Falls cagers compete in Gopher Prep Showcase

The Falls High varsity and junior varsity boys basketball team recently competed in the Gopher Prep Showcase at Lakeville South High School.
The varsity played in the A/AA Division that started with pool play on Saturday afternoon.
In the first game, the Falls took on St. Agnes and lost a thriller 50-51.
"This was the best we have played so far this summer. We played with intensity, emotion, and took pride in our defense," varsity head coach Josh Koenig said.
The Falls trailed for most of the game, but rallied at the end with good pressure defense and hustle. With 10 seconds to play and trailing by one point, the Falls had three shots at the basket and the last shot bounced around on the rim and fell off.
"It was a game that could have went either way,” Koenig said. “I was very proud of our effort against St. Agnes today, they are a very good program that has been competitive for some time in both their section and at the state level.”
In the second game of the day, the Falls played Rivers Christian Academy of Elk River and won 57-52. The game showed some signs of sloppy play from both teams as the ball was turned over many times on both sides. However, in the last 7:00 minutes of the game the Falls managed to pull away to as much as an 11 point lead and pulled out the victory.
In the third and final game of pool play, the Falls took on Faribault Bethlehem Academy and lost 26-61. The game stayed close early, but Faribault pulled away from the Falls late in the first half to hold a 30-16 advantage at half-time.
"They shot the ball at a very high percentage today and we just couldn’t get ours to fall," junior varsity head coach Derek Dowty said.
The second half was more of the same, as they pulled away even further and defeated the Falls 61-26.
"We ran out of steam in our third game of the day and just couldn’t keep up with their hot shooting,” Koenig said. “Faribault Bethlehem Academy is a very solid ball club who made it to their section championship game this past season and have many of their players from that team returning."
On the day, the Falls finished 1-2 and took third in their pool.
On Sunday, the Falls played Red Lake (third place team from the other pool) and lost a very high paced game 55-75. The game went back and forth many times early with Red Lake pressing most of the first half an d subbing 5 players at a time. This aggressive play brought on many fouls for Red Lake and put the Falls to the free throw line early in the half.
Red Lake turned the ball over many times in the first half. Unfortunately, the Falls couldn’t capitalize and trailed by eight points at halftime.
The second half was again more of the same with the Falls falling 55-75.
"Overall I felt that we played good enough to win the game,” Koenig said. “We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that Red Lake gave us at the free throw line and with their turnovers and that was the difference in the ball game.”
The Falls junior varsity squad of mostly freshmen and sophomores took on teams comprised of sophomores and juniors from Eden Prairie, Prior Lake, White Bear Lake and Forest Lake.
They finished 0-4 on the weekend, but they worked hard and learned about what it takes to compete against bigger schools.
Participants in this past weekends tournament were: Aaron Skoglund, Chris Heibel, Zack Olson, Calvin Phung, Thomas Briggs, Ben West, Shawn Filipiak,
Trevar Carlson, Marcus Zawchenak, Nick Bujold, Ethan Johns, Matt Paulbeck, Jon Skoglund, Andre McMillon, Matt Buhl, and John Bartkowski.