LAS VEGAS – The proverbial tables – in this case, courts – have been set for Sunday’s climatic day for three major national travel ball tournaments in town the past five days.
*At Bishop Gorman High, the Fab 48 quarterfinals will tip at 8 a.m. and there are four compelling matchups in each slot.
On Court 1, 7-footer Thon Maker and his Canada Elite squad take on the “surprise” member of this group, Pasadena (CA)-based BTI, which has three very good guards in Josh Hauser, Isaiah Brooks and Jordan Cohen.
On Court 2, it will be a couple of Texas-based squad hooking up: Proskills, led by 6-10 Schnider Herard, 6-4 Andrew Jones and 6-6 Curtis Hollis, meets Mo Williams Elite and its exceptional trio of 6-9 Billy Preston, 6-6 Terrance Ferguson and 6-4 Mark Vital.
The next two quarters are set to get underway, also on Courts 1 and 2.
On Court 1, it’s D.C. Premier – with its long-time club ball teammates, 6-7 Joe Hampton and 5-8 Alani Moore – facing WR1 of Philadelphia, which has a couple of exceptional 2017 guards in Trevon Duval and Quade Green.
And, on Court 2, it will be 1Nation of Michigan – led by 6-7 Josh Jackson, a strong contender for “No. 1 in class” honors – vs. the Boston Area Basketball Club (BABC), which has a very good collection of prep school players, including 6-4 Bruce Brown.
The semifinals are set for 11:30 a.m. and 12:40 p.m. with the championship game scheduled to get underway at 3 p.m.
*At Rancho High, the Big Foot/Las Vegas Invitational’s “Platinum Elite” (top) Division quarterfinals go at 9:05 a.m., with NorCal Black (which stunned Houston Hoops Saturday morning) vs. the massive and gifted frontcourt-led Georgia Stars on Court 1and Oakland Soldiers vs. Louisiana’s Elfrid Payton Elite on Court 2.
The second quarters go at 10:10 with Seattle Rotary playing Minnesota Fury White on Court 1 and Chicago’s Mac Irvin Fire vs. the Las Vegas Prospects on Court 2.
The semifinals are set for 12:20 p.m. and the championship game is scheduled to go off at 2:30.
*And, a couple of blocks south of Rancho High at the Cashman Center, the 8 a.m. adidas Uprising Summer Champions semifinals of the 17U Gold (top) Division have Team Loaded/North Carolina vs. the Massachusetts Rivals on Court 5 and Team Loaded/Virginia being challenged by Kansas Pray & Play on Court 6.
The championship game will tip off at 3 p.m. and be moved to Del Sol High, where it is scheduled to be televised by ESPNU.
Individual standouts I watched on Saturday included:
*Shamorie Pounds (6-1/2016/Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson) of the New York Panthers, a left-handed guard who scored in a variety of fashions to keep his team close to the Hometown Heroes in a Round of 32 game of the Fab 48.
His performance drew props from Russell Westbrook – in the building to support his high school coach, Reggie Morris Jr. of the Hometown Heroes, which lost an overtime decision to BABC in a Round of 32 clash a few hours later;
*Six-three Malik Monk (Bentonville, AR, Bentonville), who scored 34 points in the Arkansas Wings win over Mac Irvin Fire in the finale of “The 8 Bracket” at Rancho.
*Six-five Zach Norvel of Mac Irvin turned in a stunning jump-shooting performance in his team’s Round of 32 Las Vegas Classic win over the Castle Knights later Saturday, splashing 15 shots from behind the arc en route to a 53-point performance that certainly qualifies as the most scored by a high school player in the city all week;
*Billy Preston, whose litany of skills at 6-9 continued to near-amaze in MWE’s two wins on Saturday at Bishop Gorman and;
*The WR1 2017 backcourt duo of Trevon Duval and Quade Green.
Leave a Reply