Taking advantage of its size, DeLaSalle rolled out to a big first half lead and held on for an 87-67 victory over Minnetonka in the first boys' game at the Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classic in Hopkins Saturday night.  The Islanders, led by 6-foot-6 forward Jonah Travis, repeatedly pounded the ball in deep on the Skippers in taking a 49-26 halftime lead.

"We definitely wanted to establish our low-post presence first and we talked about that in practice all the time -- work inside out," said Travis, acknowleding that he had plenty of help from the three-point shooting of Bretson McNeal (18 points) and the inside and mid-range game of Marcas Dorsey (11), LaMonte Hall (12) and Hopkins transfer Riley Dearring (11).

Minnetonka rallied in the second half, putting up 41 points in the final 20 minutes.  But it wasn't enough to erase the early deficit.  Nick Latzke was one of three Skippers in double figures with 15 points.  Malcom Moore (12 points) and Tommy McDermott (10) also hit that scoring barrier.

Despite the 20-point victory, Travis was concerned about the second-half defense of the Islanders.

"(Coach Dave) Thorson loves our offense and that's definitely something that we've been working on," said Travis.  "But our defense, the coaches and us felt we gave up way too many points.  The DeLaSalle system doesn't give up that many points."

Jonah Travis, DeLaSalle
Travis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, was a big factor in the paint for the Islanders in their 87-67 victory over Minnetonka.  With DeLaSalle looking to jump start its offense by getting the ball inside, Travis took advantage for a game-high 22 points.  He also got to the free throw line, earning eight points from the charity stripe.

Score by half: DeLaSalle 49-38--87, Minnetonka 26-41--67

Minnetonka: Latzke 15, Moore 12, McDermott 10, Jones 8, Turnblad 8, Nelson 6, Snyder 4, Steadman 2, Steele 2

DeLaSalle: J. Travis 22, McNeal 18, Hall 12, Dorsey 11, Dearring 11, Ndando-Lay 6, Barker 3, Moore 3, Scott 2, Dickinson 1