Minnesota Xplosion take 1st at Concordia

February 11th, 2007

In the second tournament of the new year, the Minnesota Xplosion finished with a 1st place trophy.

In the first game vs. Bloomington Jefferson, Brandon Marquardt and Eric Sandstad led all scorers with 12.  Josh Pella and Blair Dittrich each had 8. Off to a quick start, the Xplosion kept the game moving and was able to maintain a large lead thru the entire game.   Final score was 51-31.

The second game of the day was vs. St Louis Park.  Xplosion came out strong pushing the ball up the court.  Again, with a quick start, the game was secured early as Xplosion coasted to a 64-39 victory.  High scorer was Josh Pella with 23.  Eric Sandstad  finished strong under the basket with 14 and Austin Leabo  hit 3 three's to finish with 11.

The Championship game was on Sunday  against Bloomington Kennedy.  In typical fashion, Xplosion ran the court early building a quick 10 point lead.  Kennedy adjusted and was able to stop the fast break points.  Pushing Xplosion into their half court offense, Xplosion went to work under the basket and outside the arc.  Under the basket, Rick Starck worked hard taking his man to the hole and either finishing or drawing the foul.  With Kennedy switching between man to man and zone defense, adjustments were made accordingly and Xplosion continued to finish.  With the enitre team contributing and a score that bounced from a 10 point lead down to 3 and back up to 10, it was a 3 point lead with 3 minutes left.  Xplosion, showing how tough they can be didn't quit.  In the closing minutes with Kennedy trying to make one last comeback, Jordan Reibling all but closed that door when he drained 3 consecutive three pointers each time down the court from the corner, the last of which he was fouled and hit his free throw.  Those three pointers along with Jordan's steals was too much for Kennedy to recover.  Josh Pella had another great game leading all scorers with 22.  Jordan Reibling had 15.  Brandon Marquardt and Rick Starck chipped in 11.  The final score was 73-63.