Osseo Maple Grove Basketball Association

The Maple Grove Crimson 5A Boys finished their pre-Christmas schedule bringing home 2nd Place Medals in the St. Francis Tournament. 

On Saturday, the Crimson traveled through a snowstorm to play Zimmerman.  The Crimson jumped on the inexperienced Thunder early and play a very efficient 1st half shutting out Zimmerman in the 1st quarter and building a 24 point lead by half-time.  The Crimson played a sloppy 2nd half in cruising to a 35-11 victory.  Alec Spevacek and Ty Gelinske combined to hit 10 of 13 shots in the first half as both players finished with double figure scoring.   The highlight of the night was seeing the grandparents of Jared Martinson and Ty Gelinske as they braved the weather from Brooklyn Center and St. Michael to watch the action.

After a slow drive home at night, the team had to get up early for an 8:00 am game verses Park Center.  The Crimson proved ready and played a very solid game against the Pirates scoring in double-digits in each quarter on their way to a 49-27 victory.  Martinson finished much better under the basket and had a season-high 10 points to go with 5 rebounds.  Jake Sitarz hit 2 jumpers including a 3-pointers to break out of a scoring slump, and Matt Lutz went 5 for 5 from the line and hit a key 3-pointer to stop a Park Center run in the 3rd quarter.  Tanner Scott played a fine floor game making good decisions on the fast break and contributing constant pressure defense.

In the final, the Crimson ran up against the strong Anoka team for the 2nd time this season.  The Crimson stayed in the game the entire way, but Anoka had two good runs in the 2nd quarter and at the start of the 4th quarter to keep the Crimson at bay with the final being 32-44.  Jake Sexton played a solid game and hit all of 3 of his shots for 6 points. Ethan Ridgeway had 6 rebounds and a total of 16 for the weekend, Spevacek contributed 8 points and 9 boards and Gelinske has his third double-figure scoring output of the weekend to lead the Crimson.

The Crimson enter the Christmas break at 11-3 and resume play January 10-11 at the Brooklyn Park tournament.

The Maple Grove 5A Boys brought a championship to Maple Grove with an impressive win at the highly competitive Eden Prairie tournament.  The 12-team "A" division was divided into 4 pools of 3 teams with pool play completed on Saturday.

The Crimson opened the tournament with a match-up against Armstong.  Despite some sloppy 1st half play on the defensive end, the Crimson offense was up to the task methodically pulling away to a 49-31 victory.  The Crimson got a 2nd half spark from Tanner Scott who got the Crimson defense going and strong aggressive play in the post from Jared Martinson as the Crimson shot 41% from the field.  Jake Sexton hit 3 of 4 shots and provided steady defense and strong rebounding.

In an evening match-up with Hopkins, the Crimson displayed all the best aspects of their team play with their best performance of the young season.  Aggressive full-court defense, crisp passing, and only 6 turnovers highlighted this 61-28 victory.  Ahead 12-10 halfway through the 1st half, the Crimson went on a 25-6 run to end the half spearheaded by Max Marshall who played his best game of the year.  Marshall hit 6 of 10 shots for 13 points to go with 4 rebounds and a half dozen steals.  The Crimson got good aggressive play from Ethan Ridgeway with a full court attack to the basket that the coaches have been looking for.  Jake Sitarz defended Hopkins' best player holding him under double figures and contributed several steals..  Ty Gelinske and Alec Spevack joined Marshall as double figure scorers combining for 24 points and 15 rebounds.

By winning their pool, the Crimson moved in to the semi-finals against Eden Prairie RED.  Eden Prairie field two "A" teams and this was an extremely quick aggressive team.  In a loosely officiated game, the Crimson relied on Marshall's three 1st half 3-pointers and Spevacek's double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds and pulled away late to get a 38-20 win.  The Crimson were able to hit free throws down the stretch including 3 from Matt Lutz and 2 each from Scott and Gelinske.

In the final, the Crimson faced Eden Prairie BLACK who had out-lasted defending state champ Woodbury by 2 in the other semi-final.  Eden Prairie jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first 90 seconds against a clearly nervous Crimson team playing in front of a large crowd.  The Crimson settled down with Lutz getting 3 first half buckets and were able to cut the Eagle lead to 3 by halftime.  2 quick baskets to start the 2nd half got the Crimson their first lead, but Eden Prairie was steady and re-took a small lead that they maintained most of the 2nd half until Sexton hit a big bucket inside and then made a steal and found Gelinske who hit a huge "3" to put the Crimson up 32-30 with just over a minute to go.  Eden Prairie got a put-back from their big post to tie the score, but the Crimson showed great patience.  After taking a foul with 7 seconds left, the Crimson inbounded to Lutz in the left corner.  Lutz was able to beat his defender baseline and hit a runner with :04 left. Eden Prairie half-court toss wasn't close and the Crimson had a 34-32 championship victory.  Gelinske led with 9 points and 6 rebounds and Lutz added 8 points and 5 boards including the game-winner.

The Crimson move to 9-2 on the season and finish their pre-Christmas schedule in 2 weeks with a tournament at St. Francis. 

The Maple Grove Crimson hosted some of the best teams in the metro area in a 12-team 5A bracket and took home 3rd place in the OMGBA Boys Tourney, November 21-23.   The Crimson opened up on Friday night with a match-up against Blaine and came out firing on all cylinders jumping to a 16-2 lead built on pressing defense and an attacking fast break.  They were lead by Tanner Scott's superb defense with 5 first half steals and several excellent assists as the Crimson built an 18 point half time lead.  The 2nd half was highlighted by several smooth baseline jumpers by Ethan Ridgeway to finish off fast breaks and Jared Martinson's first 3-pointer of his career.  Ridgeway and Martinson combined for 13 points and 11 rebounds out of the center position to lead the Crimson to a 47-28 win.  

The win moved the Crimson into a tough quarterfinal match-up against Eden Prairie on Saturday evening. (Tournament Director Jeff Tyler will never be accused of being easy on the home team).  Eden Prairie features a quick team with several fine shooters.  The Crimson countered with Jake Sitarz hitting 2 jumpers to get the Crimson rolling and Sitarz continued to play excellent defense on the Eagles' best scorers throughout the game.  It was a back and forth 1st half with the Crimson down 22-24 at the intermission.  In the 2nd half, the Crimson jumped on the big shoulders of Alec Spevacek and rode them to a tight 47-38 victory.  Spevacek was unstoppable in the paint scoring 14 of a career-high 22 points in the 2nd half to go along with 8 rebounds. 

Sunday would bring 2 games for the Crimson in their quest for "hardware".  In the semi-finals, they faced an experienced Lakeville North team with 2 players that had "played up" last year into 5th grade Travel as 4th graders.  This was an intense, hard-nosed game by both teams that was very well-played. Tied at half, 21-21, the Crimson hit a cold shooting spell in the 2nd half and Lakeville continued to make great plays and hit shots down the stretch leading to a loss for the Crimson 33-42.  Jake Sexton played particularly strong for the Crimson with 6 rebounds and tough play all over the floor.  Max Marshall continued his fine play through the weekend that featured aggressive full-court defense, few turnovers, and several key outside shots include three 3-pointers.

The Crimson had to follow that tough loss 1 hour later with a game against Prior Lake.  Both teams showed some wear and tear from the semi-final with below average shooting and more turnovers than either coach would like.  Even so, the intensity of both teams did not lapse and this was another tough game throughout.  The Crimson came out in the 2nd half unveiling a 1-3-1 half court trap that got their transition game going.  The Crimson moved to a 12 point lead with 3 minutes to play and survived some loose play and poor shot selection at the end to hold on to a 45-41 victory.  Ty Gelinske led the way with 10 points that included a pretty spin move into a lay-up that left a Prior Lake defender flat-footed.  Matt Lutz had his best offensive output with 9 points that included several patented running hook shots (taught to him by his grandfather, not the current coach) and a long-range 3-pointer in the 2nd half before fouling out.

The tournament was won by Woodbury, the defending state champion at this level.  The Crimson will next be in action December 5-7 at Eden Prairie.  This will be another strong field and will include many of the same teams and several others from the always tough southern metro area.