HS MBB: Star-Studded Minnehaha Academy Battles CDH in Breakdown Tip-Off Classic

Earlier this week I wrote Part I of this series on the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic Showcase, a high school basketball tournament held in Minnesota since 2004. Part II features two of the most well-known high schools in the state, the Minnehaha Academy Redhawks vs Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. This was the marquee game of the evening, as it was the last one and by far the most attended. The Raiders won the game 75-66.

Minnehaha Academy features an absolutely stacked front line of Jalen Suggs, Chet Holmgren, Prince Aligbe, Chase Carter, Donovan Smith and 4 Star football player Kaden Johnson, who just signed to play for the Badgers (football) yesterday. 

Suggs is the most well known out of this star-studded cast, as he has Overtime following him since 8th grade and is now covering every game of his Senior year.  The 2020 Senior is the #1 recruit out of Minnesota and #6 nationally, according to ESPN. All six schools he’s narrowed his list down to, are still in the running for his services come 2020.

Holmgren is a 7 foot unicorn that shoots the 3, blocks shots, and runs the floor like a gazelle. He’s been #1 in Minnesota for a while, but recently caught internet fire for crossing Steph Curry and dunking at a UA camp. He is #2 Nationally after last summer made evaluators shoot him up to a 5 Star.

7 footer Chet Holmgren hit Steph Curry with the SAUCE and then dunked it! #SC30Select @ChetHolmgren @StephenCurry30 pic.twitter.com/xjHZxb4bus

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) August 6, 2019

Aligbe and Carter both have various Division 1 offers, including offers from Minnesota. Aligbe is another high-end recruit on the national scene too. He’s an extremely long, athletic kid, who projects as a good “3 and D” wing. Aligbe is a Top-60 recruit, via 247Sports.

Cretin-Derham Hall features 2022 top-ranked player in Minnesota Trejuan Holloman (according to Future150.com), a pair of 6’6 wing’s in J’vonne Hadley and Amari Carter, and shooter Curtis Jones,

Holloman has played with various Team USA camps in the summer, and when he was a freshman, he showed out at the CP3 camp. Future 150 rates him as a 4-star and he has offers from Minnesota, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Baylor, and Texas.

Hadley transferred from Mahtomedi to CDH for his Senior year. PrepHoops.com ranks him 13th in Minnesota overall. The 12 players ahead of him on PrepHoops.com prospect list have all committed to Division 1 schools. Hadley has offers from Colorado State, South Dakota, and a few other Mid-Major and high majors keeping tabs on him.

Jones has a serious stroke from the outside and could definitely help some up-tempo schools at the next level.

Overall, Cretin-Derham Hall did an excellent job at limiting Minnehaha and turning them over. The Redhawks committed 20 turnovers and they kept Holmgren to just 10 points on 7 shots mostly from tough defense by Hadley. Holmgren manage to make his presence felt on defense though, finishing with what I counted as 4 shots. Two of those were at the rim to deny lay-ups. One spectacular block came early in the first half on a beautiful lead pass by Holloman.

Jalen Suggs did his best to keep the Redhawks in the game and provided nearly half of Minnehaha’s points, scoring 30 in total with 5 made 3’s but he committed 7 turnovers. 16 of the 20 Minnehaha turnovers were steals by CDH, and Holloman secured 6 of those alone, while also providing 17 points and setting the table for the Raiders with a game-high 10 assists.

Ryan Schmidt | Minnesota Sports Fan