All-Ohio Super Sixteen-Final Day

The final day of the All-Ohio Super Sixteen produced a few surprises and at least one significant upset. In the U-17 division, All-Ohio Red easily got by the D-Rose All-Stars 57-41 to advance to the semi-finals, where they would face Ed Lyshe's All-Ohio White squad. Against D-Rose, the leading scorers for Red were Trey Burke (14 points), Stevie Taylor (13 points), Elijah Macon (13 points), George Fant (10 points) and Brandon Neel (7 points). In their second game of the day, All-Ohio Red got off to a fast start and never really looked back, as they defeated All-Ohio White 69-49 to advance the the U-17 championship game. In the U-17 championship game, All-Ohio Red again got out of the gate quickly over a talented Eric Gordon-Fast Break team and never trailed in the contest. Red went on to defeat Eric Gordon 56-42 to claim their first tournament win of the season. Eric Gordon advanced to the championship game after getting by the King James Shooting Stars 38-28. All-Ohio Red was led in scoring by Trey Burke who finished with 14 points, followed by Stevie Taylor with 12 points, George Fant with 8 points and Elijah Macon who contributed 7 points. The tournament MVP was Trey Burke, and the All-Tournament Team consisted of Stevie Taylor, George Fant, Elijah Macon, Dominque Blackmon and Ryan Taylor.

U-16 Division

Orlando Berry's All-Ohio Purple squad continued their dominance in Columbus tournaments, as they defeated All-Ohio Gold 52-46 in the semi-finals, before dispatching Ferrari 63-52 in the championship game to claim the title. What was most impressive about the win was the fact that Purple was playing without their main stud Adolphus Washington who was out with a wrist injury. In the championship game, the leading scorers for All-Ohio were Josh Lemons who finished with a team-high 15 points, followed by Orlando Berry Jr. with 10 points and Dwayne Stanford who added 10 points. For Ferrari, the high man was Derrick Randolph who dropped a game-high 19 points and 5'11 Reggie Norris (Simeon HS) who finished with 15 points. I have to give props Derrick Randolph who was arguably the top performer for Ferrari in the games I watched. The 5'7 floor general from Whitney Young HS in Chicago was spectacular all weekend and was consistently the toughest and hardest working player on the court. Randolph is super quick and aggressive and can really score the ball. How Randolph failed to make the All-Tournament team was a big question among several observers. The tournament MVP was Tommie Kreyenhagen, and the All-Tournament Team consisted of Orlando Berry Jr., Josh Lemons, Jalean Lowe, Kevin Grayson and Curtis Jones.

U-15 Division

The U-15 division gave us the biggest upset of the tournament, as Randy Clarkson's All-Ohio Varsity White squad upset (54-51) a loaded All-Ohio Red in the championship game to grab the U-15 title. In case you wondered, All-Ohio Red had all of their top guys in the house (Loving, Hayes & Tucker), but a grittier All-Ohio Varsity White, made up of some players who did not make the Red team, continued their stealer play and pulled off the shocker of the tournament. To get to the championship game, All-Ohio Varsity knocked off Jason Benton's Playmakerz who had made a nice run in the tournament up until that point by beating some quality teams. It was reported that both Jaylen Benton and Donovan Wilson logged in good weekends for the Playmakerz. All-Ohio Red defeated TNBA Elite West in the semi-finals to advance to the championship game. The MVP was Reynoldsburg's Wendell Davis and the All-Tournament Team consisted of Jack Gibbs, Aaron Jackson, Randal Clarkson Jr., Marc Loving and Nigel Hayes.

U-14 Division

The 8th grade championship game pitted All-Ohio Red versus the New York's Westchester Hawks. Although I had to leave before the game ended, I know that All-Ohio Red overcame a first half deficit to get by a very talented Westchester Hawks team 55-52 to claim the U-14 championship. The tournament MVP was William Green, and the All-Tournament Team consisted of Austin Taylor, Jhustice Cornley, Airus Moore, Yhanni Bartley and Isiah Whitehead. To get the championship game, the Westchester Hawks knocked of the King James Shooting Stars 54-47 in a very spirited contest. In the game, Isiah Whiteside dominated with 27 points and Yhanni Bartley finished with 16 points. Standouts for King James were Robbie Bennard (11 points), Rel Woodridge (8 points) and Victor Dorsey (7 points). All-Ohio red defeated the West Virgina Wildcats 61-52 to advance to the championship game.

U-13 Division

As reported earlier, Buckeye Prep defeated Ohio Varsity 38-37 in the championship game to claim the U-13 title. The tournament MVP was Kevin "Sticks" Fisher, and the All-Tournament Team consisted of Isaac Anderson, Jalen Lewis, Chris Cook, Tyrone Cherry and Loyd Chatman. I want to take this opportunity to make special mention of a couple of players I watched on Sunday. Keep an eye out Jalen Lewis, who continues to develop as a quality point guard. I was also very impressed with Ohio Varsity's Tyrone Cherry, who has several tools and a chance to be special should he continue to work on his game. I saw some good things with Loyd Chatman's game as well. He appeared to skilled with the rock and poised for his age. Also, Kevin Fisher continues to get better every time I see him. Mansfield's Trey Avery is another young player to watch. To see more pictures of the event, visit the Buckeye Prep Facebook Fan Page. To check out the ESPN article on the event click on the highlighted link.