With leading scorer Emeka Okafor out
for last Thursday's Northwest
Suburban Conference match-up with
Centennial, Champlin Park boys
basketball coach Mark Tuchscherer
had plenty of reasons to be
concerned.
That was until Scott Theisen started
firing.
The junior guard came off the bench
for the Rebels and could hardly
miss. By the time he was done
shooting, the line read like this:
34 points, 9-of-14 on three-point
attempts, five steals, four
rebounds, two assists and a
partridge in a pair tree.
"He played unreal," said
Tuchscherer. "With Okafor out, we
needed someone to step up, and
Theisen did that. He was amazing."
The outburst led the Rebels to what
turned out to be a relatively easy
83-49 win over Centennial. And after
losing a tough game to Blaine 73-70
Jan. 18, and getting blown-out by
second-ranked Osseo Jan. 22,
Champlin Park got exactly what it as
looking for against the Cougars.
"I thought we responded really
well," Tuchscherer said. "We came
out with a lot of fire and a lot of
intensity from the beginning and all
the way to the end. We've put some
good halves together this year, and
even against Blaine I thought we
played about a fourth of the game,
and that was the last 7 minutes. We
came storming back, but it was too
little too late. I thought we put a
full game together against
Centennial. Granted, they are a 2-12
team, so we have to take that in
stride, but still, to come back
after getting blown out, it was a
good sign."
Of course, the idea now is to do it
again.
The Rebels will have three chances
to do that this week. They were
scheduled to play at Elk River Jan.
29, at home vs. Andover Feb. 1 and
then at Cambridge-Isanti Feb. 2.
A perfect run through the week would
move Champlin Park's record back up
and over the .500 mark, but it won't
be easy.
Elk River and Cambridge-Isanti had
already combined to win 18 games,
and Andover runs at you in waves,
Tuchscherer said.
"Andover has a nice team," he said.
"When we went and scouted them, they
would play five, and then put in a
new fresh five, and then a new fresh
five in. They kind of platoon. They
don't really have a lot of size, but
they look to get in your face on
defense. They are really aggressive
and try to push the ball; it will be
a tough game."
The Rebels hope to have Okafor back
by then. He missed the Centennial
game with a strained MCL, and he's
having a monster year - 13.4 points
and 12.6 rebounds a game - so his
presence will be needed.
"He's having a huge year,"
Tuchscherer said. "He's a game
changer. He keeps people out of the
lane. And [Calvin] Nolte's really
sparked us since his suspension,
getting 13.5 points and about six
boards a game."
Since Nolte's return, and after
Theisen went off against Centennial,
the Rebels now have three players
averaging at least 10 points a game.
Additionally, Kyle Zimmerman, Jasper
Duberry, Rex Whitehead and Nate
Dudgeon have also proven they could
score on any given night, giving
Champlin Park the type of balance
that the Rebels think can keep them
be competitive the rest of the way.
"I really think the best teams a lot
of times in high school are the
balanced teams," Tuchscherer said.
"Look at Osseo right now, and they
are one of the best teams out there,
and they are very balanced. I always
talk about making the extra pass. If
you continue to move the ball and
not worry about who's scoring, but
if your team is scoring, that's the
key and anytime you have pretty good
balanced scoring, you are probably
going to win quite a few of those
games."
http://www.pressnews.com/articles/2008/02/03/champlin-dayton_press/sports/dcboysbasketall.txt
