A "Magic" streak ends for Fish House

BY MIKE PEDEN

The Gopher recruits on the Pat Madison Magic are still warming up in the June Miller Pro City Summer League, but they earned a few bragging rights Wednesday night.

The Magic defeated perennial powerhouse El-Amin Fish House 101-93 at the St. Paul Salvation Army gym, ending a 23-game winning streak for the Fish House that started in the 2008 season. Before Wednesday night, the Fish House's last loss came against the now-defunct A&A Millwork in the 2007 championship.

Not even Khalid El-Amin's game-high 28 points was enough this time to maintain their position as the league power with a strong two-man tandem of Al Nolen and Colton Iverson scoring 23 and 22 points respectively.

An early foreboding came when the Magic (2-0) started the game on a 15-2 run as Khalid El-Amin was unable to start. El-Amin arrived as the Magic ended their run and started a 13-4 run for the Fish House to end the quarter.

El-Amin nailed two straight three-pointers to end the second and the Fish House (1-1) held a 47-43 lead at halftime, and the sense was El-Amin would lead his team to yet another win.

Then the Magic showed signs of resiliency with current Gopher players Nolen and Iverson stepping up in the third quarter, erasing a 10-point Fish House lead just when it looked like El-Amin's team would pull away and end the third trailing by only four.

Gopher recruit Elliott Eliason tied things up in the fourth with a layup from the left side and Nolen put the Magic in front for good on their next possession. El-Amin tried his best to save the game with some late heroics, but the Magic had an answer every time.

While the Magic upset provided a compelling nightcap, the preceding game showed signs of progress for the June Miller Time, the organization's 17U AAU team. They were defeated by Information Investors Group 96-80, but Miller Time was in front until the 1:07 mark in the first quarter and stayed close with the Investors through the end of the third.

The Investors had to outscore Miller Time 32-18 in the fourth to prevent a chance of being upset to the youngest team in the league.

Cornell's Josh Figini was the game's high scorer, racking 25 points for the Investors. Hopkins star Joe Coleman led Miller Time with 17 points while sharp-shooter Isaiah Zierden added 16. Coleman, the nephew of NBA veteran Ben Coleman and younger brother of former Gopher Dan, continued to show why he will likely land an athletic scholarship with his inside penetration and vertical leap.

The first week of league play ends tonight with another doubleheader starting at 7:00 p.m.