Up Next St Cloud Tech

The 3rd seeded Section 5 champion Rebels (24-5) will be taking on the Section 8 champion St Cloud Tech Tigers (25-4) at 4pm Wednesday March 24th at the Target Center in the state Class 4A quarterfinals.

The Tigers, who are currently on a 9 game winning streak, are not very big but are very good shooters from the outside and get most of their points from their perimeter players. They like to push the ball up the floor and then spread you out so that they can quickly take shots from the perimeter. They do nothing fancy and just play good sound fundamental basketball.

The Tigers are led by a very physical guard in Alex Hanks who is averaging 19 points and 6 rebounds a game. They have a very talented point guard in Scott Nystrom who is scoring 18 points a game and is a very good shooter. Thomas Korf is also averaging double digits (11 ppg) and is the team’s leading scorer. In the Tigers section championship game (they defeated Buffalo 51-45) these three players scored ALL but 6 of the teams points.

Team Captains Josh Pella, Jasper Duberry & Kyle Zimmermann

The two team’s common opponents are Osseo and Maple Grove. The Tigers defeated Osseo 62-54 back in December and Maple Grove in the section quarter final game 82-70.Which gets us to our well balanced Rebels. In the teams thrilling section championship game win, Brandon Davis was the man as he scored on a variety of shots to lead the way with 25 points. Josh Pella was stellar as he poured in 22 points (two 3 pointers in the first half) and made the game clinching shot as he attacked the basket and scored with less than a minute left. Kyle Zimmermann was phenomenal (15 points & 8 rebounds) as he handled and completely outplayed arguably the state’s best post player, Calvin Godfrey. Jasper Duberry who also scored in double digits (12) had a great floor game but was huge in dictating the games tempo and combating the Hawks ball swarming and full court pressure. Dillon Hager (3 points) had another one of his games that didn’t show up in the box score. It was Hager that kept the Hawks from running their offense, getting into a flow or letting the deep talented Hawk guards take over the game. Oddly enough, Hager is the team’s best 3 point shooter (46%) and free throw shooter (77%) and will score if he has to as he has been in double digits for half of the teams games.

Look for the defensive minded Rebel wings Brent Walker and Jordan Reibling to play some key minutes in this game as the Tiger guards are the team’s primary focus. Walker who rebounds well will cause Tiger guards problems shooting with his length. Look for Reibling to get his hands on a number of balls and give the Rebels another shooter from the perimeter. Rebel post players TJ Okafor and D'Andre Williamson will be ready, willing and able to help out on the boards.

The Rebels will be dominant inside as it doesn’t look like the Tigers have an answer for Zimmermann. I think another key to the game will be who the Tigers decide to guard Pella with. Pella, who is too quick for their post players and too strong for their wings, will be a match up nightmare for the Tigers. Hank’s, who is the team’s leading scorer but seems like the best answer, would have a long night and wouldn’t be as effective on offense. I also don’t think the Tigers want an up tempo game with the running Rebels. If the Rebels are able to get around the screens the Tigers will set and keep Hanks and Nystrom under control, they should advance to the quarter final round.

The Rebels put up 77 points on a tough defensive Cooper Hawk team in their last game and are averaging 70 points a game. They have won 22 of their last 25 games and a win would give the school their 1st ever win at the state tournament.

Tipoff at the Target Center is set for 4pm.