Boo Williams Invitational-Day Two

The day began the same way it finished last night, with competitive team play and standout individual performances. For All-Ohio Red's 17s, the day started with a 57-51 win over Memphis YOMCA. All-Ohio survived a sluggish 14-0 start to get the win. Trey Burke's 27 point outburst was the catalyst for the comeback and ultimately the win. Stevie Taylor heated up in the second half and finished with 14 points. Both Treavon Jackson and George Fant contributed 4 points and Elijah Macon added 2 points. The top gun for YOMCA was Telvin Wilkerson who finished with a team-high 15 points. In the second game of the day, All-Ohio fought off a pesky Wisconsin Playground Warriors squad to claim a 52-15 victory. As was the case in the first game, All-Ohio got off to a slow start. Trey Burke's 16 points paced Red, followed by Stevie Taylor's 9 points, Geroge Fant's 8 points and Cheatum Norrils' 6 points.

Unfortunately for the All-Ohio U-16 team, the day began with another loss, this time at the hands of the Jackson Tigers. Although they finished the day on a positive note with a win over the Long Island Lighting, a 1-2 pool record was not good enough to advance to Sunday. All-Ohio's U-15 squad picked up three more wins on Saturdays, as the defeated the Carolina Hoyas in the morning before thumping Team Swag by over 30 points in the afternoon and finishing with a win over Team Mello. According to Coach Q, a "team effort" has them sitting at 3-1. All-Ohio Purple finished 3-0 in pool play after a 81-60 victory over The Family. However, in the 1st game of bracket play, Purple ran into a Chris Bolden-led Georgia Stars team that pulled off the 67-57 shocker against the defending national champions. The Stars' Chris Bolden logged in the individual performance of the tournament with a 42 point scoring exhibition. Bolden did most of his damage from the perimeter, but he also got to the cup at will, and even punched on as he drove down the middle of the lane. I first saw Bolden last year at the True Hoopers basketball camp in Atlanta, and I knew then the kid could be special!.

News & Notes: In other action, the Drew Gooden Soldiers held on to defeat the Charlotte Stars 68-62. 6'9 Kyle Wiltjer was seen knocking down treys while Jabari Brown was still putting in work to the tune of 19 points. Josiah Turner finished with a game-high 20 points. Charlotte's Marcus Burton was the main man with 19 points, followed by Griffin Pitman with 13 points.

The Southern Kings dropped their second game of the tournament with a 15-19 point loss to Athletes in Action. The King James Shooting Stars (Pictured) dropped a game to the Tennessee Travelers. When I left at half time, the score was 36-27. From what I could tell, ASVSM's Jakarr Sampson is the engine that makes that team go. Also, 6'10 James Price, a Louisville commit, is still more of a defensive weapon than an offensive threat at this point. Marcus Crider comes off the bench, and although they have good length in the front court, guard play could be an issue for King James. By the end of the night, King James had finished 0-3. Lets just say, it's been a tough couple of days for King James.

The St. Louis Eagles had a big win in the morning as they smashed D-One Sports. Oh yea, Bradley Beal was NICE! Also, I got a chance to watch the Seattle Rotary vs Team Final game which featured a match-up between Michael Gilchrest and Tony Wroten. Partly because this weekend's games were the firsts for Wroten since his return from a knee injury, and partly because Gilchrest had the better numbers, I have to give the match-up edge to Gilchrest who had a solid performance. The Southern Kings are 0-3 heading into Sunday. The New jersey Playerz are 3-0, as are Howard Pulley. Spiece Indy Heat is 2-1 on the strength of Marguis Teague's standout performances. The Jackson Tigers are 1-2. Look for another competitive day of basketball on day three!