As the winter months begin to come to a close, and the temperature begins to heat up, so does the competition in high school boys basketball. The section playoffs begin on Wednesday March 10th, so this is crunch time for the players at Eastview High School. One of the team captains, Vinard Birch, weighed in on what the team needs to focus on before the playoffs begin, “We need to work on our defense and get better with our plays”. Coach Mark Gerber also emphasized defense, and said that it will be something to work on in practice.
The Lightning hopes to capture a high seed, so they can play their first game in front of a home crowd. The team enters tonight’s final regular season game with a 14-11 record. However, Coach Gerber explained that, “[One] cannot compare simply by record. This team has had to battle through a lot of adversity, changing lineups, etc. They have talent, but more importantly, they have strong leadership, unselfishness, coachability, and great character”. The team believes that their depth will allow them to make a run at the state tournament.
The Lightning get production out of many different players on the team, and don’t have to rely solely on one superstar, like some other teams in the state. The team also has a great mix between rookies and experienced veterans. They are not top heavy with seniors (only five on the roster this year) so they will be a very competitive for years to come. While that may be true, the Lightning want to focus on this season, and having a strong finish to the season. When asking senior captain Vinard Birch, What is one reason why your team will make it to the state tournament? He responded, “because we're very talented and play together. Also, we have a lot of depth in our bench”.
Although the team has a few blemishes on their record, but they also have some big wins this season. One of the most impressive victories was a 56-51 win versus Eden Prairie, which was ranked as the number one team in the state at that time. Although Eden Prairie is a conference opponent, they are not in the same section as the Lightning, so they’re won’t be another match up until possibly the state tournament. But besides just EP, there are a few other stiff competitors around the league.
Two of the top challengers in the section are the Eagles from Apple Valley, and the Lakeville South Cougars. Apple Valley is ranked number nine in the state and Lakeville South is ranked ten, according to MaxPreps.com. Valley is lead by senior Tom Schalk, who is one of the leading scorers in the metro. But the Eagles also have an impressive youngster on their roster, 8th grader Tyus Jones. It has been rumored that University of Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith has already begun to scout Jones, and has attended numerous practices and games of Apple Valley’s. Lakeville South on the other hand, is lead by junior Alex Richter. Richter leads the Cougars in scoring average with 23.5 points per game. Either team would provide a challenging test for the Lightning, but a section championship game against Apple Valley would provide much intrigue, seeing as the Eagles ended Eastview’s state tournament hopes in the section semi-final last year. Either way, hopes are high for the Lightning. The belief is that whoever they play, they will come out on top.
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