RICHFIELD SPARTANS ARE TAKING ON THE MINNEAPOLIS NORTH POLARS IN A HOLIDAY AFTERNOON TILT

The Minneapolis North Polars are taking on the Richfield Spartans in a Tuesday afternoon battle at the Richfield High School gym. This game is another first for me as I have not seen either of these teams before. There are a lot of different coaches in attendance at this game today. They are mostly here to scout each of these teams or players here today. The atmosphere is kind of dead to start this game off today. There is a small crowd here this afternoon to watch this game.

We are underway here both of these teams come out fired up ready to play. Richfield has started playing in a man to man defense. Jim Dimick Jr always preaches defense. Minneapolis North has come out and hit a few quick baskets to open this game up. They are walking up the court here in the beginning of this game. They have also come out hot out of the gates and hit a couple of nice three point shots here early in this contest. North is playing in a zone defense to start this game out. They are getting out in the Richfield players faces. North’s quick start has Jim Dimick Jr concerned so he decided to take a quick 30 second time out with 13:40 left to go and the score North 14 and Richfield 6. North is looking to push the ball up the court in this contest here. They have really done a nice job of getting the ball out of the net and getting it the other way. Both of these teams have been getting after it here early in the game today. Malik El-Amin has played aggressive here in this game he has been on the floor diving after balls and has played aggressively on both sides of the court so far today. On the offensive end one of the plays that that has work has been when they start in a box set and they have a cut to the center of the lane and they try to feed it into the guy coming around on the curl cut for a layup in the middle of the lane.

Richfield has had trouble here in the first half finding the basket. They have not had their shots fall here in the early going. They are still putting them up but they are still trying hard.

Each team has gone on little runs here in the first half. Now it is Richfield’s turn to go on a run. With 7:20 left to go in the first half the score is Richfield 22 and Minneapolis North 23. This Minneapolis North team is not afraid to shoot the ball. They have taken a ton of shorts here so far and they always have someone else besides the shooter crash to the boards to get to the rebound. They are playing really aggressively here they have a lot of energy and they are talking on the defensive end and shouting out who they have. They are also doing a lot of switching of screens. They don’t want to get screened. Richfield uses a lot of different offensive sets. They also have run a lot of different plays for different players. North continues to take their time getting the ball up the court. They want to dictate the ball on both ends of the court. They are not in a deliberate delay yet which we might see later on but it is just a matter of them taking their time on the offensive end. This game has been close throughout the first half. Both of these teams have played well. Richfield’s Renard Robinson has played well here in this game here so far. He has basically found his touch here in the first half. In a half that has been up and down the court and both teams playing well we have reached the half way point here. At half time the score is Richfield 36 and Minneapolis North 36. This game will come down to the wire.

As this second half gets underway we are going to have to see what team will come up big here in the second half. Richfield has the ball to start the second half here in this game. Philip Freeman has just come down and drained 2 long 3 point shots for Richfield to get the second half started. Whatever Jim Dimick Jr said at half time worked. Richfield has just drained 3 pointers to start off this second half. Both of these teams are still looking to push the ball up the court here at the beginning of the second half. Minneapolis North is still fighting in this game they are not going to give in and die. Minneapolis North’s head coach Broderick Powell was arguing a call with one of the officials here and he has just gotten himself a technical foul for arguing a call. He was really going at with the official and the official heard the magic word and gave Broderick Powell a technical foul.

Richfield has been able to find the basket here early in the second half. Minneapolis North is not backing down either here as they continue to work hard here in the second half. They have tough kids and they are not backing down in this game.

With 11:09 left to go in regulation the score is Richfield 54 and Minneapolis North 49.

Richfield is still looking to push the ball up the court here mid way through the second half. This game has gone up and down the court like a track meet. Both teams have been able to score in transition. North is on a run here in the second half. They have made their way back into this game and they have tied this game at 54 with 9:00 left to go in regulation. Both of these teams want to control the tempo of this game. The energy that these teams are playing at is unbelievable it looks like everyone is on the same page here in this game. Phillip Freeman continues to impress me he has just been able to get to the basket at will and has made some unbelievable shots here this afternoon.

Both of these teams have played very hard here throughout this whole game. Both teams are playing tough hard noised defense here in this game. They have their hands up and they are calling out screens and making it difficult for the other players to make wide open shots. Minneapolis has been in this game the whole entire game. With 43.3 seconds left to go in regulation the score is Richfield 74 and Minneapolis North 71.This was a fun and entertaining game in the end the Richfield Spartans have came away with the 77-73 victory today in an impressive game. Phillip Freeman had 28 points to and Renard Robinson had 25 points for the Spartans.

The Czar from Twin Cities Boys Hoops was also in the building. Read his account of the game here.