GARDEN GROVE, Ca. – Teams made up exclusively of high school underclassmen will play for the championship of the adidas Nations Monday night (6 o’clock PT) at Long Beach City College.
In Sunday night’s semifinals at the Next Level Sports Center, Team (John) Wall overcame a three-point deficit at intermission to knock off Team (Dwight) Howard, 106-89; and Team (Dwight) Howard rolled past Team Europe, 78-50.
Team Europe and Team Howard will play in the third-place game that tips off at 4 o’clock.
Both games will be televised by ESPNU.
Six Team Wall players scored in double figures, led by Billy Preston (a sophomore at Redondo High in Redondo Beach, CA) and Dedric Lawson (a junior at Memphis Hamilton), with 22 and 21 points, respectively.
The 6-foot-9 Preston hit four of five shots from behind the arc while the 6-8 Lawson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
Guard Jalen Adams (Ashburnham, MA, Cushing Academy), who is committed to the University of Connecticut, scored a game-high 26 points for Team Howard.
Junior-to-be guards Eron Gordon (Indianapolis North Central) and Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills, CA) scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Team (Damian) Lillard (4-0; it’s the only unbeaten team over the weekend) while Ball – who is committed to UCLA – had five assists.
Forward Serguy Prymiak, who is from the Ukraine, scored a team-high 14 points for Team Europe.
There will be no admission charged for the games Monday.
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