NORWALK, Ca. – Rawle Alkins capped a terrific summer with the latest in a series of terrific performances Monday night during the championship game of the adidas Global Nations.
The 6-foot-4 Alkins, a two-time all-New York City selection at Christ the King High who is searching for a prep school to attend as a senior, scored 26 points – in just 20 minutes of on-court time – while dropping six of eight attempts from behind the arc to help Team Rose pull away in the fourth quarter for a 113-93 victory over Team Wall at Cerritos Community College.
He averaged 21.8 points as his squad went 5-zip with the tightest margin of victory being just nine points (during the 97-88 Saturday morning decision over Team Asia Pacific – Australia – as the team came from 12 points behind in the third quarter). Alkins also averaged 5.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.
Alkins shared Pangos All-American Camp Most Outstanding Player honors (with New York Rens and Team Rose teammate) Mustapha Heron – who added 15 points Monday night – the first weekend of June in Long Beach, CA.
A week later he was in Italy with an adidas Select prep team and was the leading scorer as the squad went 3-0.
Then, on July 10, he scored 34 points to help the New York Rens knock off the Atlanta Celtics, 80-66, in the finale of the adidas Uprising Guantlet Series in Suwanee (GA).
Team Rose was in front 48-45, at the half and by seven going into the final quarter before out-scoring Team Wall by 13 over the final 10 minutes.
Six of the other eight players on Team Rose scored in double figures, led guard Kobi Simmons (Alpharetta, GA, St. Francis) and forward Mario Kegler (Jackson, MS, by way of Mouth of Wilson, VA, Oak Hill Academy), with 19 points apiece.
Six-five, UCLA-bound point guard Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills, CA, High) scored just four points via a couple of follow shots while missing three attempts from behind the arc.
But, in a team-best 28 minutes, he had game-highs in rebounds (12) and assists (eight).
Guard Markelle Fultz (Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha) scored a team-high 16 points, with six rebounds and four assists, for Team Wall but missed 18 of his 25 shots from the floor.
Teammate Frank Jackson (Highland, UT, Lone Peak) added 11 points and team highs in rebounds (eight) and assists (five) for Team Wall but Jackson also struggled with his shot all evening while missing 15 of 19 attempts.
In the earlier game played (and also televised by ESPNU), Team Africa used a big third quarter – in which it out-scored Team Lillard by 17 points – to propel it to a 89-85 victory for third place in the four day-even, which was held in Garden Grove’s Next Level Sports Complex over the first three days.
Six-six forward Alpha Diallo (Denver Lincoln) led the way with 30 points with 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
The performance wrapped up quite the impressive long weekend for Diallo, who averaged 20.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
Adding 26 points (with five rebounds and two assists) was Hamidou Diallo (no relation), a 6-6 junior-to-be from New York by way of Woodstock Academy in Connecticut.
Another junior-to-be, Gary Trent Jr. (Apple Valley, MN, High), led Team Lillard with 24 points and five rebounds.
Here are my “all-adidas Global Nations” selections, based upon how the players from the event’s nine teams played when I watched, not on college – and beyond – potential.
And Dennis Smith Jr. certainly would have had excellent opportunity to be the Most Outstanding Player of the Week if he hadn’t suffered a knee injury in the second quarter of Team Wall’s semifinal victory over Team Lillard Sunday night in Garden Gove. That injury put him on crutches – and on his team’s bench – in the final Monday night.
Another injury – a severely sprained ankle – kept one of the event’s best guards, Kyle Guy (Indianapolis Lawrence Central High), on the Team Wall bench for the final two days.
MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER: Rawle Alkins (6-4/2016/New York City/Team Rose)
OTHER FIRST TEAM CHOICES:
Lonzo Ball (6-5/2016/Chino Hills, CA, High/Team Rose)
Alpha Diallo (6-6/2016/Denver Lincoln/Team Africa)
Dennis Smith (6-2/2016/Fayetteville, NC, Trinity Christian/Team Wall)
Gary Trent Jr. (6-5/2017/Apple Valley, MN, High/Team Lillard)
SECOND TEAM
Edrice Adebayo (6-9/2016/Pinehurst, NC, Northside/Team Rose)
Hamidou Diallo (6-5/2017/Woodstock, CT, Academy/Team Africa)
Terrance Ferguson (6-6/2016/Dallas Prime Academy/Team Wall)
Wenyen Gabriel (6-8/2016/Wilbraham, MA, Monson/Team Africa)
Kobi Simmons (6-4/2016/Alpharetta, GA, St. Francis/Team Rose)
THIRD TEAM
Trevon Duvall (6-2/Newark, NJ, St. Benedict’s/Team Lillard)
Markelle Fultz (6-4/2016/Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha/Team Wall)
Ira Lee (6-8/2017/Chatsworth, CA, Sierra Canyon/Team Lillard)
Payton Pritchard (6-2/2016/West Linn, OR, High/Team Wall)
Frank Jackson (6-3/2016/Highland, UT, Lone Peak/Team Wall & Team Rose)
HONORABLE MENTION
Koby McEwen (6-3/2016/Wasatch, UT, Academy/Team Canada)
Kuoat Noi (6-6/2016/Montverde, FL, Academy/Team Asia Pacific)
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