Shakopee at Burnsville Thoughts (by the Czar)

We end the opening Saturday tour of The Kingdom with a trip to Burnsville for their game against Shakopee. Burnsville also redid their bleachers this season. The color scheme showing BLAZE on 1 side and BHS on the other side. And you can never go wrong as Burnsville has Pizza. Shakopee's Matt Zager injured a knee in their Tuesday opener vs Concordia Academy and didn't play tonight. So Sabers fielded a very young lineup (3 sophs and 2 juniors in the rotation) that featured no starters from last year and no one taller than 6'2.

For Burnsville, they're already 4-0 with home wins over good Lakeville North and Shakopee teams and a nice road win at Apple Valley. Devon Knopke with 17 points to lead the Blaze but the Shakopee zone did a nice job of keeping him out of the lane and creating for others. He was 7-7 from the line but 4 of those were late when Shakopee was playing the catchup game. Patrick Rogers with 3 more triples for 11 points. The Blaze really never got comfortable vs the zone and never got into their running game. Despite the loss of Tarell Clark, the Blaze still look like a force to be reckoned with in the Lake and section 3AAA. The Blaze have a couple of interesting games coming up as they host Lakeville South on Friday and then travel to Owatonna on Dec 22.

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