 |
| Montel McRae, Garrett Tipton, Anthony Coleman & Andrew Russell |
Now that day
1 of the Buckeye Prep Invitational is in the books, it’s already clear that the
talent level in this event is high. On Friday, 20 games were played at Central
Crossing High School in Grove City.
One of the
best games of the night featured a dogfight between the Cleveland-area VJ
Sports and the Dayton Nets. From what I could tell form the game, VJ Sports led
the entire way, but gave up double digit leads a couple of times. In the end,
VJ Sports would hang on to collect an opening night win. What was most impressive
about VJ Sports is the size of their frontcourt with Montel McRae (6’6 C Cleveland Central Catholic) and Mike Parks (6’9 C Richmond Heights).
Not only did both players make it difficult for the Nets to score in the paint,
but McRae is a legitimate offensive threat as well as evidenced by his
game-high 17 points. Anthony Coleman
(6’3 SG Euclid), is effective in the backcourt and added 14 points in the game.
Caleb Harris (6’1 SG Ponitz) led the
Nets in a loosing effort.
Central
Crossing’s Andrew Russell (6’5 WF)
paced his Ohio Hoopsters (2015) squad over Hidden Gems Orange with a game-high
16 points. Nick Veal (6’3 SG Thomas
Worthington) played big for the Hoopsters in the win. Dayton Nets’ 10th
grade team notched a win against Hidden Gems White. Chaz George (6’4 WF Stivers) had a monster night, finishing with 21
points, while Davghn Alexander (6’5
C Dunbar) grabbed a boatload of rebounds to help get the victory
 |
| Dennis Gilmore, Tasos Cook, Seth Goodson & Caleb Harris |
Ed Lyshe’s 8th
grade Buckeye Prep team started the tournament 2-0 on Friday with wins over
Ohio Varsity and Hidden Gems White. Prep’s full court pressure gave Hidden Gems
White all kind of problems to the tune of multiple turnovers and easy
transition buckets. Teays Valley’s Garrett
Tipton (6’3 WF/PF) was impressive, while throwing down 2 bangers on the
night. In their second game of the
night, Buckeye Prep again applied the heat on their way to a 33-22 victory over
Hidden Gems . He did not pick up big numbers, but Gahanna’s Seth Goodson was a defensive hawk in
game #2. Also, Westerville’s Solomon Pierre Louis looked good in game one and
was the game’s second leading scorer with 10 points.
Lamont
Tillman 8th grade Ohio Hoopsters manhandled All-Ohio White. In fact,
at the half, the game was already out of hand at 44-17. No need to wait around for a final in this
one. On note is the fact that Pickerington’s Jimmy Weirick is running with the Hoopsters this summer and should
add solid guard play and a scoring punch to the squad, but the story tonight
was Corey Baker’s 16-point
performance. BJ Patrick was right
behind him with 14 points.
Aaron Brown’s
5th grade Buckeye Prep team led wire-to-wire in a 33-22 win over
Hidden Gems Black. Although Buckeye Prep never trailed, and was up 13-2 to
start the game, Hidden Gems refused to roll over, and fought back just enough
to make it interesting. In a later game, All-Ohio Black (5th grade)
downed Ohio Hoopsters in a close one. Dennis
Gilmore (5’2 SG Columbus) was the man for Black, while Tasos Cook (5’0 PG Columbus) scored a team-high 15 points in the
loss. Day #2 should feature a number of very competitive match-ups in multiple
divisions. Stay tuned!
Photo Gallery
Why isn't Excel in this tourney? They won the grassroots tourney
ReplyDeleteThey pick and choose where they play
ReplyDeleteDoesn't everyone pick and choose where they play???
DeleteExcel was planning on attending but had multiple kids on spring break and at the final four this weekend and did not have enough to field a team.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best games that should have been mentioned was QCP vs OBC Adidas Elite 8th grade. That Dayton area OBC based team was good and fought very hard, led basically the whole game. They seemed to be well coached and has a lot of talent specially the guard play. The two wings look like they can play with anyone and the other left had guard just kept making play after play. QCP did pull out the win, with assistance from a head varsity coach pulled out the stands at the end. But congrats to QCP.
ReplyDeleteLosses tend to bring out the worst in posters from that team. QCP is coached by the Mark Baker of the Ohio State University fame. It is what it is...
DeleteWhat about the 7th Graders? No mention of any game played. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the dame thing.
DeleteActually the coach pulled from stands is QCP head coach this season and had just arrived due a prior engagement
ReplyDeleteFunny how match ups work because SMAC Flash demolished OBC Adidas and had QCP on the ropes the whole before a run with about 4 minutes left. That led to the Flash starters getting pulled to ensure they had legs for their last game & Sunday play. Really good teams all around for the most part...wish all tourneys were like this. Good luck to everyone...but not too good against Flash!
ReplyDeleteReally, you expect readers to believe you would pull your starters at the end of a game which would determine whether you advance to the next day? In the words of Bernie Mac, "get the F out of here!"
DeleteReaders will believe what they want, but let's examine a couple things-
Delete1) The QCP game didn't determine our Sunday status, the next game would.
2) That being said,the coach could have kept in the starters and attempted a comeback (against a talented QCP team) or saved their legs for the later game. Being a young team, it was more important to play on Sunday than to have a chance at a comeback win.
Our bench received some valuable minutes and Flash made it to Sunday - win/win.
I'm sure you were there the whole game and saw exactly how it went down and if not, go troll someone else's comments. Like I said, good competition and as a new team that will gladly face anyone put in front of them - let's hope we have the opportunity to see some of these teams again.
"We ain't scared of you m............s!" - Bernie Mac ;-D
DeleteWhere's day 2 and 3 recap of the invitational?
ReplyDeleteMost of top programs were well represented, where was King James?
ReplyDeleteAnybody know the final 4 of 8th grade? I know Ohio Hoopsters beat Smac U in the finals, who else made a deep run?
ReplyDeleteSMAC U beat Shining Stars and Hoopsters beat Queen City Prophets
DeleteThe bracket says Ohio Unity beat QCP ? Is that true ?
DeleteHoopsters beat Ohio Unity in the final four. Ohio Unity beat QCP in the quarter finals.
Deletewho was OBC Adidas Elite 8th grader their guard/forward #10? he looks like he can play with anybody be on the look out for him he impressed me and kept making plays
ReplyDeleteDid SMAC have two teams in the tourney? We watched them vs OBC and Prophets, but it didn't look like the same team that was in the finals. I know they get new players.
ReplyDeleteSmac had 2 8th grade teams smac u made to championship basically same team they have had did add a new kid I think from Pittsburgh but don't know for sure
ReplyDeleteWhere is the recap for the weekend? Maybe because Indiana NOT Ohio teams dominated the whole 4-7th grade...No love no surprise
ReplyDeleteThe 6th and 7th grade division was dominated by Indiana because all the best Ohio teams play in the NYBL! If the Ohio NYBL teams had played in this tournament, Team Teague probably wouldn't have showed up, especially in the 7th grade division. If you call your team a good middle school team, and you don't play in the NYBL, how good are you really? AOR 7th grade would have embarrassed Team Teague!
DeleteOhio Hoopsters Elite from 7th grade played and they are in the NYBL.
DeleteEven if those teams was available they wouldn't have been at the tournament.
DeleteThat's just a stupid @@@ comment! "no surprise!"
ReplyDeleteIn 8th grade final eight Unity beat QCP and Shining Stars beat OBC
ReplyDeleteWho does Unity got on their team this year?
DeleteWho are the top teams in 8th grade right now in Ohio and the top players.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHow many teams does smac have in each age group? Seems like there are absolutely no cuts in that program. Not much pride in wearing a uniform they'll give to anybody who writes a check.
ReplyDeleteThe smac top 8th grade team is tough. As you see runner up is this tourney and a top 10 team. I don't think their kids have a pride problem. lol
DeleteAgreed ^ Just bc they have multiple teams does not diminish their level of play. Furthermore, their "2nd tier" team that was there more than held their own for having only played together for a month. The fact that they have that much talent spread out over multiple teams is a positive thing for those players that want to develop locally & have no desire to travel all over. I can only imagine the winning & crying that would go on if the really took all their top talents & put together multiple elite teams.
DeleteSorry, whining and crying....but if SMAC does their fair share of winning too :-D
Deleteno doubt there is no shortage of smac haters out there. I consider myself somewhere in the middle as I think their teams and the tournaments they run all serve a purpose, but you need to be careful which tourneys of theirs you select depending on what you want to get out of a tourney. I've played their most skilled and least skilled teams at our age level and NEVER have I seen a lack of PRIDE! So please, lets not attack the kids in these comments
ReplyDeleteWell said
Deletethe game is about to be over for all teams here we come.
ReplyDeleteWho won the Solon cage classic 6th grade division?
ReplyDeleteThe Mansfield Cavs 6th grade won the Solon Cage Classic beating OBC (Dayton Swish) 66-57. It was a good game but the Cavs played great as team. Four Cavs players were name to the All tourney team Chance Motts, Cameron McCreary, Taevon Louis and Tahleik Walker who was also named the MVP.
Deleteair jordan 1
ReplyDeletestephen curry shoes
lebron shoes
supreme hoodie
air jordan
yeezy boost 350 v2
yeezy shoes
yeezy boost 350 v2
chrome hearts outlet
yeezy shoes