second was a floater that dropped through cleanly. Stefan's handles opened eyes particularly a three-point attempt that saw him do a behind the back crossover from right to left clean into a spot-up jumper all in one motion. The shot missed but the skill level of that move was particularly eye-opening and the defender sat back on his heels waiting for the next move not expecting a jumper to come from the dribble.

Cole would go into the break with ten points that also included a backdoor cut for a score, a run out finish in transition, and then a tip-in of his own miss. He then started the second half with another impressive bucket getting his defender to lean left with a fake and then Stefan attacked to his opponent's right with a smooth crossover. Stefan then weaved through the defense with a left hand dribble and finished at the rim with his right hand.

In front of Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti, Cole produced 25 points on nine of 19 shooting including one three-point make. Stefan made all six of his free throw attempts plus had five rebounds. Jones finished the game making four treys leading to his 14 points, Latzke scored 13, Glass had 11, Howard ten, and Anderson had the nine points. Seven of Tor's points came on free throws as he shot 100 percent for the evening from the foul line. Anderson also had a strong defensive game against Curtis and Falcon shooter Andy Siedlitz plus Tor led Minnetonka in rebounding with 13 and recorded four assists.

Marquel had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds but he shot five of 14 from the floor and turned the ball over six times. It's quite apparent that Curtis, a lefty, is able to get to the paint off the bounce on just about anybody. Last night he went both directions with his dribble and used crafty scoring habits to release shots or get to the foul line (he made six of nine free throws). Curtis does a great job using the glass but his percentage was down last night as the Skippers constantly had extra attention helping over to his drive resulting in most of Marquel's shots being strongly contested. In the previous Armstrong versus Minnetonka match-ups (both Falcon victories) Curtis put up 30 and 23 points but section play brought out better Minnetonka team defense.

Weber led the Falcons with a season high 20 points and Siedlitz scored a dozen but most of that was well after the game was decided. Tonka did a great job bottling both Siedlitz and junior Keith Bluford up (Bluford averages 10.7 points a game but only had five last evening). Armstrong now looks to next year when they will be one of the more athletic teams out there led by Curtis, Bluford, Keanu Glover, and Jaevon Walton. Armstrong finished the year on a three game losing streak and 14-13 overall.

Minnetonka is back at .500 on the season and will next face Minneapolis North, who beat Wayzata last night, this Friday night at 6:30 at Osseo High School. The winner of that game takes on the winner of the Minneapolis South versus Hopkins match-up that will also be played Friday night at Osseo. If the Royals get by South that means intriguing possible match-ups with North or Minnetonka. North beat Hopkins earlier this season while Minnetonka is the number one Hopkins rival. If Minnetonka plays the rest of their section games like they played against Armstrong last night they will be able to take anybody to the final buzzer.

Region 6AAAA could get quite interesting.