BLOOMINGTON SOUTH, MN: Week 5 Results

We are officially past the halfway point in Bloomington South after Week 5 ended in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night. Only three games remain in this season, which means only three chances for teams to make noise prior to the playoffs.

A Quick Look at the Playoff Picture

Bloomington South will receive 6 automatic bids this season, and along with the 6 auto bids from Fridley, there will be 8 at-large bids that could come from either league.

Right now in Bloomington South, the Rebels. St. Baul, Riddlers and Thundercats are each - unless something dramatic happens over the next three weeks - pretty much guaranteed an at-large bid.

Clem's Kidz, the Panthers, the Blazers and the Raptors are probably not going to factor into the playoff race this season.

Therefore, the four teams tied at 3-2 and the four teams at 2-3 are fighting for 2 automatic bids and a share of the at-large bids.

Now, onto last night's games...


Riddlers vs. Blazers

This was a "cover your eyes, kids" type of game, with the Riddlers going up 58-15 at the half. The Blazers were taking bad shots and turning the ball over like crazy in the first half. The Riddlers responded by cherry-picking and leaking out on three-point shots, which resulted in easy fast-break points.

In the second half, the Blazers actually outscored the Riddlers by 7, but that was much more due to boredom - as John Ebeling and Mark Buettner acknowledged after the game - than it was to improved play by the Blazers.

Every Riddlers player put up solid numbers tonight, including 8 points and 10 assists for Nick Roell, a double-double for Don Kahl and 13 points off of the bench for Charlie Steingas. Chad Nyberg had the best game for the Blazers (14 points and 3 steals).

Final Score: Riddlers 85 - Blazers 49

Player of the Game: Mark Buettner had a nice night with 23 points on 15 shots, but tonight's Player of the Game goes to Peter Clark, who scored 23 points on 13 shots and added 6 assists and 5 rebounds.



Inception vs. Clem's Kidz

This matchup between two 1-3 teams actually could have some playoff implications down the line. Since a 3-5 team could theoretically make the playoffs, a win in this one would keep those hopes alive.

Clem's Kidz kept things close in the first half and only went into the break down 4 points. While they scored the same amount of points in the second half as in the first, their defense broke down, and allowed 45 points from Inception after halftime.

While Benjamin Wagner had a solid game (18 points and 10 rebounds), he did get some help this week from Scott Ruhsam, who had an impressive 18 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks. Unfortunately, the other 5 members of the team did little to help those two. Mike O'Brien had a dreadful performance, going 0-of-10 from the floor with 12 turnovers and a -12.0 PPR.

Meanwhile, Inception had four players in double-figure scoring and forced 26 turnovers from the Kidz. With 2 wins on the season, and a game against the Blazers left on their schedule, the playoffs are not out of reach.

Final Score: Inception 71 - Clem's Kidz 44

Player of the Game: While Tramon Van Leer had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, it was Jay-R Ramirez who led Inception with 23 points on 6-of-8 from downtown.



Blue Chips vs. Thunder

On paper, this matchup looked to be the best game of the night, as two teams fighting for an automatic playoff bid went head-to-head. The Blue Chips and Thunder did not disappointed.

Both teams play a physical style of basketball, and while these intangibles are not tracked on the score sheet, make no mistake that this game was won in the paint, on the block and on the floor. Such tough interior defense also led to a combined 57 three point attempts from the two teams.

The Thunder held a two-point lead at halftime, and although the Blue Chips stretched the lead to 5 with under a minute left, the Thunder had their chances down the stretch. Down 2 points with about 20 seconds remaining, an ill-advised shot from Paul Olson did not go down and the Blue Chips were able to secure the win.

The Thunder were led by Andy Walz, who scored 20 points off of the bench to go with 2 steals and an assist.

Final Score: Blue Chips 72 - Thunder 69

Player of the Game: It was hard to choose this game's best player, given the strong performances by Keilon Riddley and Sam Halverson, but I'm giving it to Peter Mortenson. Mortenson scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds - including 4 on the offensive side of the ball - while shooting 50% from the floor.



Panthers vs. St. Baul

There are certain talking points that seem to come up week-after-week about the same teams. The Raptors seem to always have rebounding issues. The Huskies seem to always play poor defense.

And, as repetitive as it might seem, St. Baul seems to always let up in the second half.

Tonight was no different. With James Pinkett playing major minutes - in impressive Boise State-colored shoes - St. Baul went up by 29 in the first half. I'm not sure if they got bored like the Riddlers did in their game or got tired down the stretch, but somehow, the Panthers outscored them by 17 points in the second half.

Prior to this week, the most that the Panthers had outscored an opponent in a single half was 5 points and that was against the winless Blazers. When a team lets up statistically anomalies like that, you can bet that it will be acknowledged.

Still, they remain one of two undefeated teams in Bloomington South. They will have tough matchup next week against the 4-1 Thundercats.

The Panthers' best performances of the night came from Quentin Cage, with 16 points and 5 rebounds, and Jake Wendorff, who put up a 6-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist game.

St. Baul got a double-double from Curtis Herzberg (13-11) and Justin Samuelson added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.

Final Score: St. Baul 82 - Panthers 70

Player of the Game: Ryan Samuelson had a very efficient night, scoring 28 points on 11 shots (8-of-8 from the foul line) and adding 4 rebounds and 4 assists for St. Baul.



Tropics vs. Rebels

If the Tropics had a spokesperson this season, a good candidate would have been Rodney Dangerfield (RIP), as their players and GM constantly feel that they get no respect. Going into Week 5 with a 3-1 record, were the Tropics an underrated team with playoff potential, or a team that benefited from a cupcake schedule in the first half of the season?

The Tropics answered that question in tonight's game with an impressive showing against the Rebels. Aside from a 10-0 run that the Rebels went on to end the first half, this game was very even throughout.

The absence of Patrick Magnuson certainly had an impact, but the Tropics are one of only two teams to have lost to the Rebels by less than 10 points in the past two seasons (the other was last week's Thundercats). That includes J. Moore's Celtics and the Riddlers.

There are no moral victories, but the rest of the league should take notice that the Tropics are for real. Three different players scored 14 points, including John Chau, who did it on only 6 shots.

The Rebels' Dustin Dupont has been brilliant all season, but he had one of this rougher nights in this one (2-of-8 for 7 points and 6 turnovers, although he did have 8 rebounds and 7 assists). Joe Thomas scored 13 and Paul Ferber stuffed the stat sheet with 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.

Final Score: Rebels 67 - Tropics 59

Player of the Game: Coming back from injury is never easy, but Justin Montzka appears to be back, as he dropped 28 points and had 2 steals. Perhaps most impressively, however, is that Montzka played 40 minutes. No team wants to play a fully healthy Rebels team this year.



Huskies vs. Timberpuppies

With a leg injury to Junius Ho and the continued absence of Lawrence Barnes, the Huskies came into tonight's game already at a disadvantage. The Timberpuppies had a significant size advantage and they took every opportunity to exploit that advantage tonight.

From inside the three-point line, the T-Pups shot a ridiculous 68% and Scott Jenkins was their only player who had a FG% of under 60. They put this game away quickly and easily.

The Huskies had some nice performances from Heath Stoll (20 points) and Ronnie Olson (19 points) in the loss. Meanwhile, the Pups had five players in double-figure scoring.

The Pups will take on the Tropics next week in what should be a pretty competitive matchup. The Huskies, meanwhile, will face the Blue Chips in a game that will mean a lot for their playoff hopes. Junius Ho's return for that game is still questionable.

Final Score: Timberpuppies 92 - Huskies 61

Player of the Game: The Huskies had no match for Mike Byrne in this one. Byrne scored 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Pups to the 31-point win.



The Bulls vs. Raptors

This game could have been retitled, "The Roderick Powell Show". Powell went off for 33 points and 12-of-19 shooting and there was simply no answer for him, whether on the perimeter or on the drive.

The Raptors, who have had defensive woes all season, didn't seem to have anyone who could guard Powell. Their team got so lost in their defensive matchups that Powell was often unguarded on the perimeter or was guarded by a big man who had no chance of staying with him.

While the Raptors were only down 2 at the break, The Bulls put the pedal down in the second half and outscored the Raptors by 20. DeAngelo Purnell and Grant Dudinsky each scored in double figures for The Bulls, while Noah Caron added 9 points and 6 rebounds from the bench.

The Raptors were led by Jordan Jensen, who had 17 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Devin Stensrude scored 16 points, but it took 16 shots, and he finished with a negative PPR (-0.9).

Final Score: The Bulls 80 - Raptors 58

Player of the Game: The aforementioned Roderick Powell was clearly the best player in this game and it wasn't close. His team has won two in a row and appear to have hit their stride. Powell and The Bulls should be licking their chops for Clem's Kidz next week.



Thundercats vs. Lakers

On paper, this game didn't seem to have much promise.

The Lakers came into the game with only 5 guys, none of whom were named Justin Martin, and though they were 3-1, their one loss was to St. Baul by 19 points. Meanwhile, the Thundercats' only loss was by 3 points in overtime to the best team in rec basketball.

That's why they don't play the games on paper.

The Lakers played brilliantly for much of the game and matched the Thundercats scoring throughout. They were down 3 at half but closed that gap in the second half and tied it up heading into the final minute.

The Thundercats' Kevin Mayer hit a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining to put them up by 3 points. The Lakers actually got a good look and John Ojanpa's shot barely missed. For the second week in a row, the T-Cats narrowly escaped defeat.

The Lakers were led by 28 points from Ryan Hericks, 26 from Brandon Buesgens and 20 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists from Kevin Craft.

Derek Batiste scored 21 for the Thundercats, while Noe Mendez had a near triple double (11 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds).

Final Score: Thundercats 83 - Lakers 80

Player of the Game: Reigning MVP Chris Maher led the Thundercats with 31 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Maher and his team will get no rest with St. Baul next on the schedule.