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Tip Off Classic recap: Eden Prairie vs. Stillwater

By Ryan James, Northstar Hoops Report, 12/13/14, 6:15PM CST

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The Eden Prairie versus Stillwater first half wasn’t complicated, it was simply two shooters hitting a zone regardless of what the other team did.  With a 38-33 lead at the half, it was very likely that David Flom and Randy Jordan went into the break and said something like “we are letting one guy kill us”.

The guy for Stillwater was Connor Gamble.  The Minnesota-Crookston commit went to the foul line and made eight of eight tosses plus buried two treys and put up 20 points.  This was despite Eagle top defender Blake Cashman doing his best to stand in Gamble’s shoes all night. 

On the other end, the long and strong Grantham Gillard did the majority of his damage at the arc.  Gillard hit six three-pointers and made seven of ten looks overall scoring 20 first half points himself.  Sure there was a 6-foot-10 Albany bound Kyle McKinley in the way, that’s why Gillard used the jumper and it didn’t matter if he was two steps behind the line.

The first half difference was that EP forced the Ponies into way too many bad turnovers.  They came when EP pressured, when EP was defending in the halfcourt set, and those turnovers were the very reason EP had a five point lead at the break.

In the second half Gillard continued his hot shooting ways knocking out there more triples giving him eight for the night.  Gamble was not able to keep pace so the Ponies weren’t able to keep pace.  Matt Anderson’s steamrolling attack and aggressive rebounding efforts helped keep the Ponies around but Gillard and Cashman gave them the edge to come out on top. 

Stillwater hit a couple late treys to keep the gap close but EP won 71-68 after completing free throws late.

Statistics

Score by half: Stillwater 33-35--68, Eden Prairie 38-33--71

Eden Prairie:  Blake Cashman 2, Brady Rudrud 8, Grantham Gillard 32, Josh Lanasa 4, Owen Chose 2, Ryan Jacobus 10, John Vermedahl 9, Jake Ruppert 4

Stillwater:  Connor Gamble 27, Wyatt Blinkhorn 5, TJ Arnland 3, Isaiah Dobson 6, Adam Bruggers 4, Andrew Warren 2, Matt Anderson 14, Kyle McKinley 7

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