Here's a toast to the big cats! The cats of MACA treated their home fans to a win by ten. Reviews were good of the MACA performance. Here's an email I got from a friend this morning:
I saw the Tiger boys play Marshall Sat late aft. They are 11-0. A very good fundamental team. No real stars just a good team. Probably won’t go too far w/0 the dominating big man but they sure were enjoyable to watch. Coached by none other than Torgy’s son Jacob. He must do some things very right.
My friend is optimistic while trying to caution us against overconfidence? Be mindful of where we might be vulnerable? But we can't be very vulnerable, that's for sure. We'll see in post-season how the team's strengths translate to an ascent. For now we're just bathing in the success of regular victories. "Minnesota Scores" says we have eleven.
Nice therapy for dealing with the weather which must be a lot like Greenland. Now, why would I bring up Greenland? Maybe Norway would be a better reference on this Monday morning. Have you checked the news headlines? Our president starting to sound like a war monger? You OK with that?
Remember that once we get into any kind of war, it really turns tragic for all. There is no glory in war. And on the home front, Trump appears to want to wage war on our state of Minnesota and also on the Federal Reserve, which just happens to have a big effect on your pocketbook. Just thought I'd mention it.
I am 1/2 Norwegian so I am paying attention to what Trump says to Norway. (My other 1/2 is Swedish, my late mom's side.)
Our MACA Tigers jumped out to a 34-24 lead at halftime Saturday. And at the end, the scoreboard showed 71-61 numbers. Overnight the wind really became hellish again. Now this morning, the frigid temperature is the annoyance. Fortunately I had only a small amount of essential shoveling to do. What lies ahead?
Six players got in the scoring column for our Tigers. Alex Asmus supplied the main scoring fuel with 27 points. He made half his field goal tries: nine of 18. Tyson Grove had a total of 17 on 5 of 11 shooting. Jonah Huebner put in 13 on 5 of 10. Riley Asmus and Jack Kehoe each scored six, and Ben Tiernan chipped in with two. As a team we shot 24 of 53, 45 percent.
Grove stood out in 3's with four makes in nine attempts. Alex Asmus was two of five. We were 38 percent in 3-pointers. In freethrows the team performance was 17 of 25, 68 percent. Alex Asmus put up seven of eight numbers from the gift stripe.
Rebounds! Here our total was 21 with five coming offensively. Alex Asmus and Kehoe co-led in boards, each with six. Riley Asmus had five. Huebner had two of our six assists. Huebner and Riley Asmus each had four steals. Alex blocked a shot. We had nine turnovers.
Tigers 72, Sauk Centre 33
Here was a real cakewalk by the Tigers played on Jan. 15. Tigers with 72 points, the Streeters with just 33. Wow, look at the scoring disparity in the second half! After a first half in which we outscored the Streeters by ten, 37-27, we raced to pummel the Streeters 35-6 in the second! I wonder what explained the total dominance. The game was played in Sauk Centre.
Can we start to envision the state tournament?
Tyson Grove and Alex Asmus paced the Tigers' scoring with 17 and 16 points respectively. Jack Kehoe joined the double figures circle with eleven. Ben Tiernan and Riley Asmus each put in nine points. Jonah Huebner scored eight and Jorge Rodriguez had two.
Our team field goal shooting was 28 for 58, 48 percent. Grove built his total with four-for-five in 3-point shooting. Tiernan and Alex Asmus each made one '3.' As a team we shot 6 of 20 in 3's, 30 percent. From the freethrow line we were ten for 22, 45 percent. Kehoe made three of five in freethrows.
The Tigers collected 31 rebounds of which 15 were offensive. Kehoe and Huebner were individual leaders, each with six boards.
Four Tigers each had three assists: Tiernan, Grove, Alex Asmus and Huebner. Huebner topped steals with seven while Alex Asmus had four. Alex Asmus and Huebner each blocked a shot. We had only five turnovers.
The orange and black sails forward with an 11-0 record! We're 4-0 in section and 6-0 in conference. Our home record is 5-0. The best number among all these is the "zero" for losses! Nothing but "W's" on the Minnesota Scores website.
So much action still remains in the season. Can the weather moderate a little? What about prospects for a "January thaw?" Things will sure get wet and sloppy.
The Marshall "Tigers"
I remember that early in my post-newspaper days, I headed out to our golf course for the early-bird cross country meet. I got positioned with my camera, ready to put some photos with a blog post.
I was reminded of the kind of headaches that can arise out of the blue when doing this work. Along comes a bunch of runners wearing orange and black and I thought "here's a photo opportunity." Then I realized it was the "Marshall" Tigers. I eventually separated out the non-Morris photos.
Marshall is where Southwest State University is located. That is where a lot of high-level section games get played. Morris fans have had to deal with the considerable distance to travel. And I can remember the days when a lot of the high-level games were right here in Morris at UMM. I guess we didn't know how good we had it.
Ah, I remember the days when the P.E. Center would get quite full of fans for both boys and girls tournament games. The atmosphere was so excited, almost seeming too much at times. Very loud. Very loud pep bands! But it's all for the recognition of school life. Let's remember though how much pressure we put on the student athletes.
And then when the tournament is over, there's kind of a depressing "withdrawal" that sets in. Spring usually hasn't quite arrived yet. "Snirt" abounds outside. But we're past the kind of weather we're seeing in early January, that's for sure. Greenland weather! Norway too I suppose. Now let's have the U.S. back off from war threats. We don't want it.
Below: Pure Minnesota motif! Too bad we can't laugh about the whole thing. Viking in a bathtub being pursued by ICE officers in Minneapolis! Defining scene from our winter. Is our congressperson trying to cool the temperature with what the Feds are doing in Minnesota? Maybe telling them to show restraint and back off some? For the sake of everyone's safety? Aren't the ICE actions scary and threatening? Well, you may know that our congressperson is totally committed to Donald Trump. So all she'll say is that she "supports law enforcement."
Go back where you came from, ICE! We don't need "Federal law enforcement" here.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment