People are talking about Ben Carlson (6-8, of East Ridge, ranked #5 in Minnesota's senior class) and Stephen Crowl (6-11, of Eastview, ranked #6), future teammates at that school that has Bucky Badger as its mascot. But, there's probably going to be some talk about Crowl's high school teammate Ryan Thissen here pretty quick. The 6-5 wing is rated just #41 among Minnesota's seniors and it appears he's uncommitted. But, he was the difference Friday night as #8 ranked Eastview (now 6-1) stormed back from a 5-point half-time deficit to win at #4 East Ridge (now 4-3) 66-63.
But, first, Carlson outplayed and outscored Crowl 24-13. Carlson is much improved over last year. He overpowered Eastview's attempts at double and triple teams, scoring mostly from inside. Crowl, has 3 inches on Carlson but probably gives up a few pounds, and the Raptors' double and triple teams bothered Crowl all night. Carlson has always been more highly rated, though recently you'll hear people say Crowl has more upside with his size and his ability to step outside and hit the 3, though he did that only once tonight. And, the fact is that at the next level, nobody's going to be able to throw their whole defense at Crowl, so he'll have more room to operate and could be better at the next level. Meanwhile, you wonder if Carlson will be able to overpower people at the next level. But, hey, he was better tonight and maybe he's the one with more upside. I'm sure Bucky will be happy either way.
But, returning to Thissen. He's a solid 6-6, plenty mobile to play the 2 and a solid shooter. He got the ball out of bounds at his own FT line with 3.8 seconds left tonight and the score tied at 63. He brought the ball up the right sideline. With time running out, he let it go about 30 feet from his own baseline but on the right sideline, so it was probably a 35-footer. It banked off the glass and through the hoop as the buzzer sounded. They were his 19th, 20th and 21st points.
East Ridge led by as many as 9 in the 1st half, then by 5 at the half, and by 39-31 and 48-42. Thissen tied it up at 51 with a post-up, then scored on a dribble drive to make it 53-51. A Thissen FT tied it up at 54, and a Thissen 2 made it 60-56 Eastview. A Thissen FT made it 63-61 Eastview, and then came the game-winner. So that's 11 points and a pair of boards in the final 7 minutes. The only quibble was 2-of-5 FT down the stretch.
The third star for Eastview was senior point guard Caden Scales, who is athletic with great handles. He scored on a terrific put-back to get the Lightning within 51-49 at about 8 minutes.
For East Ridge, you had sophomore 6-5 point guard Kendall Blue, who scored 15; and 6-6 senior wing Brody Kriesel, who was everywhere, guarding Crowl, pounding the boards and adding 9 points.
It was a game that, frankly, East Ridge should have won. They had it won. Up 48-42 at 9 minutes, they were outscored 24-15 on their homeport. The 2nd chance points in the 2nd half were Eastview 9 East Ridge 0, and that is basically the story. Carlson outplayed Crowl, but bench scoring was 17-0 Eastview. It's tough to win when you're outscored 26-0 off the bench and off the glass.
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