Tuesday, March 19, 2013

South Division Dominates NYBL Session #1


Ohio Select versus Deron Williams Elite

In terms of the competition, the first session of the NYBL was a smashing success! As envisioned, the best 6th grade teams in the country converged on southern Maryland intent on competing against the best the class has to offer. Of the 4 divisions that make up the NYBL, the South dominated the North, with two teams finishing 5-0, and no team finishing worse than 4-1. Carolina Preps and Carolina Chaos both went undefeated, while the South Carolina Hornets, Southern Stampede and Metrolina Havoc only sustained 1 loss. Of the 6 teams in the North Division (i.e., Team Izod/Sports U, Metro Flyers, Team Rio Elite, New Heights, MJ Mavericks and New York Gauchos), only the Mid-Jersey Mavericks won more than 1 game. In total, the South teams won 22 games while the North teams won only 4 games.

The other side of the session pitted East versus West. On that side, the final results were more even, with a win total of 18-12 in favor of the East. The East teams included: Ohio Select, 6th Man Warriors, ETU Select, Each 1 Teach 1, Murphy AC and the West Virginia Xplosion. The West teams included: Arizona Monsoon, Deron Williams Elite, Arkansas Soldierz, Future Phenoms, Enplay Elite & St. Louis Wildcats (DNP). The only undefeated team in the East was Ohio Select (5-0), followed by 3 teams with 4-1 records (6th Man Warriors, Arizona Monsoon & Deron Williams Elite).

Of the 3 undefeated teams, by most accounts, DeMarko Bradley’s Ohio Select team was the most talented. Despite early challenges from Arizona Monsoon and Deron Williams Elite, Ohio Select coasted to easy victories most of the weekend. Speaking of those 2 games, Ohio Select new they were in a battle with both squads! I caught only some of the game between them and Monsoon, but it was clear early on that Monsoon had enough talent and was coached well enough to hang with Ohio.

Gerard Reynolds Was a Beast on Sunday

One of the best games I saw on Sunday was Ohio Select versus Deron Williams Elite (DW). In that game, in front of a packed crowd, DW opened the game on a 4-0 run, and was up 9-8 by the end of the quarter. As is the case when Ohio plays teams, DW used full court pressure to get easy buckets. Both teams took turns sharing the lead in the second quarter and by halftime, Ohio was on top 19-17. Halftime leading scorers were Ohio’s Gerard Reynolds (10pts) and DW’s Tyrese Maxey (8pts). Ohio scored first to start the third quarter with a Jordan Mitchell jumper, but DW would retake the lead at the 3:38 mark (24-23). The lead would see saw midway through the third quarter, but Ohio would remain up 33-26 to start the 4th quarter. With about 3 minutes left in the game, Ohio’s size in the post would start to take a toll on DW. Ohio’s size coupled with DW foul trouble contributed to a 48-38 win for Ohio. Although Ohio won by double digits, the game was much closer than that. Big props go out to Ohio’s Gerard Reynolds who was simply a monster in the post the entire game. Reynolds finished with a game-high 23 points, followed by Chris Payne with 9 points and Jerome Francis with 8 markers. Deron William’s Tyrese Maxey finished with a team-high 15 points, followed by Chris Harris with 8 points. Great game!

Jason Harris-Arizona Monsoon

Possibly the most exciting game of the day involved an overtime thriller between ETU Select and Arizona Monsoon. Although ETU Select raced out to an early lead, Monsoon fought back and tied the game at 14 with 6.1 seconds left in the first quarter, and was ahead 18-14 to start the second quarter. Monsoon was awake by the start of the 2nd quarter, and actually extended the lead until ETU Select made a run to cut the lead 27-28 to end the first half. ETU scored on the first couple of possessions to start the 3rd quarter, but Monsoon retook the lead (42-41) to close the third period. The lead would change hands several times in the final period before regulation ended in a 59-59 tie. Monsoon had a chance to win the game at the free throw line but failed to convert the front end of a 1 and 1. In over time, Monsoon dominated as ETU would not score in overtime as Monsoon claimed the 67-59 victory. Arizona’s Jason Harris led all scorers with 14 points followed by 10 points from Lucas Hobbs and 6 points from Nico Mannion. ETU’s Josh Watts and Che Evans paced their team with 14 points apiece, followed by  Jahmir Young with 12 points.

Another very competitive game I saw included a matchup between the Hornets and Team Izod that went into overtime. The Hornets would go onto to get the win.  Also, the Mid-Jersey Magic gave Carolina Preps all they could handle early in the contest. Carolina would eventually take control and get the win.

Session #2 will tip of in North Augusta, SC in early May and will feature match ups between the top 2 divisions in the league, as the East will battle the South for regional bragging rights. In addition, the updated league rankings will be updated to reflect the results of session #1. Finally, we will soon be publishing our lists of the standout performers for session #1. The list was compiled based on feedback from the opposing coaches.

All-Session Teams

13 comments:

  1. "Also, the Mid-Jersey Magic gave Carolina Preps all they could handle until late in the game. Carolina would eventually get the win, but it was a lot tougher that they had expected!"
    -Come on Son,
    This game was close the first 4 minutes and after that, a blow out! Mavs 19 Preps 34 @ Half; Mavs 21 Preps 61 End of game...Mavs only scored 2 points in the 2nd half. What game did you see? Interesting comments from this session.

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    1. Not sure what game he watched either. Saw many games all weekend and did not consider that a close game at all.

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  2. Looks like the Buckeye Report only watched the team from the Buckeye State. Preps avg winning margin was 31!

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    1. We played against Preps in their tournament and I watched OHIO twice. No offense. Both teams very good, but Ohio is loaded.

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  3. I did not arrive in Maryland until Sunday morning and went straight to the facility where East and West games were played. I watched ALL games at the facility while I was there. I made it down to DC to catch the last half of the North v South games later in the afternoon. I was in and out of both gyms taking individual and team pictures so I missed most of the action. While I was in the gym, I caught the early part of the MJ Maverick v Carolina Prep game. That’s when the game was tight. Obviously, the game may not have been quite how I described it later, but I was going by my notes from what I saw. No disrespect to CP or any other team just had very little time to see a lot of action. In session 2 the games will be in one facility and I will be there the entire weekend, so I will watch more of the North and South games. RT

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    1. Thank you Mr Taylor. I better understand your situation on that now! Looking forward to session 2.

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  4. Mr Green our you calling out AOR? You will get your chance to play the DREAM TEAM,EAST vs SOUTH. Mr Taylor let AOR vs Carolina Prep.Friday NIGHT May 3rd at 9:oopm?PLEASE GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TOO SEE.

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  5. Come on Mr Green say something,about AOR? They don't need KNOW EXTRA MOTIVATION TOO BEAT CAROLINA PREP. People you do the MATH AOR WON BY AN AVG.OF 34 points 1)90 to 26,2)90 to 36,3)88 to 50,4)72 to 49,and 5)48 to 38. I'm from OHIO and I would like TOO SEE THE DREAM TEAM PLAY AGAINST THE BEST.LET'S get it on Carolina Prep. AOR IS NOT HARD TOO FIND?

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    1. Mr Ohio, we have all due respect for Red and the organization you guys have. We look forward to playing you guys! Good luck!

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  6. South Carolina Hornets did'nt play. Metrosixers in short notices did. went 4 and 1.

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  7. Preps crush Havoc 57-39.
    Preps crush Chaos 60-32
    Preps 28-0!

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    1. Stop it. We played two very good teams. Chaos was just starting and the Havoc game was very intense. Much respect to both teams, coaches and parents. It does not mean anything now. Records and stats are not what we focus on. We want to continue to be competitive and develop. Good luck to everyone moving forward.

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