Game Recap Boo Williams Drops Opener

[matthew328826]

The first leg of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League got underway on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, New York with the Virginia-based Boo Williams' 17-and-under travel team losing a close affair with the Howard Pulley Panthers (MN) 66-62.

Boo's bunch trailed by as many as nine points on two separate occasions in the first half, but used a 9-0 run - sparked by a couple of 3's from Tyler Foster (2017 SF from South Kent in Baltimore, MD) to tie the game up, then trailed only 32-31 at the half thanks to a 10-2 surge.

A three-pointer from University of Richmond recruit Marquis Godwin (2017 SG/SF from Hampton HS) gave BWSL its first lead. Four straight free-throws from Keldon Johnson (2018 SF/SF from Park View HS) and Malik Marrow (2017 PG from Cape Henry) broke a 52-all tie and put them up four.

That's when the Howard Pulley duo of Bobby Davison and Gary Trent Jr. went to work, combining for 15 of the Panthers' final 16 points. Both had seven points at the half and each finished with 21.

Trent, who is rated #15 overall in the nation and a five-star prospect in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, scored 20 points last year in the EYBL against Boo Williams. He is the son of the former NBA player and Ohio University standout, Gary Trent.

Gabe Kalscheur, a 2018 guard with only an offer from North Dakota to date, bunched 12 of his 17 points in the first half for Howard Pulley. The Panthers shot 44% from the field (22-of-50) and 84.2% at the charity stripe (16-of-19).

Boo Williams was 17-of-51 from the field (33.3%) and 7-of-20 from long distance (35%). Johnson led the way with 17 points. Foster and K.J. Davis (2017 Norcom SF/SG) scored 11 points apiece. Matt Coleman (2017 Oak Hill PG) chipped in eight points.

 

[matthew328826]

Boo Williams dropped to 0-2 in the first leg of the Nike EYBL in Brooklyn, New York when they were defeated by the Washington D.C. based Team Takeover squad, 65-51 on Saturday night.

College coaches - such as Georgetown's John Thompson III, Pittsburgh's Kevin Stallings and Texas' Shaka Smart filed in to take in the action.

Team Takeover - fresh off an 85-59 rout of All Ohio Red - jumped out to a nine-point lead early in the first half. But Josh Carlton (2017 C/PF from DeMatha) kept Boo close, scoring 14 of their first 25 points. The 6-foot-9 big man was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field in the first half as Boo trailed 31-27 at intermission.

Boo Williams actually shot 55% from the field in the first half compared to 47% for Team Takeover, but nine turnovers and 0-for-5 shooting on three-point tries had them playing from behind.

Carlton finished with a team-high 20 points on 10-of-10 shooting. In fact, Boo Williams even took a brief 43-42 lead midway through the second half. That's when Team Takeover took over. They closed on a 23-8 spurt to end the game and notch their second straight double-digit victory.

The smallest player on the floor at 5-foot-7, Chris Lykes (2017 G Gonzaga) managed to make the biggest impact with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and had four steals. Takeover used both him and Aaron Thompson (2017 PG Paul VI), a bigger sized point guard at 6-foot-2, on Boo Williams standout floor general Matt Coleman in an effort to keep him out of the lane. Coleman scored just seven points on 2-of-6 shooting.

Thompson chipped in seven points and four assists with no turnovers. Team Takeover turned it over only eight times in the contest, while Boo Williams' squad finished with a 9-21 assist-to-turnover ratio. No one other than Carlton scored in double-figures as Tyler Foster was the next closest guy with nine points. Keldon Johnson added eight points and seven boards.

 

[matthew328826]

To close the first stop on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League tour, Boo Williams (VA) made sure they got out of Brooklyn, New York with a victory. They beat We All Can Go - a new team to the EYBL out of Tennessee - by a count of 83-74 on Sunday.

It was a crisp offensive showing for Boo's bunch, converting nearly 50% of their field goal attempts (33-of-68) with only seven turnovers. That was 14 fewer than the night before in a loss to Team Takeover.

Best of all for Boo, they out-rebounded the opposition 46-20 as ten different individuals collected at least one rebound. In addition, Boo's team shot 72% from the charity stripe, an improvement from the 47% against Takeover and 64% versus Howard Pulley in losses.

Leading the way was Matt Coleman with a team-best 24 points. Coleman, who two weeks ago won a National Championship with Oak Hill, went 10-of-11 from the field. Also standing out was Keldon Johnson, scoring 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field.

Johnson missed a good chunk of his sophomore season at Park View due to a broken ankle, but returned before the playoffs and helped the Dragons reach the State Tournament. He set the VHSL scoring record for a freshman in the season prior.

While those were the two headliners for Boo in the win, others contributed significantly. That included Josh Carlton, a DeMatha product that posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Norcom's K.J. Davis added nine points. Former King's Fork standout Keith Stagg provided six points and six boards off the bench.

In the loss for We All Can Go, Tyger Campbell was dazzling with 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting and also dished out five assists. A Class of 2019 point guard, Campbell has early offers from the likes of Ole Miss and Western Kentucky.

The next stop on the Nike EYBL tour will be Indianapolis, Indiana from April 22-24.

 

[bluefreak]

Is there an online roster available?