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| Buckeye Prep vs Ohio Unity |
As
expected, day one of the Buckeye Prep Summer Showdown was complete with close
games, overtime thrillers and upset victories.
The event’s first upset occurred in the opening game, as the number 10th
ranked Buckeye Prep took on number 11th ranked Ohio Unity. The game
was close early and by halftime, Buckeye Prep was up 25-20. Buckeye Prep scored
first to start the second period on a Chase Rankin lay-up. Although Prep led
throughout the second half, Ohio Unity continued to chip away at the lead, and
about the 3 minute mark they went on a run that eventually tied the game at 32
with 1:30 left. A Seth Goodson jumper put Prep back in front 34-32 at the 1:04
mark, but 2 Ohio Unity free throws knotted the game at 34. With less than a
minute left in the contest, Prep had the ball, failed to convert a baseline
jumper, and Unity went down and scored to pull ahead 36-34. At that point, Prep
had to commit fouls, and Ohio Unity hit their freebies and held on to get the
37-40 win. Dylan Beaugard led Ohio Unity
with 12 points, while Seth Goodson paced Buckeye Prep with 13 points.
Jeff
Blackwell’s All-Ohio Red squad found themselves in a dog fight with Lamonte
Tillman’s Ohio Hoopsters early Friday night. From what I could tell, the Hoopsters
led the entire game, and were up 31-21 at the half. At one point the Hoopsters
were running away with it, but All-Ohio battled back and cut the lead to 53-58
with less than a minute left, but that’s as close as they would get as that was
final score. Juan Elmore was the leading scorer for the Hoopsters with 15
points, followed by David Madison with 11. Jamil Goliday had a monster game in
a losing effort with 24 points followed by Jimmy Weirick with 15 points.
Cleveland’s
Another Level and the Lima Area Lakers found themselves in a brawl on Friday night. I did not catch much of the game, but I know Lima mostly controlled the game, but Another Level came on late to close the
gap. By the end of the game, Another Level was up by 1 point (43-42). KeShun
Jones led Another Level with 14 points.
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| Gene Higgens-5'7 PG |
The
best game of the night pitted the #1 ranked team in the state, Team Excel
against the #4 ranked Murphy AC. This was one of the best played games I’ve
watched all season and was played at very high level. Neither team led by more
than a few points the entire game. In fact, at the half, Team Excel was up
30-29. The second half was much like the first, a seesaw battle for the lead as
both teams hit big shots to claim stake to the lead. With only 2:48 left in the
game, the score was tied at 46-46, and with 50 tics remaining, it still knotted
at 50. By the time the horn sounded, Murphy AC had unseated the newly crowned #
1 ranked team in Ohio 55-50.
