MINNESOTA REC: Elite Eight Game Recaps | Final Four Preview

The Minnesota rec basketball Elite Eight was held last night in Bloomington South and there was one classic finish, two competitive games that were won by last year's finalists and one major upset.

Rebels vs. Thundercats

Back in late October, the Thundercats took the Rebels into overtime and a late game crash into the scorer's table that sent Derek Batiste to the bench helped the Rebels eek out a 3-point win.

Last night, the Thundercats wanted to show that they could finish the deal against the defending Gold Cup champs. They started off the game well and were up by as much as 9 points in the first half. The Rebels ended that half on a run and were only down by 2 at the break.

In the second half, the Rebels broke out their offense, scoring 41, and the Thundercats faded away. It looked as if the physicality of the Rebels got into the heads of the Thundercats, particularly, Noe Mendez, who had to fend off Dustin Dupont all night and missed some big free throws down the stretch. Mendez did score 24 points, but only had 2 assists, and the Thundercats only had 6 assists as a team. That kind of lax ball movement plays right into the Rebels' hands with their stellar one-on-one defense.

Patrick Magnuson led the Rebels in scoring with 17 points and three others scored double figures. Dustin Dupont was one of those players, with 11 points, and he also had 5 assists and 3 steals.

Final Score: Rebels 64 - Thundercats 55


St. Baul vs. Avengers

After going 8-0 last season and faltering in the playoffs, then having a disappointing regular season despite key additions of Zhao Lee and Sam Halverson, the Avengers came into the playoffs looking to show that they belong with the rest of the UH contenders. They started off with a 12-point win over the Riddlers last Thursday.

St. Baul, meanwhile, had not lost a game since September 22nd and were coming off of a Week 8 win against the Rebels and a 17-point blowout of the Huskies in Round 1 of the playoffs.

Almost from the opening tip, however, the Avengers were in control of this game. St. Baul was frigid from the field in the first half, shooting 28% and going 0-of-12 from the three point line. The Avengers, meanwhile, were hitting everything and went into halftime with a 17-point lead.

Despite the advantage, and the buzz around the gym from onlookers, the general feeling was that St. Baul would adjust, the percentages would average out and the game would become close again.

It didn't happen. St. Baul played better in the second half, but not well enough, and the Avengers won easily 77-to-54. St. Baul could not knock down shots, finishing with percentages of 36% from the floor and 18% from three. They only had two players who shot over 40% from the floor - Ryan Samuelson (7-of-16 for 19 points) and Curtis Herzberg (2-of-3 for 4 pts). Justin Samuelson only had one more made field goal (3) than turnovers (2) and Greg Regenscheid and Simon Lewer combined to go 2-of-11 for 9 points.

For the Avengers, it was Fridley Rookie of the Year Zhao Lee who led them to the victory. Lee scored 21 poitns and dished out 8 assists. Chris Maher added 17 off of the bench and both Ben Martancik and Sam Halverson also scored in double figures.

Final Score Avengers 77 - St. Baul 54


Timberpuppies vs. Ninja Turtles

The best game of the night came from the T-Pups and Ninja Turtles, who needed an extra three minutes to decide the outcome.

The game was back-and-forth from the tip with the score tied at halftime and at the end of regulation. Despite Kyle Wenzel's ineffectiveness (1-of-11), the Timberpuppies took advantage of their size, with Mike Byrne, Mike Wolf and Sean Ball all scoring in double figures and all shooting 50% or better.

The Turtles had four players in double figure scoring, including Justin Montzka, who led the team with 16. Greg Regenschied, who may have had the worst shooting night of his career, went 2-of-8 for only 5 points. Ryan Jansen was worse off of the bench, going 1-of-9 for only 2 points.

The end of the game, including the end of overtime, came down to fouls. The T-Pups ended up making 1 more free throw (13) than the Turtles (12), and that ended up making all the difference.

Final Score (OT): Timberpuppies 66 - Ninja Turtles 64


Blue Chips vs. Celtics

While the Celtics came into the night as heavy favorites by most oddsmakers, the Blue Chips have a talented squad and they put up a spirited fight for most of the night.

Keilon Riddley scored 21 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and took 3 steals for the Blue Chips, who also got 22 points, 5 assists and 5 steals from Chris Daly. Sam Halverson, perhaps tired after his game with the Avengers, only went 3-of-16 from the floor. Jason Briggs was the only other Blue Chip in double figures with 15 points and 8 rebounds.

Unfortunately for the Blue Chips, a former multi-MVP and multi-Gold Cup winner named Marcus Marshall was too much for them to handle. Marshall went 10-of-16 from the floor, and 11-of-11 from the foul line, to end up with 33 points. He also had 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals and was by far the best player on the court, even with his 6 turnovers.

Justin Samuelson rebounded from his poor performance with St. Baul from earlier in the night to scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and 6 steals, while Garland Sanchez, Jr., scored 16 points on 62% shooting.

Final Score: Celtics 84 - Blue Chips 75



Final Four Predictions

The Final Four in Fridley brings us a rematch of last year's Gold Cup game and a fantastic matchup on paper that will unfortunately see one team likely to compete short-handed.

Rebels vs. Celtics

In last season's Gold Cup game, the Rebels won by double-digits over the Celtics, 65-50. Marcus Marshall only scored 6 points on 2 shots, mostly thanks to the fantastic defense from Ryan Jansen, and Johnny Webb went 3-of-14 with a pair of turnovers. For the Rebels, Dustin Dupont had 11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Playoff MVP Paul Ferber closed down the middle and had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.

So, what has changed from last season?

For the Rebels, Joe Thomas, who scored 11 off of the bench in the Gold Cup game, is out with an injury. Otherwise, they return the exact same squad whose only loss this season was in overtime to St. Baul.

For the Celtics, they exchanged Johnny Webb, Noe Mendez and Sonny Young-Graves for Justin Samuelson and Vaughn Ginnette. Everyone knows how much Samuelson can make a difference in a game, and although Ginnette has played very sparingly this season without much on-court impact, he does provide a nice voice from the bench to help player/coach Jonathan Moore.

I expect a closer final score than the Gold Cup, but until the Celtics prove otherwise, I have to go with the defending champs.

My Prediction: Rebels by 5


Avengers vs. Timberpuppies

While ordinarily, this matchup would generate a ton of buzz and would likely be another UH classic, sources close to the Timberpuppies have said that due to poor communication from the league regarding the date of tonight's final four game, they will be only be able to field a team of 4 players for the matchup.

As Bloomington South's league coordinator, I take responsibility for the error and regret that accommodations cannot be made - despite effort to do so - to change the game to a better date.

Perhaps the Avengers will choose to play 4-on-4 tonight. Of course, they are under no obligation to do so, and given the importance of the matchup, no one could blame them for choosing to play 5-on-4 and having an easier time advancing to their first Gold Cup game.

It will be a very unfortunate chapter in what has been an otherwise-memorable Fall 2011 season.

My Prediction: Avengers by 10

RELATED: Watch Final Four games on UHTV at 8pm CDT tonight