Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Midwest Future Stars Showdown-Final Day Action

All-Ohio Red-7th Grade Champions

The final day of the Midwest Future Stars Showdown featured a long awaited matchup between All-Ohio’s 7th grade squad and Buckeye Prep. A Jimmy Weirick trey got All-Ohio the early 3-0 lead, but a Teon Jennings layup and free throw tied the game at 3-3. All-Ohio would later go on a 6-0 run to go up 11-6, but another Jennings layup trimmed the lead to 8-11 at the 11:29 mark. Buckeye Prep would later pull ahead 15-14 with 10:05 left in the half, but another 3 ball by Weirick put All-Ohio back in front 17-15 (9:39). Another All-Ohio run extended the lead to 25-19 at 6:12, but with about 4:46 left, Prep had cut the lead to 1 point (24-25). By halftime, All-Ohio was up 37-32. Two free throws to start the second half extended the All-Ohio lead to 41-46. About midway through the second period All-Ohio began to open a sizable lead and would go on to win the game by a comfortable 72-45 margin. At the end of the day, All-Ohio was bigger in the post, had more depth off the bench, while Buckeye Prep simply turned the ball over way too often to even have a chance at winning the game. Jimmy Weirick was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points, followed by Jamil Goliday (16) and Houston King (13). Teon Jennings was the high man for Buckeye Prep, followed by Seth Goodson and Garrett Tipton, both of whom finished with 10 points.

All-Tournament Team

The only other game I watched on Sunday was the 7th grade championship game between All-Ohio Red and Detroit Showtime.  This was a great game, complete with a big come back and overtime drama. Speaking of a comeback, early in the game, All-Ohio was down 12-2 with 11:10 left in the half. However, an 11-0 run cut the lead to 13-12 by the 8:55 mark. All-Ohio took their first lead (20-17) with about 6 minutes left in the period, and then each team took turns sharing the lead until about the 3:10 mark when the game was knotted at 25.  From there, Detroit spurted and took a 35-26 lead into the break. Detroit scored first to start the second period, but an All-Ohio run cut the lead to 35-42 at 13:29. By the 7:03 mark, All-Ohio was only down 46-51. For the rest of the game, All-Ohio would make mini runs to cut into the lead, and would lead 55-54 with 4:26 left. By the end of regulation the game was tied at 60-60. All-Ohio got out of the gates quickly with an 8-2 spurt in OT.  Although Detroit battled back, that early run was the difference in the contest, as All-Ohio went on to claim the championship 76-68.  Toledo’s Houston King led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Juan Elmore (14) and Jimmy Weirick (13). Keon Epps (6’2 C Det) and Brandon Green (5’11 WF Det) paced Detroit with 12 points apiece. The tournament MVP was Jimmy Weirick, and the All-Tournament Team included: Houston King, Jamil Goliday, Deshaun Daniels, Mark Watts and Brandon Green