Game, Player, Coach of the Day Dec. 21-31, 2013

Game of the "Week"

Hopkins boys 78 St. Paul Johnson 69

Team of the "Week"

Apple Valley boys

Player of the "Week"

Tyus Jones, Apple Valley

Coach of the "Week"

Chris VanderHyde, Park Center girls, and Brian Schnettler, Rosemount boys

Sat., Dec. 21--Minnesota State Mankato women 80 Concordia (St. Paul) 67

Mankato took a 43-28 lead late in the first half as Ali Wilkinson scored 18 first half points. The Bears got within 8 before the Mavs pulled away again to the win. 

Player of the Day: Wilkinson finished with 29 points and 9 rebounds. Coach of the Day: Annette Wiles, UMD, who surprised St. Cloud State 75-66.

Sun., Dec. 22--Los Angeles Clippers 120 Minnesota Timberwolves 116 (OT)

The T-Wolves continued a season-long trend of last-minute melt-downs, blowing a 114-112 lead at 0:46 of OT. Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin scored 95 points. The other 2 starters scored 3 and the rest of the team scored 21. 

Player of the Day: Love 45 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists. Coach of the Day: Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women, who defeated Auburn 67-54.

Mon., Dec. 23--Faribault Bethlehem 69 Zumbrota-Mazeppa 65

One of only two games in the state of Minnesota. Player of the Day: Joe Matecjek scored 17 points for FBA. Coach of the Day: Franz Boelter, FBA, who recently won his 600th game.

Thurs., Dec. 26--Thief River Falls girls 77 Richfield 57

Player of the Day: Sydney Lamberty, Park, scored 30 its in a 67-58 loss to Bloomington Kennedy. Coach of the Day: Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes, the only winner among the four Rochester teams at the local Rotary Classic. Lourdes beat Red Wing 63-51. 

Fri., Dec. 27--Apple Valley boys 112 Roseville 81

The Eagles and Tyus Jones routed top ten-rated Roseville as Jones scored 34 points and 9 other players got into double figures. Player of the Day: Tyus Jones. Coach of the Day: Chris VanderHyde, Park Center girls, who defeated Lakeville North 73-63.

Sat., Dec. 28--Eastview girls 65 Park Center 61

Player of the Day: J.P. Macura, Lakeville North boys, scored 33 in an 84-81 win over Shakopee. Coach of the Day: Brian Schnettler, Rosemount boys, who defeated Cretin 72-62 at St. Thomas

Sun., Dec. 29--Hamline men 104 Otterbein 99 (OT)

Player of the Day: Dior Ford, Hamline men, 38 pts, 10 reb, 4 asts

Coach of the Day: Jim Hayes, Hamline men

Mon., Dec. 30--Hopkins boys 78 St. Paul Johnson 69

#2AAAA vs. #1AAA at Augsburg tournament. #2 wins.

Player of the Day: Monica Burich, Roseville girls, scored 22 points and shut down Haydn Becker, Andover's leading scorer, in a 57-43 win. Coach of the Day: Kenny Novak, Hopkins boys.

Tues., Dec. 31--Eden Prairie boys 78 DeLaSalle 65

The Eagles roared back from a 35-26 halftime deficit. Player of the Day: Grantham Gillard, Eden Prairie, 23 points. Coach of the Day: David Flom, Eden Prairie boys.

Game, Player and Coach of the Day--December 14-20, 2013

Fri., Dec. 20--UCLA women 58 Minnesota Gophers 55

The Gophers shot 37 percent in losing to UCLA at home. Rachel Banham and Amanda Zahui scored 40 points between 'em, but the rest of the team shot 6-of-19. Player of the Day: Courtney Fredrickson, Minnetonka, 30 pts in 63-55 win at St. Michael-Albertville. Coach of the Day: Shawn Naas, Mountain Lake boys, who defeated defending state Class A champ Southwest Christian 63-52 to get to 7-0.

Thurs., Dec. 19--Hopkins girls 72 Centennial 38

Hopkins had lost two straight and a third wasn't going to happen. Player of the Day: Molly O'Toole, Hopkins, took it to Centennial with 7 offensive rebounds in the 1st half alone. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Coach of the Day: Robb Belschner, Andover girls, who defeated Blaine 77-67 to get to 5-1 on the year.

Wed., Dec. 18--Minnesota Timberwolves 120 Portland Trailblazers 109

The inconsistent Wolves came up big against the league's best team. Player of the Day--Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves 29 points 15 board 9 assists. Coach of the Day--Steve Burton, Robbinsdale Cooper, who edged Columbia Heights 71-67

Tues., Dec. 17--St. Paul Johnson boys 84 Eden Prairie 79

The visitors pulled away late as Jalen Mobley scored 35 points. Player of the Day--Mobley. Coach of the Day--Vern Simmons, St. Paul Johnson boys.

Mon., Dec. 16--Edina girls 55 Duluth East 34

The Hornets break away early and lead 31-18 at the half. Player of the Day--Charlie Koontz, Holy Angels, scored 27 in a 61-50 win over Minnehaha. Coach of the Day--Angie Iverson-Ohnstad, Lakeville South, who defeated Red Wing 41-34.

Sun., Dec. 15--Minnesota Timberwolves 101 Memphis Grizzlies 93

The Wolves took an early lead and held on. Player of the Day--Kevin Love led the Wolves with 30 points, 9 boards and 4 assists. Coach of the Day--Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sat., Dec. 14--Hopkins 89 Lakeville North 84 at Breakdown Boys Tipoff at Minnetonka

Player of the Day--J. P. Macura of Lakeville North, 48 points. Coach of the Day--Dave Thorson, DeLaSalle, who beat Osseo 56-35 at the Tip-Off. 

Game of the Day January 2014

Happy New Year! Wow, December got away from us! But we haven't given up! For those of you who are new visitors to this site, the purpose of our Game of the Day selections (including Player of the Day, Coach of the Day, etc.) is to generate candidates for our Player, Team and Coach of the Month, and Player, Team and Coach of the Year selections later on.

Week of Jan. 8-14

Wed., Jan. 8--Minnesota Gopher women @ Iowa

The Gophers are already in desperate shape in the Big Ten at 0-1 with a 25-point home loss to an apparent also-ran.

Thurs., Jan. 9--Kenyon-Wanamingo girls @ New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva

If NRHEG is going to lose to anybody, it is probably #3-rated Kenyon. Not that NRHEG is going to lose, just, you know, "if they were."

Fri., Jan. 10--Mankato State women @ Northern State

Both are 6-2 in the conference, only Wayne State is better at 7-1.

Sat., Jan. 11--Minnesota Gopher men @ Michigan State

A very tough assignment here.

Sun., Jan. 12--Northwestern women @ Minnesota Gophers

Say hello to Hopkins' Nia Coffey, now a NU freshman and Big 10 freshman of the week more than once.

Mon., Jan. 13--St. Thomas men @ Bethel, and Bethel women @ St. Thomas

St. Thomas is, as almost always, a prohibitive have to win both the men's and women's conference titles. Bethel is the only MIAC school that is contending in both genders.

Tues., Jan. 14--East Ridge boys @ Cretin-Derham Hall

East Ridge is #10, Cretin has Sam Neumann.


Week of Jan. 1-7

Wed., Jan. 1--Minnesota Timberwolves 124 New Orleans Pelicans 112 

Player of the Day: Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves, 22 pts, 7 rebounds Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman, Timberwolves

Thurs., Jan. 2--St. Mary's men 67 Macalester 51

Player of the Day: Evan Peterson, St. Mary's, guard 29 pts Coach of the Day: Jamison Rusthoven, St. Mary's, in his first year as coach. The Cards are just 2-8 but have an MIAC win under their belt.

Fri., Jan. 3--Winona State men 87 Bemidji State 86 (OT)

Winona led by as many as 13 in the 1st half, but Bemidji came back within 1 and trailed by 4 at intermission. Winona again pulled away to a 9 point lead in the 2nd half, but Bemidji caught up at 7:26 and led by as many as 4. Taylor Cameron tied it up at 0:06 with a FT for Winona. Bemidji again led by as many as 4 in OT, but Cameron scored on a layup at 0:15 for Winona's first and only lead of OT. Bemidji missed a jumper at the buzzer.

Player of the Day: Kellen Taylor, Winona State, scored 16 points with 16 boards. Coach of the Day: Mike Boschee, Bemidji State. No offense to Winona coach Mike Leaf, or to Bemidji State. But I am always amazed that Bemidji can compete with teams like Mankato and Winona. I mean, the frozen north and all of that.

Sat., Jan. 4--Apple Valley boys 72 Blue Valley Northwest (KA) 59

The Eagles used a 19-0 2nd half run to defeat national power Blue Valley at the Timberwolves Shootout.

Player of the Day: Sam Neumann, Cretin-Derham Hall, scored 39 in a 71-66 loss to Bettendorf, IA, at the Shootout. Coach of the Day: Dave Thorson, DeLaSalle boys, who beat St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 59-53 despite the continuing absence of Reid Travis.

Sun., Jan. 5--no games that I know of

Mon., Jan. 6--Minnesota Timberwolves 126 Philadelphia 76ers 95

Player of the Day: Kevin Love, Timberwolves, 26 pts in rout the 76ers. Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman, Timberwolves.

Tues., Jan. 7--Sauk Centre girls @ Albany

This and many other games were ppd due to the cold weather. So the Game of the Day was Edina girls 66 #4 Chaska 58.

Player of the Day: Grace Coughlin, Benilde-St. Margaret's, senior, guard with 32 points in a 78-68 win at Irondale. Coach of the Day: Edina's Mat Nilsen.

Game of the Week--Apple Valley boys 72 Blue Valley Northwest (KA) 59

Player of the Week--Sam Neumann, Cretin-Derham Hall, junior, forward

Coach of the Week--Mike Boschee, Bemidji State men


Week of Jan. 15-21

Wed., Jan. 15--Sacramento Kings @ Minnesota Timberwolves

Thurs., Jan. 16--Bloomington Kennedy girls @ Eastview

Fri., Jan. 17--Winona State men @ Southwest Minnesota State

Sat., Jan. 18--Mpls. Washburn girls vs. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva @ Owatonna

Sun., Jan. 19--Minnesota Gopher men @ Iowa

Mon., Jan. 20--New London-Spicer boys @ Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

Tues., Jan. 21--Apple Valley boys @ Rosemount

Wed., Jan. 22--Wisconsin men @ Minnesota Gophers

Thurs., Jan. 23--Wisconsin women @ Minnesota Gophers

Fri., Jan. 24--Mankato State men @ Winona State

Sat., Jan. 25--Sauk Centre girls @ Alexandria

Sun., Jan. 26--Minnesota Gopher men @ Nebraska

Mon., Jan. 27--Minnesota Timberwolves @ Chicago Bulls

Tues., Jan. 28--Staples-Motley girls @ Fergus Falls

Wed., Jan. 29--Iowa women @ Minnesota Gophers

Thurs., Jan. 30--Champlin Park boys @ Osseo

Fri., Jan. 31--Heritage Christian boys @ Maranatha