Saturday, April 27, 2013

King James Classic-Day One Report

All-Ohio Red vs Excel


The King James Shooting Stars Classic tipped off Friday night at multiple sites around northeastern Ohio. As usual, the annual event attracted boys and girls teams from across the country in grades 2nd-11th. I started the night off watching my 7th grade Buckeye Prep team battle against Sacramento’s 916 Select, one of the top teams in the nation last year.  Buckeye Prep got out of the gates quickly by jumping to an early 5-0 lead, but 916 would answer with a 9-0 run to seize a 9-5 lead. A 4-0 run by Buckeye Prep knotted the game at 9-9 by the 8:02 mark. 916 would go on a spurt to grab a 21-11 lead with 2:22 remaining in the half. Prep would score one more time to close the period down 23-16. A Garrett Tipton layup started the second half and cut the lead to 23-18. A 7-2 Buckeye Prep run closed the gap to 30-29 by the 8:11 mark. The game would seesaw for the rest of the half, but Prep would eventually squeak out a 41-39 win over a very good opponent. Besides the win, the big story of the game was the outstanding play of 916’s Kiiwon Bradford, a 6’3 point forward from Sacramento. This kid has the full package, including ample athleticism; the ability to play all 5 positions, and he can shoot it.  In fact, Bradford tried to punch it on the break and barely missed. Remember the name; the kid has a ton of potential! Gahanna’s Seth Goodson drained a couple of big time treys in the second period and led Buckeye Prep with 16 points. Despite 916’s clear size advantage in the paint, Big Walnut’s Kaleb Phillips had a big game, finishing with 9 points, followed by Garrett Tipton who added 7 markers.  Next up for Buckeye Prep is Pittsburgh’s Caveman Basketball.

Seth Goodson Paced Buckeye Prep

With 63 teams in the 7th grade division alone, you would think no team would have to play a team from its own city.  That was not the case for All-Ohio Red and Excel, as the 2 cross-town rivals squared off on Friday night. Although the 3rd ranked Excel was the overwhelming favorite to get the opening night win, All-Ohio came out smoking and led the game until the 5:10 mark (13-13). Excel would take a 15-13 lead on a Dane Goodwin layup with 3:45 left in the half. All-Ohio would battle back and tie the game at 21 on a Houston King 3-ball. Excel would respond with a 9-0 run and take a 30-21 lead into the break. Excel’s 6-0 run to start the second period eventually resulted in a 54-35 blowout win. Not only does Excel play great team defense, but inside scoring by Hilliard’s Isaiah Speelman and perimeter scoring by Dane Goodwin is often too much for most teams. Goodwin is highly skilled and has a nice all around game. He shoots the three very well, but he can also put the rock on the floor and get to the cup. He finished with a game-high 24 points. I’ve praised Speelman’s game a lot on this site, but he deserves it! The kid’s spin move on the baseline is his signature, but he is so active in the paint both offensively and defensively that most post players can’t contain him. There is simply no other big man in the state doing quite what Speelman is doing.  I will close with this, if he gets to 6’7, high major coaches better have him on their boards!

Isaiah Speelman & Dane Goodwin Led Excel

Although I missed it, I understand there was a big time battle between the Queen City’s top 2 teams, as the #1 ranked Queen City Prophets (QCP) and the #7 ranked Shining Stars matched-up for the first time this season on opening night. From what I understand, the score was tight throughout the game, with no team able to sustain a lead of more than 6-8 points. Down 59-57 with time running out, the Shining Stars had a chance at the tie or win, but Isaiah Payton’s last second jumper missed the mark. QCP would get the 59-57 win as well as local bragging rights. Big EJ Williams a force in the paint again to the tune of 25 points, while Xavier Peters added 10 points. Jack Cravaack led the Shining Stars with 17 points, followed by CJ Fredrick who contributed 14 points. Although they lost, the Star’s performance may warrant a jump in the rankings!

Kiiwon Bradford-6'3 WF Sacramento

Kevin Jackson’s Murphy AC squad road balanced scoring all the way to an easy 65-34 win over Indiana’s BattleCats. Also, Dayton Metro started off the tournament 1-0 with a blowout victory over the Detroit All-Stars. DeMarco Bradley’s All-Ohio Red #1 ranked juggernaut began their trek to the 6th grade title with a convincing 72-22 win over the Battlecats from Indiana. As most teams do, the BattleCats came out in a 2-3 zone, but hot shooting from Jaiden Lipscomb and Malachi Matthews and a 19-0 run to start the game doomed that strategy early. Jim Schmock’s 8th grade King James went uncontested with a 60-33 beat down of Grove City’s Ohio Sting.  The competition will get a lot stiffer for King James, as they have a match up with New York’s New Rens on Saturday afternoon.  Some people have the NYC squad as the top team in the country.

15 comments:

  1. King James 7th won 67 to 18.

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  2. All Ohio and Next Level 8th both won in blowouts

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  3. New Rens defeated King James 8th grade "A" team tnight

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  4. The 8th grade "ranked" teams are doing what they are supposed to do. (Win)

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  5. Cincinnati's Shining Star (7th graders) came back from the heartbreak loss to Queen City Prophets with 3 victories on Day 2 of the tournament:

    * 79-66 over West Virginia Ice
    * 44-41 over Team Teague
    * 61-31 over Kimbrough Ballers

    Quarter-final game on Day 3 against King James. Go Stars!

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  6. Ohio Showtime Elite had a pretty good run in the 8th grade division at king james classic before running into All-Ohio Red but it was a close game with 5 min to go in the game.

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  7. Ok Rob where do the 8th Rankings go from here? King James lost in the tournament on Saturday, Next Level got beat in the Semi finals by the hoosiers, Next Level beat Ohio Unity, All Ohio got beat down by the hoosiers in the final. OBC lost in there own tournament....What the ranking looking like this week?

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    1. What was the final score AOR 8th vs Hoosiers?

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  8. All Ohio should be no 1.
    They have been in 5 championships and won 2, they lost to AI9 & Indy Hoosiers & King James with out 2 of there top players. And OBC who?
    NOW COMES SPIECE!!!!!!!!!!!

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    1. All Ohio has been in those ships and have not played anyone they play real teams teams and get rocked. Why is it that some guy on here
      keeps talking about OBC. Sounds like they may have lost to that team few times or something. Maybe every time they have played. Look at the schedules in these tournaments. Some teams get a free ride. Saw Next Level had to put in work this weekend. Sure seems funny teams want to be ranked but cant keep championship games close. OBC Who? Those guys are the only ranked team in Ohio on the AAU website. 10th I think

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  9. All last week all this talk about who's the best 8th grade teams, who's ranked in Ohio, parents on here hyping their kids and respective teams up, and for what! Ohio's so called ranked 8th grade teams can't even win our state's own King James Classic! It takes other teams from out of town to come to the Buckeye state to show these ranked ohio teams how to play basketball. Thats what happens when these ohio 8th grade teams beat up on local scrub teams, they don't travel to play any real viable competition, and they think they are doing something! Don't want to hear nothing else about Next Level, King James, and OBC! At least AOR made it to the ship!

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    1. Lot of dumb poeple get on here a make stupid posts, and you're one of them. You really think the kids from these programs are the ones on here running their mouths? No, it's bitter people who love to talk trash about kids. The four 8th grade teams that everyone talks about deserve the recognition becasue they are by far the top 4 team in 8th grade IN OHIO. Who cares what the order is lol. The King James Classic is one of the top tournaments in the country and 2 of our OHIO teams made it to the final 4, and one made it to the final. Why not be supportive of how well they represented? Last time I checked, the Indy Hoosiers were a top 10 team nationally so I think they'd beat a lot of good teams lol. People are funny with all this crazy talk...the kids are just playin ball so all of this negative talk is dumb.

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  10. At the end of the day these rankings are opinions of other people. Why are you so shallow about another man's opinion. If you think your team is the best they are. Its the grown ups who ruin everything for the kids and you wonder why some of these kids act the way they do. All of these teams have some good players...you forget about the politics involved here. Anyone who knows anything about this evil game knows that. Stop crying about your sons team being number one. They still are not the number one team. Every game is different and I was proud to see an ohio team make it to the ship. Adults should stop causing confusion between these teams and the kids. Be proud of all of these kids who are doing something positive. Grow up!!! If you think aor is the best team don't forget they are because its your opinion. My name is tanya cook and my nephew plays aau.

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  11. For the guy talking down on the 8th grade rankings. In the gold bracket of the king james tourney 5 teams that made the elite 8 were all in robs initial rankings, all-ohio,next level hall, ohio showtime elite, king james williams and ohio unity. I have seen all these teams play that are in the 8th grade rankings and in my opinion they deserve to be ranked they have seperated themselves from most other teams.

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