Alex Conover
Special to Timberwolves.com
The Hurt brothers introduced themselves to Riverside University High School (Wis.) in a big way at Saturday’s Timberwolves Shootout.
Senior Michael and freshman Matt scored 15 points each for Rochester John Marshall in the first half, and several sequences looked like Hurt family driveway games on the home hoop.
Michael would drive and shoot, and Matt would clean up the miss, or vice versa. The duo works in tandem for the Rockets; at one point, both brothers blocked the same Riverside player in the same possession. The first half ended with JM holding a 49-34 advantage, and the brothers Hurt combined to shoot 12-of-18 from the field.
“They’ve been playing really well this year,” John Marshall coach Kirk Thompson said. “And they obviously play very well together. They feed off each other, and neither one of them are selfish. They both score a lot of points, but it’s not because they’re ‘me’ players. They’re really good team players.”Michael turned up the heat even more in the second half and finished with 35 points; Matt pitched in 18. Terrence Lewis led Riverside with 21 points, 19 of which were in the second half. Riverside shot a paltry 1-of-15 from the perimeter.After the 90-72 win, Coach Thompson added some thoughts on the Timberwolves Shootout, an annual basketball tradition in Minnesota.
“It’s fantastic,” Thompson said. “I was lucky enough to come here one time before, but for the kids, to see Target Center from the playing perspective, it’s a great experience. It’s also fun to play a very good team from a different state.”