WESTFIELD, Ind. – The second weekend of the 2017 edition of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) wrapped up Sunday afternoon in the Jonathan Byrd Field House.
And, after eight games apiece, only one of the 40 EYBL programs participating on the “17s” level remains unbeaten.
That’s the situation after MOKAN (Missouri and Kansas; got it?) Elite held off Team Penny (based in Memphis), 56-53, while at-the-time-unbeaten Boo Williams (based in Virginia) was toppled by Team CP3 (Chris Paul), 75-68.
The Chris Neff-coached MOKAN Elite squad needed an offensive goal-tending call against Team Penny to keep the scored from being deadlocked in the closing moments.
The team showed its mettle down the stretch in each of its four games, also edging Team Melo (Carmelo Anthony) on Friday night, 57-54, and Team Takeover (64-60) and UPlay (65-51) on Saturday.
And, after being a sidekick to older brother Michael Porter Jr. – the unanimous Player of the Year – during Seattle Nathan Hale’s unbeaten and national championship-run this past season, Jontay Porter continued to demonstrate that he’s capable of leading teams to championships by himself.
The 6-foot-9 Porter (who is expected to return to Tolton High in Columbia after his father was hired to be an assistant coach at the University of Missouri) is a lock candidate to join his brother as a McDonald’s All-American in 2018 if he doesn’t reclassify to the Class of 2017 and join big brother and pops with the Missouri Tigers next season.
He averaged 18.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.5 blocked shots and 3.0 assists over the weekend and should be a consensus choice as one of the 10 or so best players in the Class of 2018 (again, assuming, he stays planted in the class).
Two other “bigs” from the Class of 2018 also continued to rack up mega numbers over the weekend as 7-2 Bol Bol (Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei) averaged 29.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots as Cal Supreme went 3-1 for the second weekend in a row.
And Marvin Bagley III (Chatsworth, CA, Sierra Canyon) – the consensus No. 1 in the Class of 2018 – averaged 28.7 points, 16.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots during the three games he played for the Phoenix Phamily.
He didn’t suit up for his team’s game with the New Jersey Playaz (I’m not sure why that was the case).
But, based upon the results of the Phamily’s first seven games, it’s doubtful his presence would kept the team from falling to 0-8 as is what happened with the 94-68 loss.
How does the consensus No. 1 in his class not lead a club team to at least one win in eight games (regardless of level of competition, and this is certainly the best on the grassroots scene)?
Mind boggling . . .
A kid who is positioning himself as one of the three best prospects in California’s Class of 2018 is forward Taeshon Cherry (San Diego St. Augustine), who averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds as the Oakland Soldiers split their four games with the most notable win coming against Cal Supreme (85-79) Saturday afternoon.
Session III of the spring EYBL competition is set for May 12-14 at the Lakepoint Sports Community/Champions Center in Cartersville, GA.
And the final session is scheduled for May 27-28 in Southern California (Thousand Oaks’ Sports Academy) with the EYBL competition culminating in the Nike Peach Jam (July 12-16 in North Augusta, SC).
In a 16s’ division “Midwest Takeover championship game” Sunday morning, Southern California-based “Team Truth” (fronted by Paul Pierce) edged Team United, 68-65, as 6-6 Jaime Jaquez (Camarillo High in SoCal/Class of 2019) scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
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