17-Under STATES

[wgarlick]

The Boo Williams 17U Elite
team was missing their best player North Carolina recruit James
McAdoo but they barely missed a beat jumping out to a 21-0
first quarter lead on their way to a 67-34 thumping over BWLS-Nelson.
Dashawn Stitt led BWSL with 14 points and R.J
Price added 10 points. The 17U team did welcome Olamilekhan Ajayi a new big man to the team.

One team hoping to qualify for
the AAU Nationals is the Richmond Squires who went to the wire in their 63-57
tournament opening win over the Virginia Storm. C.J Barksdale,
who has committed to Virginia Tech. led the Squires with 23 points. Hopewell
guard Pedro Berrios (6-foot-3) added 13 points including nine in the
second half while Levon Harper chipped in 11 points. New to the
Squires is forward Jordan Davis (6-foot-6) who scored only six points
but did a nice job on the boards. Jordan's Dad, former Virginia Union standout
Tim Davis, said his
son is receiving feelers from schools such as Kansas and Georgetown.

The Storm almost pulled the upset
getting 14 points from Will Johnston. The Squires had a "B"
team at States but they fell to the Virginia Hustle 69-56. Brendan
Cole scored a game-high 18 points for the
winning squad. The Squires received 13 points from Emu
Hendrix.

One of
the best players from Day one was BWSL Wolverine guard Deron
Powers who scored 10 points while playing the majority of the game.
Lancaster guard Joseph Betts led the scoring with 16 points.
Northcumberland Malik Shabazz scored 12 points for GESUS Ball.
Tyriq Crawford, a 6-foot-3 senior from Menchville, kept GESUS
Ball within reach with his hustle and defense.

One of the best
head-to-head matchups was between Team Loaded (formerly Petersburg Elite) guard
Frank Mason and the two Wave guards Marquis
Barfield and Earl Norfleet which matched three of the quickness
guards in the tournament. Mason won the scoring battle 20-16 over the Wave duo
but the Barfield/Norfleet combo was more effective with steals and pushing the
ball. Norfleet has added a jump shot to his alread potent dribble penetration
skills nailing several jumpers.

Dontrell Silver
(5-foot-11) spent
helped Norfolk Christian won the Virginia DII Private championship by hitting
open jumpshots and
playing on ball defense. He was playing the same type
of game at the Boo Williams Sportplex hitting three treys and scoring 14 points. He's
the type of player that looks good everytime I see him.
Quinton Upsher (6-foot-3) scored
eight of his nine points in the final quarter while adding eight rebounds and
three blocks. Tallwood's Darren Creary (6-foot-5, 211) is a
rising senior who provided a couple of block shots and a tip-in's for the Wave?while doing
the small things like setting picks.

Tuckahoe attempted to beat the
BWSL 15-Under team with just five players but they came up just short after
blowing an 11-point lead after halftime. Freshman Anthony
Barber tallied 16 points including 14 second half points to lead a
furious comeback. Tuckahoe led the entire game but saw their lead sliced to two
after a corner three by Troy Williams. Moments later, Williams tied
the game at 39 with a turnaround jumper from the baseline with 2:12 left in the
game. Barber made two free throws after being fouled while driving to the hole
and BWSL made six free throws t close out the game. Freshman
Nigel Johnson was the only other BWSL player in double figures
and he finished with 11. The Titans were led by Patrick
O'Connor (6-foot-4) who finished with 13 points (three treys) and Najm
Turner who
scored nine. O'Connor has a pretty jumpshot to go along with
a quick release.

Coach Robbie Williams 15-Under
team wasn't the only team with freshman making contributions in the 17
Under tournament. BWSL 16-under team defeated BWSL Kelley 79-52
behind 12 points from freshman Trevor Lyons who plays for Woodside.

While
I spent the night covering the big boys, I did hear about an eight year old
player who was lighting up the nets. Allen Strothers, the
son of CNU great and former NBA player Lamont Strothers, scored 17 of his teams
33 points in a win.

This post was edited on 5/4 6:26 AM by wgarlick

 

[wgarlick]

Re: 17-Under STATES Schedule

Schedule Below

17U States AAU Schedule

 

[wgarlick]

Day Two Highlights


Junior
point guard Brevin Lyons (5-foot-8) was one of three players
with 18 or more points to lead GESUS Ball to a 78-68 win over the C.J
Barksdale led Richmond Squires. Lyons scored 23 points including five
three-pointers as GESUS Ball rallied from a five point third quarter deficit.
GESUS Ball finished with 12 made three-pointers to overcome the Squires size
advantage. Malik Shabazz added 21 points including five treys
and Tyriq Crawford scored 18 points. Darius
Franklin





also played well with his speed and
ability to change directions.

Barksdale scored 20
points for the Squires while 6-foot-8 Levon Harper chipped in
18 points. The Richmond Squires "B" team had better results after they were
doubled up by the BWSL Elite team earlier in the day. The athletic
Emu Hendrix


(6-foot-5) had 13 points and showed he
could stroke it from downtown with a trey. Hendrix really showed his
skillset in a comeback win over BWSL (Nelson) 16U. Hendrix blocked four shots in
the second half, made a great pick on a defender to
steal the ball for a dunk, and his rebound and stickback proved to
be the game-winning basket.



Team
Loaded sent their 16-under team and they scored 86 points in their 13-point win
over BWSL 16U. Petersburg point guard Frank Mason is one of the
most exciting players at the tournament and he has won the head-to-head matchups
against some of the other top point guards. Mason is jet quick and he can
change directions at the drop of a dime. He has a set shot when out on
the perimeter but he has unbelieveable range. He also has the ability to hang in
space and contort his body to make a pass or get off a difficult shot in
traffic. He finished with 18 points. John Marshall guard Willie Magnum scored 10
of his 14 points in the second quarter, Evan Thorpe (13)and
Micah Thomas (15) both have the ability to stroke it from the
outside and finish near the rim. Thorpe scored 21 points in Team
Loaded's earlier win . Freshman Nick Gorski


didn't score a point but showed he is a player that will generate a
lot of interest by the time he is a senior. Gorski is a good rebounder, has
moves around the basket, and he can find the open man.

The
Virginia Storm had a few bright spots as well. Lamont Fields
had people asking who's that after seeing him dunk on a defender from a standing
position. He tries to dunk every attempt within two feet of the basket.
Tyrek Branch is a physical looking guard (6-foot-0, 190) who is
strong enough to post up players and who was a nice handle. In addition to
scoring inside, the L.C Bird product buried a three-pointer. Maleek
Myers (6-foot-0, 170) is a rising senior from Monacan who not only
converted jumpers from the top of the key, but finished strong going to the
basket. Mike Green was another scorer who drive to the basket hard and made the
pull-up jumper. Will Johnston








was afraid to help out on the boards
and bang inside.

BWSL has
a team consisting of players primarily from the area between
Williamsburg/Lancaster County area and they seemed to play well together.
Chris Morgan from Gloucester has been one of the
sleeper prospect at the tournament. He is slim, athletic, and can run the floor.
He had some nice post moves, a breakaway dunk, and a nice tip-in. He
finished with 17 points in both of the Saturday games. Corey
Brown (6-foot-1) from Walsingham was effective at rebounding the ball
on both the offensive and defensive ends. He grabbed about 10 rebounds in the
first game of the afternoon then stepped outside in the second game and made
three treys while finishing with 18 points. Deron Powers
continues to play well in the tournament by controlling the tempo and
scoring 22 points in the win over the Virginia Storm and 13 in the
afternoon contest. Joseph Betts










caught the eye
of AAU guru Boo Williams with his quickness and scoring mentality.

BWSL 17-under "B" team appeared to be auditioning for a slam
dunk contest in their 71-62 win over BWSL 15-under team. Juandrico
Walker and Joe Goodwin threw down some rim shaking
slams but it was the steady DeCarlos Anderson


who led the team with 23 point sand three treys. In the second
game for the b team, Devonte Williams (Kecoughtan), DeCarlos Anderson
(Norcom), and Trey Freeman (Kellam) all scored in double figures in a 65-53 win
over Tuchahoe. Corey Cooper added two treys.

The
Tidewater Wildcats did not get a "W" on Saturday but Norview sophomores
Chad Todd (6-foot-1) and Joshua Gay

(6-foot-5) caught my attention. Gay scored 13 points and Todd
added 10 points but the Wildcats fell to BWSL 53-42 in the final
game of the night.

This post was edited on 5/3 6:27 AM by wgarlick

 

[bsw1012]

Re: Day Two Highlights

Thanks a lot Will.

Any word on the winners?

 

[wgarlick]

BWSL defeated Wave basketball 72-50 for the championship.

BWSL 17 Under Elite won the
Virginia AAU 17- States with a 72-50 win over Wave Basketball at the Boo
Williams Complex. BWSL led by only six points heading into the fourth quarter
before pulling away. Dorian Finney-Smith led all scorers with 24
points which included a couple of dunks. Finney-Smith was voted my
unofficial tournament MVP. R.J Price contributed 12 points
while Phoebus guard Brian Darden made a few treys for BWSL. The
Wave received 15 points from Connor LaFramboise including three
treys. Demetrius Pollard added 12 points and
Darren Creary (6-foot-5) almost got a double-double with eight points
and eight rebounds.
There may
not be a more explosive athlete than Justin Anderson. He scored 17 first quarter
points (including three treys) which was more points than GESUS Ball scored as a team at halftime.
Larry Savage had his best scoring game with 11 points and
Brian Darden had 10. BWSL then defeated 16U Team Loaded by 33
points. Finney-Smith had two early blocks and he buried a three.
Jordan Burgess showed his versatility by
guarding the electric Frank Mason
on the perimeter and showing a mid-range jumper while finishing at
the basket. Darden is one of the few long range threats for BWSL and he along
with Keith Hornsby are the best shooters on the team.




The Wave finished as the
tournament runner-up despite the fact that they had already qualified for the
AAU Nationals. The Waves new big man is Tallwood center Darrin Creary (6-foot-6) who gets good position
and has a nice touch inside of five feet. Creary works hard on the boards and he
has a big frame to help create space in the paint.Demetrius
Pollard (6-foot-2) is a good rebounder
for a "2" guard and he is strong enough to score inside. He has a perimeter game
and he is athletic enough to make plays on defense. He made one of the best
blocks on the day. Perhaps the surprise player of the tournament was
Conner Laframboise
(6-foot-6) from Cape Henry Collegiate who
displayed more aggression than he did during the regular season. Laframboise attacked the basket
on layups and he proved his inside-out game by making two
three-pointers.

This post was edited on 5/6 6:15 AM by wgarlick