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| CP3 & Team Rio |
As promised,
the final day of the 2014 March Madness tournament featured some juicy early-season
clashes. Early on Sunday morning, I got my first look at CP3, as the faced off
against a rugged Rens squad in the first 7th grade semi final game.
As you would expect in any situation where the number one ranked team in the
country is playing on the road in a hostile environment, the partisan crowd was
in a frenzy early as Rens got out of the gates highly motivated and playing well.
The game was tight early as Rens clearly was not intimidated by the much more
heralded CP3. In fact, midway through the first half, the score was knotted at 14.
With only seven minutes left in the opening period CP3 was only up 2 points
(16-18). With 2:45 seconds left in the half, CP3 started to flex their muscles
and extended the lead to 10 points (31-21). As evidenced by their blowout
victory over the Metro Flyers in the quarterfinals, Rens plays with a lot of
toughness and it was on display early as they battled the top rated team in the
nation.
The closer
Rens kept the score the more excited and vocal the partisan crowd became. Moreover,
several times early in the game, things got a little chippy as Rens was
determined to avenge an earlier loss to CP3 at the AAU Nationals last year. By
half time, CP3 was up by more comfortable 39-23. The story of the first half was
the 14 points logged in by Michael Green
who drained 4 treys to lead the team with 14 halftime points. I wish I
could say that Rens came back to make this game a close, but that was not the
case, as CP3 would go on to collect a relatively easy win to advance the semi
finals. Michael Green continued his
hot shooting in the second half, finishing with a game-high 21 points. Behind
him was Chaz Gweyn who added another
16 points.
In the second
7th grade semi final game, Team Rio hooked up with a scrappy CIA
Bounce. As was the case the first semi-final game, the underdog CIA Bounce
started the game playing well, and at the half, the game was tied at 18. As
Team Rio's superior talent started to kick in, they eventually pulled away from
CIA Bounce to claim the 39-56 victory and ticket to the championship game
against the CP3 All-Stars.
When the
schedule was released over a week ago, most fans assumed that CP3 and Team Rio
would meet in the championship game of this tournament. Team Rio had already won
multiple championships over the winter, while CP3 has only played in one tournament
prior to this event. With an upgraded roster this year, including the addition of
nationally ranked Scottie Lewis,
Northeast basketball fans felt the team Rio had a legitimate chance to not only
win in Scranton, but to win both an NYBL and AAU championship.
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| Wendell Moore, Scottie Lewis & Michael Green |
Team Rio drew
first blood with three-ball by AJ Hoggard.
One possession later, a Michael Green
trey tied the game at 3. Both teams opened up in the zone defenses and were
methodical as they worked the ball around looking for an open shot. The start
of the game reminded me of 2 prizefighters trying to feel each other out early
before attempting knockout punches. By 9:52 Mark, CP3 was only up 7-6. A 7-0
run by CP3 at about 6:43 Mark put them up 15-8. Team Rio scored with five
minutes 20 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to 11-15. By halftime, CP3 had
extended their lead to about 17-28. Team Rio scored first to start the second
half, and right about then, both teams started trading buckets for about the
next two minutes. At the 9:16 Mark, CP3 was still comfortably ahead 36-25.
About midway through the second half it started to appear as though CP3 was
going to coast to an easy victory until Team Rio battled back late in the
second half to close the deficit to 35-40 with three minutes left in the contest.
Five points is as close as Rio would get however, as CP3 stepped on the gas and
grabbed the championship and the $1000 American Express prize money by a final
score of 49-39. The story of this game was the play Wendell More who grabbed a
boat load of rebounds and took advantage of easy put backs.
In the final
analysis, the same things that made CP3 hard to beat last year will make them a
tough out again this year as well. The team passes the ball extremely well;
they enjoy excellent guard play and great rebounding and scoring in the post.
At the end of the day, Wendell Moore
was simply more productive in the paint, both offensively and defensively, than
the Team Rio post players. Also, I was really impressed with the guard play of Kobe Langley, as well as the
three-point marksmanship for Michael
Green. Although Greene was more of a catch and shoot threat last year, his
game appears to have developed and he's now putting the ball on the floor and
either getting to the rack or driving in dishing. Green’s deep ball threat
creates driving lanes for the wings and space for the bigs.
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| Bryan Antonie |
Sunday morning
also featured a couple of very competitive six grade games. First up, Team
Nation matched up with Team Izod. Although Team Nation jumped out to a 5-2
lead, Team Izod battled back to go ahead 10-8 with 1:40 a minute left in the
first half. The score remained close throughout the first period as both teams were
successfully knocking down shots. At the half, Team Nation was ahead 20-22. In
the second half, Team Izod seized control of the game, a 31-23 lead with 7:43
left in the game. This game would eventually come down to the last possession. In
fact, with only 22 seconds left, the game was tied at 38. A pair of Team Nation
free throws with one second left on the clock put them ahead for good at 40-38.
Qaadir Maneri (5’10 P/SG Bronx, NY)
came up big for Team Nation to the tune of a game-high 15 points. Zion Bethia led Team Izod with 10
points.
Later that day
in the 6th grade division, Ripp City and the New York Gauchos went
at it. This game would be another close one. At the break, Ripp City was ahead
23-29. The Gauchos would make a late run
to cut the lead to 44-45 with 3:29 left in the game. However, in the end, Ripp City was able to
hold off the Gauchos by a final score of 48-49. The standout performers in the
game for Ripp City were Andrew King,
(6’4 C Coatesville, PA) and Deuce Turner
(5’9 SG Coatesville, PA). DJ Bailey (4’11 PG Bronx, NY) had
another solid game for the Gauchos.
In the 5th
grade division, All-Ohio Red advanced to the championship game with a lopsided
victory over Philly United. The game was as close as 5-6 early in the first
half, but eventually, All-Ohio would extend a 31-10 halftime lead to a 40-12 blowout
win. With the win, All-Ohio, a 10th place finisher at the 2013 AAU
Nationals, would faceoff against the 4th place New York Gauchos. I
did not get a chance to watch the entire 5th grade championship, but
I did note the fact that All-Ohio took a 21-42 lead into the half, and would go
on to claim the title with a 62-50 win.
The difference in the game was the size of All-Ohio, both on the
perimeter and in the post. Even before the game I questioned how the smaller
Gauchos guards would defend the much bigger and stronger Seth Wilson, let alone who was going to try and contain Noah Peeples who had dominated in the
paint the entire tournament. Bottom line, All-Ohio was simply to big for the
Gauchos. Jaden Hameed had a breakout
performance with a game-high 19 points. Noah
Peeples had 14; Noah Rittinger
added 11 and Seth Wilson finished
with 10 points.
All-Ohio’s 4th
grade team made the trip to Scranton and also enjoyed a lot of success over the
weekend. The 4th grade championship game pitted the same two
programs as the 5th grade championship game, and the younger Gauchos
were determined to get payback for their 5th grade brothers. Early
on, it looked like All-Ohio would run away with another easy victory, as they
raced out to a 5-0 lead. However, the Gauchos would mount a 7-0 run to take 9-5
advantage. Unlike the 5th
graders, the Gauchos enjoyed a significant size advantage in the paint and they
took full advantage of their size early. By the 5:40 mark, New York was rolling
with a hefty 17-6 lead. All-Ohio responded with a run that would trim the lead
to a more manageable 19-13. At the break, the Gauchos were only ahead by 5
points (23-18). Ohio got on the board first to start the second period (20-23).
Later, a Derrick James trey pulled Ohio to within 1 point at 23-24, and All-Ohio
regained the lead on a Shawn Jones’ trifecta.
The lead would change hands several times before a 7-0 Ohio run would break New
York’s back and give them a 40-34 lead. Final score: All-Ohio Red 45, the
Gauchos 38. The come back was sparked by the outstanding play of Shawn Jones and Derrick James both of whom hit big shots at crucial times in the
game. James finished with over 20 points, while Jones added another 7 points. Anthony Sellers was one of the leading
scorers for the Gauchos.
After a very competitive
super pool, where the top four teams in the 6th grade division took
turns beating each other up, the last 2 teams standing for the championship
game were Ripp City and the New York Gauchos. This appeared like it was going
to be a blowout for the Gauchos as they raced out to an early 15-0 lead. Ripp
City would eventually get their act together, but it was still 20-7 with only
5:25 left in the first half. The score still seemed out of hand at the break
with New York up a comfortable 22-10. With such a big lead, the Gauchos got a
little to casual, tried to run some time off the clock, and were already
picking out sizes for the championship hoodies. Ripp City refused to pack it in,
and after a furious comeback, forced overtime with the game tied at 39. The
Gauchos would refocus in the extra period and claim a 45-49 win.
I have to send
a shout out to ESPM for winning the 7th grade Silver division
championship in dramatic form. With only about 7 seconds left in the game, ESPM
got a steal and a layup as the clock expired. The final score was 32-34. Mike Renwrick (6’3 C Philly) scored a
team-high 10 points to lead his team.
All-in all, there was some great talent at the top of each division, and
this event gave a lot of teams some good early-season work.
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