Mounds View Basketball

MV-40, STMA-32

Our first consolation bracket of the year led to the championship via the St. Michael-Albertville A team. We had hoped to be in the championship bracket but had a couple of heartbreakingly close losses in pool play against two good teams. In the consolation championship, we had a 10 point lead for most of the game, but they refused to give up. They, frankly, don't look like an A team, but found a way to hang with us and play us evenly in the second half. Their pressure bothered us a little more than we would have liked and led to some easy baskets for them. Our half court defense was solid to exceptional as it usually is, but the full court game they used in the second half was effective. As is often the case, we had balanced scoring from 2-8 points per all 10 players.

This was certainly one of the most enjoyable teams that kids get the fortune of playing on. There were no stars on the 8B team, with two evenly matched groups of 5 players alternating time. The most memorable thing about this team is not the 29-7 season record, but the way the boys worked together as a team, both defensively and offensively. Sometimes in life you get with a good group of people who think of the common good over their individual needs. This year's 8B team was one of those cohesive groups. Congratulations boys!!!

MV-42, Rogers Blue-18

In a sense, coach was really glad to play Rogers Blue again. They were the team in the championship of the Mounds View Classic that confounded us a bit with the 1-3-1 zone defense. We spent some time working on how to attack it in practice the next week and we got to use that in a game. It was fun to see the boys find the cracks in the zone and exploit them. Of course, the star of the game for the Mustangs was the half court defense, holding Rogers to 8 points in the first half and 18 overall. Perhaps the biggest improvement in the team from the start of the season is their understanding of when to help, how far to help and how to recover. We still get beat occasionally by overcommitting on a pick, but more often than not we are able to thwart the play. That can be frustrating to an offense. Whereas our defense was outstanding all game, in the first half we had some reaching fouls that were unnecessary. We cleaned that up in the second half, not committing a personal foul the entire half. On to the consolation championship.

Urban Stars-38, MV-36

When we have played tough teams this year, more often than not our boys have come out on top. For the second time today, we lost a heartbreaker in the last minute, this time to the Urban Stars. We played better than we did in our first game and were right there. But whenever you dont allow yourself a point cushion, missed shots, official's calls and myriad other things can mean the difference between winning and losing. Urban Stars had 2 or 3 guys who were their go-to guys. They were fairly athletic and had good size. Had they shot the ball a little better we might have been in bigger trouble. As usual, our scoring was balanced. We hustled much better in this game than we did in the first. We were looser and seemed ready to play. It could have gone either way, but went the way of the Urban Stars. So, we enter the consolation bracket for the first time this year. Go Mustangs!

Spring Lake Park-44, MV-40

The coaches tried everything before the game, sensing the boys were tight. We even had Grant tell a joke! Coach offered concession treats to the boy who smiled the most during the game and we tried to keep the players loose. It just didnt work. We were tight and that led to an ugly performance. Fortunately Spring Lake Park didn't run away with it. We were only down 19-17 at the half. In the second half we had a burst of energy where we jumped up by 8 points. This was going to be the run that got us going. But, we again tightened up and threw some passes into the hands of the opponents, who really played with good energy. This was one of those games where coaches think shoulda, coulda, woulda. But Spring Lake Park deserved the victory and walked away with the first seed in our pool. We would have to regroup to try to grab the second seed against the Urban Stars.