MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC SUPER REGIONAL

May 24-25

Pool Play
Bracket Play

Menomonie, WI

Competing Teams:

Xplosion gets win over TNL Express but lose to Fury South in championship by 9

The Minnesota Xplosion played in the Memorial Day Classic (Super Regional) in Menomonie, WI.  This tournament would be played without Rick Starck and Andrew Kuledge.  The team picked up right where it left off two weeks earlier and in more ways than one.  First game on Saturday morning would be Minnesota Fury South.  In the last tournament Xplosion played in, MN Fury South was their final opponent and they took a beating losing 44-61.  This game would go much the same as no shots would fall for the "X".  With a 16-31 score at half it wasn't looking good.  Fury played like they wanted the win more and played some great defense holding Xplosion to only 14 points in the second half.  Final score was 30-56.  Not the outcome Team Xplosion was looking for.  Three players scored 22 of the 30 points in the game.  Michael Rovansek led all scorers with 9, Josh Pella 8 and Anthony Webber 5.  Webber also pulled down 6 rebounds.  Eric Sandstad sprained his ankle in the game and DNP the rest of the weekend.

MN Xplosion had a long, very needed, break before its second game of the day.  Not satisfied with their play in the first pool game, Xplosion came out fired up.  Jordan Reibling was hitting everything scoring 14 first half points.  Contributions from the rest of the team gave Xplosion a 43-40 lead at the half.  With the offensive scoring on, defense would need to be stepped up if Xplosion was to win the game.  Rebounding was huge as Jack Ghizoni (5), Josh Pella (6), Anthony Webber (6) and Jordan Reibling (5) crashed both the offensive and defensive boards. Reibling also had 7 steals while Pella  blocked 5 shots.  With an exceptional defensive finish, Xplosion held Rivals to only 26 second half points and easily pulled out the victory 82-66.  Jordan Reibling finished with 26 points and 7 steals.  Josh Pella dropped 12 points, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 6 boards while Michael Rovansek chipped in 10.

A Sunday morning game would be Minnesota Xplosion's final pool game before bracket play starts.  A win gives them the 2 seed in the pool while a loss gives them the 3 seed.  After such an embarrassing first game to Fury, losing wasn't an option.  Final pool game is against PC Players - Black.  The previous day, the players beat Rivals 72-29.  Rebounding again would be key as Josh Pella, Blair Dittrich, Jack Ghizoni and Anthony Webber would be rebounding machines combining for 39 boards.  Halftime score was tied at 25 a piece.  With scoring coming from a variety of players, Xplosion finishes strong and gets the win 49-41.  Brent Walker was high scorer with 12. Jack Ghizoni finished with 10 points, 7 boards.  Jordan Reibling dropped 10 and Blair Dittrich had 9 points, 8 rebounds (5 offensive).  Josh Pella pulled down 15 rebounds (5 offensive) while Anthony Webber had 9 rebounds of his own and 3 blocks.

With the 2 seed in the pool, the quarter final game would be against Wear Out The Net.  With 2 previous wins against them by a combined 13 points, they wouldn't be a team to take lightly.  A very balanced scoring half for Xplosion gave them a 34-30 lead.  Like the previous 2 games, Xplosion stepped up to the plate and played some great defense.   Showing how conditioned the team is (compliments to Velocity Sports Performance in Champlin, MN), Xplosion outscores Wear Out The Net 32-19 in the second half and wins 66-49.  Team rebounding (41) was great and team steals (13) were a plus.  Jordan Reibling finished with 13 points, 4 steals.  Anthony Webber went 6-10 from the field giving him 12 points to go with 10 rebounds, his first double double of the season.  Not only his first double double but also his first dunk of the season came in this game.  Jack Ghizoni chipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds.  Michael Rovansek also finished with 10 points hitting two big three pointers down the stretch.  Josh Pella ripped down 10 boards.

The semi final game against Xplosion's biggest rival, TNL Express, would prove to be exciting.  TNL Express has played in 3 previous tournaments.  They won the Comets tournament with a huge performance from Jacob Thomas of Howard Pulley.  They then took the MN Magic Super Regional by bringing in a couple kids from Forest Lake and another from Mound-Westonka.  With all the hype that TNL is the team to beat, Xplosion was prepared for the showdown.  Unfortunately, TNL sustained a blow when Kyle Zimmermann went down in their previous game with a concussion and would be unable to return.  While TNL would have to play with some injuries, so would Xplosion.  Dillon Hager (PG) was hampered by a fractured right hand and 6' 7" (C) Eric Sandstad would not play due to a sprained ankle sustained in the first game of the tournament.  Rick Starck was also missing due to a family situation.  Xplosion wins the tip and scores a quick basket to take the lead and never looks back.  Josh Pella was ferocious in the game doing it all at both ends of the court as was Blair Dittrich.  Jack Ghizoni had his breakout game scoring 10 first half points (2 three balls).  Halftime score was 34-25.  The second half started out much the same with TNL pushing the ball, driving and drawing the fouls.  Jack  Ghizoni continued his hot shooting while Josh Pella, Anthony Webber and Blair Dittrich mopped up the boards.  Michael Rovansek and Dillon Hager had the unbelievable chore of containing Jauson Sewer and that they did.  Sewer finished with a quiet 21 points.  The Xplosion guard play was able to keep Sewer from getting his teammates involved which was crucial.  As the game moved into the final 8 minutes, TNL made one last push at a comeback.  TNL was able to foul out Michael Rovansek and Anthony Webber but Dillon Hager and Blair Dittrich held strong keeping the pressure on.  TNL was able to tie the game for a brief moment before Xplosion took the lead for the rest of the game.  Final score was 75-72 and Xplosion advances to the championship game.  Jack Ghizoni was high scorer with 19 points, Josh Pella had an incredible game with 13 points, 23 rebounds and 5 assists, his 5th double double of the season.  Jordan Reibling had 12 while Blair Dittrich and Michael Rovansek finished with 11 points a piece.

Championship game would be Minnesota Xplosion vs. Minnesota Fury South, a rematch of the first pool game.  Xplosion came out quick and took the lead as Fury South couldn't make a shot.  Capitalizing on Fury's rough shooting, Xplosion led at half, 23-22.  With this the fourth game of the day, fatigue was setting in and Fury made a run gaining a double digit lead in the second half.  With one last effort, Xplosion tried for a comeback but could only get it to 9.  Final score was Fury South over Xplosion 60-51.  Josh Pella finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds.  Anthony Webber had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots before fouling out.  Michael Rovansek had 10 points before he also fouled out.  Jordan Reibling had 5 steals.

With the 2nd place finish, Minnesota Xplosion qualifies for Nationals in Orlando for the second time this season.

Minnesota Xplosion will be heading to Ames, IA to play in the Adidas Midwest Festival of Teams II tournament next. 

 

 

Images courtesy of Candy Pella