LONG BEACH – The Why Not Hometown Favorites dug themselves out of a couple of holes Monday at McBride High to leave the gymnasium that President’s Day afternoon with the championship in the 14-Under division of the Pangos Middle School Challenge of Champions.
The Hometown Favorites, founded and coached by former NBA player Dorell Wright, fell behind, 11-zip, in the championship game against Paul George Elite.
But they rallied behind terrific first-half efforts by Sean Madison and Caeden Hutcherson – who combined for 29 for their team’s 38 points – to take a 15-point edge at intermission before withstanding a late spurt to prevail, 58-54.
A couple of hours earlier, Wright’s team trailed (53-50) with a little more than three minutes to go in its semifinal with Irvine-based Kings of Basketball.
That’s when eventual division Most Outstanding Player Brandon McCoy switched into another level of “relentless”.
McCoy’s deep 3, off a pass from Devin Wright (Dorell’s son), tied the score and then Madison’s steal and pass set up one of the eight or nine dunks McCoy threw down and the lead.
The Madison steal and pass-to-McCoy for a slam formula worked for another two points.
A Hutchison 3 (his third of the game) pushed the advantage to eight and that was pretty much that.
McCoy (pictured) and KOB guard Kaiden Bailey (marvelous all weekend) scored 29 points apiece while Hutchison added 12 for HF and Jaden Bailes 17 for KOB.
Six-seven Brannon Martinsen (who lives in the South Orange County community of Aliso Viejo, a couple of deep 3s away from where I reside in Laguna Niguel) scored 15 points with eight rebounds and three blocks for Paul George Elite in the 14U title game after scoring 24 points with 16 rebounds in his team’s 54-50 win over the Compton Magic earlier in their semifinal.
Deuce Newton chipped in with 16 points for PGE in the loss to HF.
Madison had 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals while Hutchison led HF with 19 points in the final.
McCoy had his poorest shooting effort of the weekend (four of 15 from the field) but impacted the outcome of the title game with his six assists, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
In the 13U finale that tipped at noon on Monday, the Paul George team cruised past the Humble Players, 68-45, as division Most Outstanding Player James Evans scored 30 points.
Most Outstanding Players
Brandon McCoy 6-3 Why Not Hometown Favorites 14U
James Evans 6-0 Paul George Elite 13U
All-Tournament
(Selected by event director Dinos Trigonis and myself)
Ethan Abeles 6-1 Players Play 14U
Drew Anderson 6-3 Ocean City 14U
Jaden Bailes 6-0 Kings of Basketball 14U
Kaiden Bailey 6-3 Kings of Basketball 14U
Gary Ferguson 6-2 Humble Players 13U
Delan Grant 6-2 Paul George Elite 14U
Justice Griffith 6-1 Compton Magic 14U
Chace Holley 5-10 The Truth 14U
Caeden Hutcherson 6-2 Why Not Hometown Favorites 14U
Sean Madison 6-3 Why Not Hometown Favorites 14U
Brannon Martinsen 6-7 Paul George Elite 14U
CJ Richardson 5-10 Compton Magic 14U
Zachary White 6-4 Raycon Elite 14U
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