Alexander (was) the Great (for Team Charlotte)

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THE WOODLANDS, TX – When the going was the toughest for Team Charlotte Sunday morning and early afternoon during 17-under division of the Under Armour Association Invitational at the Legends Sports Complex, so was Ty-Shon Alexander.

*The 6-foot-3 freshman from Concord High knocked in the outcome-deciding free throw with 2.4 seconds to go to give his team a 58-57 quarterfinal victory over New Heights of New York.

*Less than an hour later a semifinal game against Michigan-based 1 Nation tipped off and he was up to that “game-winning task”, as well, hitting a pull-up jumper at the buzzer for his team’s 70-68 win.

*And a couple of hours after that, he and the rest of the Team Charlotte players, coaches and parents were celebrating and taking loads pictures on the court following his 20-point performance that propelled the squad to its 61-56 championship victory against DC Premier.

It was quite the weekend for the team coached by former University of North Carolina and NBA point guard Jeff McInnis, which was 6-and-zip, including a Friday night “showcase” victory over Team Superstar from California.

Once bracket play got underway in the division there were Saturday victories over Louisiana Elite and the Las Vegas Prospects, followed by the three “upsets” (of sorts) on Sunday during which Alexander averaged 16.7 points.

But he had plenty of help, of course, most notably via 6-4, 210-pound Rayjon Tucker, who averaged 18.7 points on Sunday, 28 of the 57 he scored coming against 1 Nation.

Tucker, whose stock with college recruiters is likely to be among the most quickly climbing in the national Class of 2015, had a spectacular dunk and 3 from the right corner down the stretch against DC Premier.

Capturing the other division crowns were DC Premier (beating New Heights in the 16-under finale) and Grassroots Indiana (which defeated KC Run GMC for the 15-under title).

DC Premier was led by two very good players from the Class of 2016 out of Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha, post Joe Hampton and point guard Alani Moore.

The club from Indiana was sparked (at least it was in the games I watched) by three freshmen, point guard Paul Scruggs (Indianapolis Southport), left-handed jump-shooting specialist Zach Gunn (Fishers, IN, Hamilton Southeastern) and 6-7 Kris Wilkes (Indianapolis North Central).

The biggest reasons the 17-under DC Premier Club was able to win its first five games of the weekend (including a “showcase” victory over Las Vegas Prospects) by an average margin of 11.8 points were its size, depth, quickness, defense and – just as importantly – unselfishness on the offensive end.

A different player led the team in scoring in each game Sunday, with 6-8 Marquez Letcher-Ellis (who is originally from Houston but attends Genesis Academy in Lynchburg, VA) picking up a DC Premier-best 20 against L.A. Earl Watson Elite in the quarterfinals.

But too much Tucker and Alexander proved to be too much for the team to overcome in the championship game.

Selecting a “best player” for an event that was as deep in quality players might be tantamount to traveling down a basketball version of a slippery slope.

But, why not give it a pop, eh?

My nod goes the way of Josh Jackson (Detroit Consortium), the pretty-much-do-it-all swingman for the recently formed 1 Nation program.

The 6-6 Jackson turned in the single most impressive performance the event’s three days when he scored 19 points with 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots in his team’s 61-58 quarterfinal win over the Illinois Wolves (which may have the best group of guards beneath the Under Armour banner right now) Sunday morning.

Do I firmly believe he’s the No. 1 prospect in the national Class of 2016 (at least among those that I’ve watched over the past year or so)?

I’m leaning firmly in that direction.