The Mankato East and Waseca boys are firmly entrenched on the radar of MN boys basketball fans. 3 of the top 75 juniors on the Breakdown Guide's list are from Mankato East, while 3 of the top 35 sophomores are from Waseca. But the difference Thursday night at East was a senior, Waseca point guard Malik Willingham, who scored 23 points with 6 assists, to lead Waseca from a 32-27 halftime lead to a whopping 58-31 lead at 12:31 of the 2nd half. That's right, the Bluejays opened the 2nd half with a pretty awesome 26-4 run to put the game away.
Sophomores Kyreese Willingham, a guard; Andrew Morgan, a 6-10 post; and Ryan Default, also a guard, chipped in with 15, 12 and 12 points for the Jays. East got 14, 13 and 12 points from juniors Jax Madson, a guard; Jordan Merseth, a 6-5 post; and Joich Gong, also a guard; and another 14 from sophomore guard Pal Kueth. So you can count on these 2 teams being among the top class AAA teams outside of the metro area for the next 2 years. But, for now, Waseca seems to have the upper hand.
Meanwhile, the biggest surprise on Friday night came as another road warrior, this time the Stillwater Ponies girls, came up big, hammering the favored and home-standing Roseville Raiders 78-60. You knew that Stillwater had the potential to do big things. But, now, you can forget about potential. The Ponies have arrived. They built 41-32 halftime lead against the usually stingy Roseville defense, and then increased that separation in the 2nd half. Senior guard Sara Scalia and sophomore guard Alexis Pratt scored 24 pts each for Stillwater, while junior forward Jayda Johnston scored 18 for Roseville gut didn't get a lot of help on the offensive end.
While we like these as the biggest Games of the Day(s), however, we thought that a couple of other players deserved recognition.
Player of the Day Thursday--Sierra Morrow, Mpls. Edison, 43 pts, 25 reb, 3 stls, 4 blks in a 64-55 win over St. Paul Academy
Player of the Day Friday--Arthel Massaquoi, Robbinsdale Cooper, scored 23 pts in an 88-59 shellacking that her Hawks took at the hands of Wayzata. But the senior post is surely one of the most improved players on the high school scene this year, averaging 15 pts and 8 boards after scoring just 6 ppg a year ago.
Team(s) of the Day--Waseca boys and Stillwater girls
Coaches of the Day--Seth Anderson, Waseca boys, and Willie Taylor, Stillwater girls
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