Tip Off Classic recap: Blake vs. Lakeview Christian

By Ryan James, Breakdown Sports USA, 12/08/12, 3:15PM CST

Bears slow down Anders Broman in 100-85 victory

Sometime in the next three weeks Anders Broman of Lakeview Christian will become the all time leading scorer in Minnesota history. He’ll break Kevin Noreen’s mark no doubt but Blake coach Sean Kruger and his Bears slowed the process by a half Saturday when they held the South Dakota State commit to zero points in 18 minutes of first half basketball. Blake had two players running at Broman whenever he touched the ball plus a face guarding defender caused havoc and opened the door for a Blake 49-33 halftime lead.

On the other end, the Bears spread the ball around the floor opening the middle for post Blaine Crawford who scored seven times in the first half totaling 14 points. Kebu Johnson opened the game with four baskets utilizing length, power, and skill that had the Lions totally overmatched. The one positive for Lakeview Christian Academy was six three-point makes from junior Bjorn Broman.

Blake’s constant denial gameplan worked until the 14:40 mark of the second half when Anders scored a lay-up. That score was followed by eight more points in two minutes time which closed the Blake lead to 11 points. At that point Kebu stepped forward to score twice and a John Veil trey opened the lead to 77-58. That shooting opened up the middle and national debate champion Blaine Crawford scored two more easy ones at the rim.

The Bears were in continual control of the game but the individual story was the ten three-pointers made by Bjorn Broman. With under a minute to go and the lead closed to 11 points (96-85) Bjorn was sitting at 33 points and fans were hoping for more but he fouled out to a nice ovation from the crowd.

Bjorn was terrific but Blake was better showing why they are a top contender for the state championship in Class AAA. They utilized a balanced scoring effort and defensively executed a standout game plan for a 100-85 victory.