Apollo vs. Willmar

An interesting night in St. Cloud last night as coaches Dick Lewis, Josh Hanson and I headed off to Apollo to watch them take on Willmar. In what in my estimation was the "second place" game for the conference.

First half all Willmar, Taylor Filipek had a 6 or 7 possesion stretch where he either got a dunk, hit a 3, or got an assist, as Willmar blew open a close game. Apollo down 15 at the break, and Willmar looking like the better team.

Second half goes much the same way as Apollo turns it over, Willmar goes zone with a big lead and they stretch it to 19. I called my wife at the 10:36 mark and Willmar was up 46-31. From then on it was all Apollo. Coach Kesler puts Andre Garth on Taylor Filipek, and they start to press. Turnovers, and layups Apollo creates, and soon it's down to 9, TO Willmar. Apollo steadily closes the gap and takes the lead at 59-58. Hassan Adukar hit a couple of big 3's down the stretch for Apollo and Andre Garth had 21 too. Fun game, awful crowd, and in the end Apollo won by 3.

Loved Filipek, both of them last night, and thought the 5 sophomores who saw the floor for both teams last night are all very nice players.