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| I10 Celtics Green vs Black |
Day two of the Gym Rats Presidents Day Tournament offered
a few more competitive games as pool play concluded and the first 2 rounds of bracket
play tipped off. In the morning, I had the opportunity to catch the second half
of the Oakland Soldiers vs Hoops Dreams Black game (6th Grade). Unfortunately,
due to a schedule change, I arrived at the game at halftime. As you would
expect in a pool game for an Oakland Soldiers team that had recently added the
number 1 player in the country in Ohio’s Shamar
Morrow, the game was already out of hand by the break (34-15). There was
little intrigue in this game, as the Soldiers steamed rolled Hoops Dreams Black
by a final score of 53-27. Morrow was as dominate as expected while scoring and
rebounding with little resistance. In addition to Morrow, the Soldiers have
picked up additional hired guns for the weekend. Devin Hightower (George Hill), Devin
Askew (916 Select) Jay Taylor (916 Select) and
Fred Burton (Inland Force) have all
recently suited up for different teams.
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| Oakland Starters |
In the first round of bracket play, the Soldiers fought
though a slow start against Sugar Bush Hoops. Despite the significant talent
gap between these two teams, a scrappy Sugar Bush squad went toe-to-toe with
the Soldiers for much of the game. Although the Soldiers jumped to a 6-0 start,
Sugar Bush fought their way back to cut the lead to 5-7.
By the 7:22 mark, Sugar Bush was as close as
12-13, and was only down by 4 points (23-19) with only 3:10 left in the half.
By halftime, the score was only 24-33 in favor of the Soldiers. Morrow again
showed why he is so highly regarded, as he dropped an impressive 19 points by
the break. For the record, with all of the talent on this team, Sugar Bush
should not have kept this game as close as they did. A lack of chemistry and
poor defense were evident in the game.
Of course the Soldiers would later blow the game open, but it was a lot
harder than it should have been. In fact, in the second half, Sugar Bush was as
close as 9 points with 6:30 left, but very quickly, the lead ballooned to 20
points (60-40) before the Soldiers called off the dogs.
Oakland would eventually cruise to a 72-41
victory before advancing to the second round. Morrow finished with a game-high
26 points followed by
Jay Taylor who
finished with 10 points. With their second round win over Seattle Future Black,
the Oakland Soldiers are 5-0 and are headed to the semi-finals where they will
match-up with a tough San Diego Rebels at 9:05am.
This should be one of the best games of the
tournament!
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| Shamar Morrow Was a Beast |
The Soldiers were not the only team to find themselves in
an early battle against an inferior opponent, as the San Diego Rebels had to
fend off a scrappy Bay Area Aces in their opening round of bracket. It was
5-5 early, and the rebels were only up 11-15 by the 4:50 mark in the first
half. However, by half time, the Rebel’s depth and size began to take its toll
on the Aces, as the lead was pushed to a more comfortable 16-24. Despite a mini
run by the Aces midway through the second half, the Rebels would seize control game
and advance to the second round with a comfortable 65-32 win.
BJ Riley (5’4 SG San Diego) had a big
game, finishing with a game-high 14 points.
Alex Wade shot the ball extremely well while adding 10 points. The
Rebels later defeated EBC Blue to advance to the semi-finals.
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| BJ Riley |
Although I have concentrated on the 6
th &
7
th grade divisions this weekend, I could not resist checking out
the 8
th grade Oakland Soldiers take on their Bay Area rivals Flight
Elite. The game was close early in the first half, but the more talented
Soldiers would take a 36-20 lead into halftime. The Flight would make a run in
the second period and get the score as close 7 points before the Soldiers would
step on the gas and go on to claim victory 66-45. I was really impressed with
the play of Oakland’s
Kyriee Brown
(5’9 PG Berkley), who showed a lot of skill, toughness and a high basketball IQ
as he lead his team to the win. Brown knows what he’s doing at the point and is
an excellent floor general that handles the ball well, communicates effectively
with his teammates and is a willing and able passer.
LJ Anderson (5’8 SG Oakland) is a player to watch as is
Christopher Wiedt (6’6 C Sacramento). Wiedt
has great size at this age and was he gets more aggressive in the post he could
be a good looking prospect going forward. Later in the day, the Soldiers lost
in overtime 68-66 to a local Maeko team.
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| Kyriee Brown Was Impressive |
The I10 Celtics Green found themselves in a serious
battle with the I10 Celtics Black. Although Green raced to a 6-0 lead, the
score was as close as 7-8 by the 9:52 mark. Celtics Black was still hanging
tough with 5:56 left in the half and was only down by 2 points (16-18). The
more talented Black squad relied too heavily on deep jump shots and struggled
to rebound consistently.
Consequently,
the Black squad, based mostly out of LA, was still in the game by halftime
(34-27). An opening trey by Black cut the lead to 30-34. Thanks to the hot
shooting from Celtics Green’s
Jovon
Blackshear (5'7 PG LA, CA), the Arizona-based Green team would hold on to get a 10 point
victory (47-57) to advance to the third round where they will face Lynden
Tractor at 7:55pm on Sunday. Blackshear was big for Green with a game-high 19
points, Blackshear had his full game on display as he drained deep jumpers,
knocked down floaters, scored easily in transition and defended aggressively.
Jalen
House came off the bench and was hot from beyond the ark, converting on 3
treys.
Keion Brooks and
Dexter Shouse both had solid games,
with each player finishing with 8 points. Brooks did an effective job defending
the rim while Shouse was more of a facilitator from the high post.
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| Blackshear Carried The Soldiers |
The West Coast All-Stars collected 2 more wins on Sunday
with victories over Rainer and Flight Elite to advance to the semis where they
will face the winner of Team Balance and FOH Blue. Things should really heat up
tomorrow as teams advance and battle for championships.
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