Champlin Park Players Start Season

Jasper Duberry & Kyle Zimmermann start their season ...


The Rebels hit the court for their home opener against the Skippers and one of the biggest story's before the game was whether Prior Lake sophomore transfer Tor Anderson was going to play. Here is what I saw … Tor played the JV game and sat on the bench for the varsity game. WORD has it that he will play on the JV team this year and then be eligible for varsity next year.
The Rebels started Theisen, Duberry, Williamson and Munneke. The teams come out trading baskets with Duberry getting the first 9 points for the Rebels while Tonka’s sophomore phenom Cole Stefan (22 points) answering with 4 of his own. Brandon Marquardt who replaces Duberry is the first other Rebel to score. Their first combined 11 points is a clear indication that the two are to quick for the Tonka guards. Pella picks up a foul and is quickly replaced by Zimmermann who has just finished recouping from an injury.

Theisen who missed his first 4 shots knocks down a couple of long range 3’s and Zimmermann adds a basket to give CP a 19-17 lead. The Skippers go on a late run and take a 43-36 lead into the locker room.

Theisen gets the Rebels back in the game with a couple of 3’s. Tyler Munneke knocks down a 3 to tie the game at 46 and force Minnetonka to call a timeout with 15 minutes left as Duberry goes to the locker room to get treatment for his groin muscle injury.

The Rebels retake the lead at 49-48 behind a long 3 by Theisen and go into a 1-3-1 zone. Duberry returns and hits a deep 3 and the Rebels call timeout down 54-52 with 11 minutes left. Theisen ties the score on the game restart inbound play. The Rebels do not score on their next 5 possessions as Tonka goes up 62-54. The Rebels trade baskets with the Skippers and don’t get any closer and go on to lose 80-72.

Of note …

• Champlin Park unveiled it's brand new scoreboard. The new scoreboard displays points and fouls.
• Sophomore guard Dillon Hager saw some early action in the first half. Dillon is a solid defensive guard who has a relentless nose for the ball.
• Theisen starts the season where he left off last year, dropping 3's, I believe he had 5.
• Zimmermann returns to play in his first game in over two months. He looked a little rusty but had a couple of solid moves to the basket, look for his production to go up as he gets his game body back.
• Duberry who was moved to the point had a few turnovers but his ball pressure on the defense resulted in a number of easy transition baskets and assists.
• The smaller Rebels rebounding by committee (Pella, Zimmermann & Dittrich) was not to bad but gave up a number of second chance opportunities to the bigger Taylor Nelson.
  
  The Box Score:
• Theisen 31
• Duberry 16
• Zimmermann 8
• Munneke 7
• Marquardt 2
• Williamson 2