THE ROSEMOUNT IRISH HOSTED THE APPLE VALLEY EAGLES IN A BOYS’ BASKETBALL CONTEST

The Rosemount Irish boys’ basketball team went up against the Apple Valley Eagles. Tyus Jones who is an 8th grader started the game for Apple Valley. He will graduate from high school in 2014. He is considered one of the top players in the state of Minnesota according to some statewide basketball publications.

Apple Valley looked to push the ball up the court from the beginning of the game. They looked to get the ball into to Tyus Jones’ hands from the start of the game. Tyus Jones played very aggressively throughout the first half.

Apple Valley looked inside to 6’ 7’ forward Tom Schalk to go to town in the low block. He made some nice moves around the basket where we had a few nice little lay ups.

Tyus Jones was all over the court in the first half. On the defensive end he played with a lot of intensity and emotion. On offence he tried to run the Apple Valley offense. In the first half it took Apple Valley a while to hit their shots that they were putting up.

Apple Valley played man-to-man defense throughout the first half. They were trying to slow Rosemount down offensively. Rosemount kept feeding the ball into Andrew Nelson or Justin Lawson where their low post players looked to score on the low block. Their guards did a good job of bringing the ball up the court.

One of the interesting match ups that happened was Toriano Tatum for Rosemount guarding Tyus Jones. I thought that they did a good job of guarding each other. Tatum didn’t give Jones any problem. He made him work for everything he got. Jones didn’t give Tatum fits either. They did a very good job of guarding each other.

Both teams played very hard throughout the first half. Tyus Jones hit a three point shot at the buzzer to bring the teams into the half. At the half time intermission the score was Rosemount 37 and Apple Valley 30.

Apple Valley continued to look for Tom Schalk in the low bock. Schalk was camped in the low box and was looking to get the ball in the middle of the key where he would do a turnaround jump shot. He also had a nice little jump shot that he used. He was guarded by Rosemount’s Justin Larson who tried to bang him around when he got the ball in the low part of the key. Both of these players played aggressively throughout the game.

Apple Valley came out on fire in the second half. They tied the score at 40 apiece with 15:04 left in regulation when Rosemount called a time out.

Rosemount used a zone defense coming out the time out. They had mostly used a man-to-man defensive matchup throughout the game.

Tom Schak hit a go ahead three point shot that gave Apple Valley confidence.

Rosemount didn’t give up. They continued to look took inside to get the ball to their big men who were camped out on the low block. The Rosemount guards continued to penetrate to the basket. They wanted to get open shots. They were able to do that. The score got tied back at 53 with 8:00 left remaining in regulation.

Apple Valley continued to look to get Tyus Jones the ball. When he had the ball we would also look to shoot the ball. If he was not in a place to take a good shot he wouldn’t mind passing it up if his teammate was open. He always looked to get his teammates involved in the play.

The game came down to the end. Both teams battled and the score was a 1 point Apple Valley lead 64-63 with a minute left to go.

Apple Valley’s Tyus Jones got knocked down hard to the ground with 45.1 seconds left to go in regulation. After being attended to by medical staff he remained in the game.

The game was tied at 66 at the end of regulation.

In the overtime period Rosemount hit a couple of shots. Apple Valley was just not able to hit shots in the extra session.

In a tough hard fought game Rosemount was able to come away with the 76-71 victory over Apple Valley.

Apple Valley was lead in scoring by Tyas Jones who scored 25 points. Tom Schalk scored 22 points for Apple Valley. Apple Valley shot 37.7% from the field and 69 % from the free throw line.

For Rosemount they were led in scoring by Matt Nelson who scored 18 points and Matt Larson and Toriano Tatum who each had 16 points. Rosemount shot 35.6% from the field and 54.3% from the free throw line.

I thought that Tyus Jones is a very good player. I think that for him just starting on a varsity game is a major step in a right direction for him. I really thought that he proved himself and he was very impressive in his shot selections and his decisions on the court. He is a quick guard who has nice handles and who can use both hands effectively. I think as time progresses he will continue to grow and become a better basketball player.

I was joined by the Czar of Twin Cities Boys Hoops. You can read about what he thought of the Apple Valley Rosemount game here.