Saturday, April 10, 2010

Boo Williams Invitational-Day One


If there was any questions that the AAU basketball season was underway, the start of the Boo Williams Invitational settled the issue. Boo Williams, one of Nike's flagship tournaments, tipped off tonight with much fan fare. For the first time in the tournament's history, teams in the U-17 division were not playing for championships, but instead, league supremacy was the name of the game. Nike's new Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) was unveiled tonight with much anticipation.

Although there was a small slate of games tonight, the competition level was already in full swing. Some of the marquee games tonight included a match up between an Austin Rivers-led Each 1 Teach 1 versus a Michael Gilchrest-led Team Final. Let me just say this, Austin Rivers is the real deal! Rivers has a full arsenal of attack moves that he employs to get buckets. Tonight, Rivers was just too tough as he led his team to victory.

By the time the gyms cleared, the All-Ohio organization had finished the night 2-2. The U-17 Red squad easily handled the Tennessee Travelers, to the tune of a 82- 56 victory. Although the Travelers made several runs, All-Ohio never trailed in this one to claim their first EYBL win. Trey Burke led all scorers with 24 points, followed by Stevie Taylor (14 points) and Treavon Jackson (11 points). I have to give props to Bowling Green Kentucky's George Fant who was solid in the post and brought tremendous energy to the contest. Next up for Red is YOMCA in the morning and Wisconsin Elite in the afternoon.

All-Ohio Red's U-16 squad overcame a 20 point deficit in the first half against Team Takeov, only to come up a few points short in a 57-54 loss. All-Ohio had a chance to win this one but missed clean looks late and made a couple of key mistakes. Although Team Takeover's Patrick Holloway, a Stephon Curry clone, had his way in the 1st half (12 points), Jordan Potts put on the defensive clamps in the second half, holding Holloway scoreless. Leading scorers for All-Ohio were Jalen Robinson with 11 points and Dontae Hawkins with 10 points. Although I did not see the game, All-Ohio Purple claimed victor, while the U-15 Red team dropped their opening game.

The King James Shooting Stars (U-17) opened the tournament 0-1 with a 50-39 loss to Chicago's Mean Streets. Leading scorers for King James were Niles Evans (12 points), Ricky Johnson (8 points) and James Price (8 points). The Drew Gooden Soldiers crushed D-One Sports 76-60 on the strength of Jabari Brown's 27 point explosion. Nick Johnson had 9 points for the Soldiers while Quincy Miller led D-One with 12 points. City Rocks defeated Team Texas 84-72. Team Texas was led by Shai Fields' 19 points and Jamal Branch's 11 points. Finally, Miles Mack dominated for the Playerz Club as they soundly defeated Boo Williams. It should be noted that Boo Williams was without the services of James McAdoo. On a side not, Tony Wroten is back after an ACL injury last year, but the star guard was unable to lead his Seattle Rotary team to a win, as Howard Pulley got the opeing win. All-in-all, it was a great opening day of basketball. To see pictures of the tournament as well as our college tour, visit the Buckeye Prep Facebook Fan Page.

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