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Buccaneers surprise hosts in Gold division

By Ryan James, 08/01/11, 12:22AM CDT

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W-E-M beats Lakeville South in Summer Showcase Invite

The Gold Bracket opened with fireworks proving that the Breakdown brain trust definitely knows how to put together exciting match-ups.

On one side of the curtain Bemidji defeated Mankato East 49-48 when Carey Woods hit a jumper with three ticks left giving the Lumberjacks a hard-fought win. On the other side Waterville-Elysian-Morristown stretched a one point lead to a 46-40 victory when Grant Pope hit four late free throws to widen the gap. In the nearby opposite gymnasium Lakeville South pulled out a 49-45 win as their new point guard Ty Powell, taking over for Riley West, made free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

In round two, Bemidji used a lot of Woods and he was good for 20-plus points but the Bucs of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown were the better squad overall. WEM played solid team defense that led to countless fast break opportunities speared by point guard Grant Pope. Pope had an event high nine assists in the game hitting Tate Harmon out in front plus Pope sucked in Lumberjack defenders and then pitched out to various teammates who hit six three point bombs.

On the other court, the Breakdown Summer Showcase game of the year took place when Lakeville South beat Osseo 40-39. In grueling physical battle South jumped ahead of Osseo in the first half by nine and the deficit would have been even worse had Bridge Tusler not came out scoring both with his dribble drive pull-up three and penetration. South had a strong individual scoring performance themselves from new point guard Ty Powell who hit double figures early in the contest. 

Osseo battled back to tie the game early in the second half and from there the teams fought evenly into the final minute. Osseo held a 37-35 lead when South wing Devon Bzoskie (a potential D1 wide receiver recruit) hit a contested three to give his team a one-point lead with 10 seconds left. Osseo called a timeout and then in-bounded the ball at halfcourt. South’s defense gave the Orioles little room to work with but Will Johnson (a nationally rated tight end prospect) swished a fading jumper with his toe on the three point line and Osseo was ahead 39-38 with three seconds to go.

Lakeville South called a timeout and had Mitch Leidner (a Gopher quarterback commit) in-bound the ball. The South forward/quarterback threw a perfect pass to Bzoskie, his wideout on the football team, in the right corner. Bzoskie put the ball on the deck and went to the corner while being followed by two Osseo defenders. Cutting to the basket was Nick Sanborn and Bzoskie hit Sanborn with a pass that Nick caught and scored at the buzzer. It was a well drawn up full court set that worked perfectly (plus everyone in the gym not in Cougar colors thought the clock started a little late). 

The final between Lakeville South and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown may not go down as one of the prettiest games of all time but it did show the leadership and talent of Bucs guards Tate Harmon and Grant Pope. The pair seemed to be in control of the game from start to finish taking chances to make plays in spots but reserving their play when the team needed the game to slow down. 

Defensively the Buccaneer defenders were able to shut down the Cougar athletic backcourt that was able to score fairly consistently on Osseo and Pelican Rapids. The Bucs were able to limit the South starting backcourt to 11 points while their backcourt (Harmon and Pope) took all but six shots for their team in the title contest.

Pope had a rough game from the field (3 of 16) but his constant penetration kept the Cougars helping deep in the lane and he made six of seven free throws on his way to 13 points. That penetration allowed room for Harmon to fire at will and Tate scored a game high 20 points and WEM won 40-36. Mitch Leidner totaled a game high 12 rebounds for the Cougars while Sanborn had a team high eight points.

Other results

Quarterfinals
Bemidji 49, Mankato East 48
W-E-M 46, Roseville 40
Lakeville South 49, Pelican Rapids 45
Osseo 51, Holy Family 31

Semifinals
W-E-M 49, Bemidji 38
Lakeville South 40, Osseo 39

Third-place
Osseo 51, Bemidji 29

Consolation semifinals
Mankato East 60, Roseville 53
Pelican Rapids 60, Holy Family 51

Consolation third-place
Roseville 75, Holy Family 47

Consolation final
Pelican Rapids 60, Mankato East 46

First team All-Showcase

Name School
Tate Harmon W-E-M
Grant Pope W-E-M
Ty Powell Lakeville South
Bridge Tusler Osseo
Carey Woods Bemidji

Second team All-Showcase

Name School
Zach Erdman W-E-M
Mitch Leidner Lakeville South
Ian Theisen Osseo
Ryan Bruggeman Pelican Rapids
Luke Halbakken Pelican Rapids