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Twenty ranked teams and 30 D1 prospects hit the courts at Minnetonka High School for a one-day showdown, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009
 BECKER, Minn. (Nov. 20, 2009) – Are you ready to get an early look at how top-ranked Hopkins stands in its state title defense by facing off against No. 6 Tartan? How about the big-man battle when No. 3 Henry Sibley and D1 prospects Jake Kreuser and Mike Rostampour butt heads with Cloquet and big Chad Calcaterra? Guards more your thing? Then get an early read on the Class AA race with No. 8 Braham and Tyler Vaughan against No. 3 Minnehaha Academy and Parker Hines.
It’s not too early to get a look at the elite in Minnesota boys’ high school basketball. The BREAKDOWN’s Tip Off Classic has all those match-ups and many, many more.
Many of the top players and teams in the state of Minnesota will be on the courts at Minnetonka High School for The BREAKDOWN’s seventh annual Tip Off Classic, Dec. 12, 2009. Games begin at 9:45 a.m. Saturday morning with a showdown between Sebeka and New London-Spicer and conclude at 8:15 p.m. Saturday night with a Minnetonka versus Chaska grudge match. Click for the full press release...
by Ryan James
The BREAKDOWN
posted 12-09-2009
Apple Valley 75 Lakeville South 62
This is a surprise to me. After watching Apple Valley last Friday I didn’t think they had the depth to win this game but they did by double figures. Zach Johnson gave the Eagles 20 points, 8th grader Tyus Jones scored 11 for the second straight game, and Thomas Schalk put up 25. More importantly Alex Richter was held to only eight last night.
Eagan 70 Lakeville North 57
Not a great day for Lakeville hoops all around. The Wildcats up end North by 13 points as Jameson Parsons scores 19 points while his team held Dajon Newell to only three points.
Anoka 70 St. Francis 58
Anoka went to the foul line 44 times compared to the nine from St. Francis. That is quite the discrepancy in a twelve point game.
Eden Prairie 81 Burnsville 45
One word, OUCH.
Grand Rapids 65 Cloquet 51
Cloquet’s been working for a run at state for thee years now and they have to topple Grand Rapids to do it. In their early season match-up the Thunderhawks are victorious again by 14 points.
Hawley 69 Pelican Rapids 55
With so many seniors lost to graduation nobody is expecting huge things out of Pelican Rapids this year. But it’s still worth noting that they lost to a good Nugget program by double figures after the Vikings beat Hawley by 20 plus every game last year.
Minnesota Transitions 85 Minnehaha Academy 75
Huge win for MTS who got 30 from Boston College signed Kevin Noreen. Sounds like this was a big time performance from a big time player. Kevin also helped hold Taylor Hanson to 15 points.
New London-Spicer 99 Paynesville Area 52
It’s safe to say that the Wildcats are okay after missing football practices. Aaron “Moose” Johnson scored 24 of his 28 points in the first half.
Park Center 63 White Bear Lake 46
I’m telling you, watch out for Park Center because they have five or six guys who are very talented plus this team is athletic. Terez Van Pelt led with 17 points.
St. Cloud Apollo 57 Annandale 55
The Eagles get a needed win after being upset by Cathedral in the opener. Ibrahim Abukar scored 20 points in the important victory after being down a bucket at the half.
St. Paul Johnson 80 Woodbury 35
Okay, double ouch. Estan Tyler scores 28 in this beat down.
by Ryan James
The BREAKDOWN
posted 12-07-2009
Apple Valley 80 St. Louis Park 58
Friday night took me to St. Louis Park where the Orioles were facing Apple Valley. Because it was the first game for 8th grader Tyus Jones several hoop figure heads were in attendance led by Gopher coach Tubby Smith. Jones didn’t disappoint scoring 11 points with seven assists. The main recipient of those scores was junior Thomas Schalk who scored 35 points including the first ten of the game.
The SLP Orioles are still a pretty young team who is learning their offense under new coach Micah Watkins. After losing to Apple Valley SLP also lost to Eagan on Saturday. Is it going to be a tough year? I think they will come around after the new ways settle in.
For Apple Valley it’s a nice start to the season. Are they going to be a major factor in the Lake Conference race? It could be difficult as they aren’t the biggest team and they are young in spots. Coach Zach Goring and the Eagles will be tough every night that is for sure but there could be some pitfalls. Jones and Schalk will always make them a draw though.
Columbia Heights 85, Bloom. Kennedy 72
Jake Thomas puts up 43 points and here is to betting that his average will be in the mid-30s this year. Shoot, expect six or seven point totals in the 40s. Maybe get one in the 50s? The Hylanders do have a lot of talent so he may not go that bonkers on the scoreboard every game.
Hopkins 102 Minneapolis Henry 87
Joe Coleman opened the season with huge effort scoring 43 points in front of Gopher assistant coach Vince Taylor. Think the Gophers might keep an eye a little closer on Joe? He has the type of athlete they like and if the ball skills are there it may be a match. In defeat, Louis Cox scored 32 points for Henry as his stroke was scorching from beyond the arc.
Chanhassen 67 Prior Lake 64
Winning your first game means top performance for sure!
East Ridge 76 Minneapolis Southwest 71
Another win for a team in its first game ever! Great job Coach Virgin.
Eastview 73 Duluth East 67
With Joey King out until February (transfer rule here I would guess?), Karl Otto sick, Carson Shanks having mono, and a couple others also out, the Lightning are starting the year short on players. That didn’t seem to bother Vinard Birch much as he scored 31 points in his first game of the year.
Minnesota Transitions 120 Fond Du Lac Ojibwe 82
I have no way of knowing but is 90 points scored by the Noreen brothers (Kevin 51 and Kyle 39) the most by a brother combo ever? It has to be. That’s incredible.
Sibley East 70 Howard Lake-W-W 46
Welcome back from the injury Marshall Bjorklund! Twenty-nine points in his first game.
Benilde-St. Margaret's 51 Edina 48
Not expecting much from the Hornets after they lost so many seniors? The Red Knights may not have been either as they squeaked out a win Friday night. UMD-signed Peter Crawford led with 17 points. After losing by three to BSM the Hornets turned around and lost by three points to Orono 24 hours later.
South St. Paul 43 Park 41
New coach, several years of struggles, many lost seniors, no problem. The Packers go in and win game one. That has to feel pretty good for them.
Adrian 76, RTR 67
Lots of chatter going on in the southwest corner from the Dragons about what they are going to do to the competition (cough, Ellsworth, cough). Looks like they are backing the words so far with a nice win over R-T-R.
Armstrong 58 Mounds View 48
Two good programs going at it in the opener. Marquel Curtis had a game high 19 points as the Falcons take down Ziggy and the Stangs.
Chaska 79 Rochester Mayo 64
I think Mayo is going to be tougher in the Big Nine than first thought. Coach Shaun Lang does an outstanding job and he kept his group in the game but the 25 points from Max Watts and 19 from Ross Travis was too much.
New London-Spicer 78 Litchfield 67
New London-Spicer 64 Rocori 60
All the New London-Spicer starters were football players who just won a state title. They practiced three times before these two games but still won by double figures. I thought they may have a tough time defending their top ranking because of the quick turn around but nope, they are too good.
Park Center 109 Minneapolis Edison 41
That’s a serious message sent right there. Watch out for Park Center!
Lester Prairie 61, Sleepy Eye-SM 45
The city papers had it wrong as LP/HT beat SESM by 16 a day after beating Sleepy Eye. Both road games. Did you know that LP/HT is only playing seven home games this year?
by Ryan James
The BREAKDOWN
posted 08-05-2009
When fans get their hands on this year’s issue of the Breakdown they will be excited as usual. The book is packed with stories this year including seven features, a top 20 set of articles SI style, and now each section has a story of it’s own. Add in the Fab 40 for the seniors and juniors, the team rankings, player lists, and everything else and it’s something all basketball fans should be excited about.
The one tough thing about the book is that coaches submit information at different times so sometimes transfers can mess things up. Especially when we find out about the transfers after the book goes to print.
Case and point is Columbia Heights. Columbia Heights was going to be a good team regardless. With coach Will Brazil leading the charge, Long Beach State commit Jacob Thomas putting up numbers, and Markus Shaw doing his thing with Harold Rainey and Gerard Baptise returning this team certainly was expected to be in the mix.
But now we find out that Columbia Heights has had a couple juniors move into their district, one with size (Andrew Hansen from Apple Valley) and one with a lot of scoring ability (Curtis Lofton). Assuming both can play (Lofton sat out varsity last year) and they gel well with their teammates this is a team that can certainly contend in class AAA.
Hansen is something the team didn’t have as he’s a 6-foot-8 junior. The young man will add rebounding, he’ll add low post defense, a low post presence to halt penetration, and Andrew has a soft touch too.
Lofton is one of the most gifted scores in all of the 2011 class. The kid can just plain fill it up and those that saw him play with the younger Grassroots Minnesota team last summer know what I’m talking about. When he catches fire he can put up double figures in a hurry. Last year I believe he didn’t play varsity for St. Bernards because at some point he transferred to St. Paul Johnson and then transferred back to St. Bernards. I’m not sure if that was last year or the year before but there has been some moving and with the new transfer rules I think he sat out last season. This year if he has moved I think he would be eligible to play but who knows any more, we’ll just have to wait and see in December.
Whatever the case coach Braziel has even more talent to work with. Considering how much Braziel has improved the Columbia Heights program you have to believe that they will be even tougher to defend with Hansen down low and Lofton on the opposite wing of Thomas. Jacob was a beast already at 22.8 a game as a junior. It got to the point that teams were doubling and even tripling him or playing trick defenses. But with an improved Shaw around, with Lofton’s scoring capabilities in the line-up, and with Hansen down low there will be less gimmick defenses on Thomas. So expect this team to be a top ten squad all year long and a contender in March.
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Katrina Newman,
GIRLS BASKETBALL
