A game that was dead even for the first half, totally got away from the home-standing Park Wolfpack in the second half.
The result was a discouraging 79-60 boys basketball loss to archrival East …
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A game that was dead even for the first half, totally got away from the home-standing Park Wolfpack in the second half.
The result was a discouraging 79-60 boys basketball loss to archrival East Ridge before a near capacity crowd at Cottage Grove Friday.
The Raptors slapped a fierce 1-2-2 zone defense on Park in the second half and ran their break to perfection, outscoring the Wolfpack 47-28 after the break.
“They threw a zone at us; we didn’t move the ball around, we let it stick,” said Park head coach Mike Weah. “We’ve got to do a better job of moving around on offense, playing off each other and still trusting each other in those moments when things start going bad we can’t start putting our heads down. We’ve got to be able to fight through those type of moments and stick together as a team.”
The loss dropped the Wolfpack to 0-3 at home this season, following defeats to Cretin-Derham Hall and second-ranked Park Center.
“We expect teams to go zone on us,” Weah added. “We understand that we’re pretty tough to guard man-to-man. We’ve got some pretty fast, quick lightning guys. They just know how to get out and against a man-to-man they can play pretty good basketball. Against a zone, we’ve just got to keep working on that.”
East Ridge spread the ball out nicely and had four players in double figures, led by Charles Bern’s 25 points.
Park’s Anthony Giadyu’s 20 points led the Wolfpack. Teammate Miskir Esayas added 10 points but none of the other Park players reached double figures. Tayvion Stewart, Park’s leading scorer on the season, was held to eight points by the Raptors.
Park slipped to 4-5 on the season and 2-2 in the Suburban East Conference. East Ridge, which came in with a deceptive 43-6 record, improved to 3-2 in the conference and 4-6 on the season. The Raptors played a rugged pre-season schedule, meeting No. 5 Lakeville North, No. 7 Hopkins, Edina and Eden Prairie.
Park will play three games in the next four days, hosting winless White Bear Lake (0-3, 0-8) Wednesday, Jan. 10, plays at Roseville (2-2, 4-3) Friday, Jan. 12 and meets Minneapolis South (8-1) Saturday, Jan. 13, in the Minnehaha Academy Southside Showcase.
