“Host” teams open with victories in Nike EYBL

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GARDEN GROVE, CA – Day 1 – or, more accurately Night 1 – of the first weekend of the fourth year of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League got underway at the Next Level Sports Complex in this Orange County City Friday night.

By the way – you read Orange County, didn’t you?

Not Los Angeles County, so why is it being referred to as EYBL Los Angeles instead of Garden Grove or, simply, Orange County?

 I guess the there must be the assumption Los Angeles is the only city in Southern California people outside the region have heard of – or something like that.

But I digress . . .

I watched the entire Mac Irvin Fire (IL) vs. Oakland Soldiers contest, along with a first half of California Supreme-Team United (NC) and a second half of ICP Elite (Portland, although it has a couple of players from Southern California) in the second session of games.

For the third and final session, I caught all of Boo Williams (VA) vs. Mean Streets (IL) and the last couple of minutes of BABC (Boston-area athletes)-Team Penny-Bluff City (Memphis and surrounding area-athletes).

In the first contest, Mac Irvin led the Soldiers might eight to 10 points most of the first half and into the second half, largely because of the inside presence of Chicago Curie forward Cliff Alexander (he’s listed at 6-foot-10 in the program and might be closer to 6-7, in reality; the size listings throughout the program are, shall we suggest, extremely generous?).

But the Soldiers got consistent scoring from Stockton St. Mary’s guard Gabe Vincent and touted sophomore forward Ivan Rabb (Oakland Bishop O’Dowd), although limited in his low-post scoring opportunities, started cleaning up at both ends of the floor as a rebounder.

Stanley Johnson of Santa Ana (Southern California) Mater Dei – one of the most heavily touted players from the national class of 2014 – struggled and appeared frustrated thought much of the contest.

But, with the score tied at 60, he took an inbounds pass and beat a couple of help defenders to the rim for the go-ahead layup with about 12 seconds to go for Oakland.

Another Southern California-based player, sophomore Marcus LoVett (once again, go figure; he’s playing for Mac Irvin) launched an ill-advised – it wasn’t close – 20 footer with about four seconds to go, the Soldiers secured the defensive rebound and that was that: 62-60 Oakland.

The first half of the Cal Supreme-Team United contest was all I needed to watch and Cal Supreme was well on its way to rolling to what eventually proved to be an 85-52 shellacking.

Junior point guard Parker Cartwright-Jackson of L.A. Loyola – who committed to the University of Arizona during the season – pretty much dictated the pace and where he wanted the ball to be for Cal Supreme, often dishing passes to the likes of Julian Richardson of Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Iziahiah Sweeney of Compton for jumpers.

ICP – led by two players from Southern California high schools, 6-7 Kameron Chatman (Long Beach Poly) and guard Ajon Efferson (Gardena Serra) – never really throttled Baltimore Elite but stayed reasonably well in front before finishing with a 64-53 victory.

The Boo Williams-Mean Streets game was reasonably close most of the first half and but the squad from Chicago dominated after intermission.

Power forward Tyler Wideman (Schereville, IN, Lake Central) dominated things in the lane and along the baseline for Mean Streets, which also got exceptional play from a pair of players from Chicago St. Rita, junior-to-be swingman Charles Matthews and classmate forward Victor Law.

  Smallish (listed at 5-8) point guard Tyler Ulis (Matteson, IL, Marian Catholic) was also terrific for Mean Streets.

And the BABC-Team Penny/Bluff City clash had quite the ending, Tyler Nelson (Haverhill, MA, Central Catholic knocking in a 15-footer with a second to go from along the left baseline to give BABC a 64-62 victory.