CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – Session No. 3 of the 2018 Nike/Elite Youth Basketball League wrapped up Sunday afternoon in the Lakepoint Sporting Community Champions Center – by the way, the finest of the multi-court facilities that I’ve been inside of for grassroots hoops events.
Sunday’s highlights, including my choice to the Top 15 individual, weekend-long performances I watched:
*Team Takeover (made up of players from in and around Washington, DC) improved to 12-0 with its 76-50 victory over Rose City (OR), behind the 30-point performance of Class of 2019 guard Dedan Young (Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha).
Granted, the win came against a team that has won just one of its 12 games.
But, for a bit more perspective, it was a squad of Team Takeover reserves that was on the floor all of Sunday morning: None of the Takeover starters, guards Justin Moore, Jeremy Roach, Anthony Harris, forward Terrance Williams II and center Hunter Dickinson, played against Rose City.
It is the best team I’ve seen on the spring circuit (EYBL, Under Armour Association and adidas Gauntlet).
*Less than 24 hours after guard Rejean “Boogie” Ellis (San Diego Mission Bay) of the Soldiers dropped 43 points on the Nike Phamily (Arizona), another guard, Mark “Rocket” Watts (Detroit Old Redford Academy) of the Family (Michigan version) pulled the same trick on the Phamily.
Watts also had 30 (vs. Houston Hoops) and 37 (vs. The Truth). I’m not sure how many he scored in his team’s 79-60 loss to CP3 Saturday as I didn’t watch that game and no box score was posted on the EYBL website.
*The New York Lightning, trailing by a double-figure margin for most of the contest, rallied to send its game with UPLAY (Canada) into overtime and then prevail, 93-91.
The Lightning has a terrific backcourt, as Dashawn Davis and Jordan Dingle scored 25 points apiece and 2020 point-guard Posh Alexander (a teammate of Davis at Our Savior Lutheran in NYC) had 14 assists.
But the top college prospect on the floor during the game was 6-foot-7 guard A.J. Lawson (GTA in Mississauga, Ontario), who had 17 second-half points for UPLAY – most of which were scored in spectacular fashion under heavy defensive duress.
*In another gut-cutter decided in overtime 6-8 and Ohio State-committed Alonzo Gaffney (Cleveland Garfield Heights) blocked a shot by EITI’s C.J. Walker and Joshua Corbin (Gahanna, OH, Lincoln) sank two free throws to give All-Ohio Red a 76-74 win.
*Seattle Rotary wrapped up a 3-1 weekend (to improve to 8-4 with a 71-65 victory against the Cole Anthony-led PSA Cardinals.
Rotary’s only loss over the past three days was to the Albany Rocks (76-73), which didn’t lose over the weekend and is 9-3.
*And the Milwaukee-based Phenom University rolled to the championship in an EYBL 16U Gold Division tournament held in the same facility, knocking off CP3 in the finale Sunday afternoon, 77-69.
Six-nine Jamari Sibley, a sophomore at Nicolet High in Glendale (WI), led the winners with 29 points (19 in the first half) while another sophomore, Jalen Johnson of Sun Prairie, added 15.
Point guard Reece Beekman (a sophomore at Milwaukee Scotland Magnet) had a dozen assists.
Six-three Tristan Maxwell (Huntersville, NC, Mecklenburg) scored 18 of his team-high 23 points for CP3.
And here is my 15-player “All-Weekend” team, with selections based upon how well they played when I watched them – not on “potential” – and in alpha listing:
*Babatunde Akingbola (6-9/2019/Powder Springs, GA, McEachern/Athletes of Tomorrow)
*Cole Anthony (6-2/2019/NY Archbishop Molloy/PSA Cardinals)
*Keion Brooks (6-8/2019/Ft. Wayne, IN, North Side/Indy Heat)
*Vernon Carey Jr. (6-10/2019/Ft. Lauderdale University School/Nike Team Florida)
*Hunter Dickinson (6-10/2020/Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha/Team Takeover)
*Boogie Ellis (6-3/2019/San Diego Mission Bay/Soldiers)
*Jalen Johnson (6-8/2020/Sun Prairie, WI/Phenom University 16s)
*A.J. Lawson (6-7/2019/Mississauga, Ontario, GTA Prep/UPLAY)
*Eric Liddell (6-7/2019/Belleville, IL, West/Bradley Beal Elite)
*Tyrese Maxey (6-3/2019/Garland, TX, South/Houston Hoops)
*Jaden McDaniel (6-9/2019/Federal Way, WA/Seattle Rotary)
*Justin Moore (6-4/2019/Hyattsville, MD, DeMatha/Team Takeover)
*David Roddy (6-5/2019/Coon Rapids, MN, Breck School/Howard Pulley)
*Isaiah Stewart (6-9/2019/La Porte, IN, La Lumiere Academy/Albany City Rocks)
*Rocket Watts (6-2/2019/Detroit Old Redford/The Family)
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