To the weekend at the 2010 Pump N Run Spring Classic. Pool play and bracket play were 2 totally different items.
Saturday Pool Play
The end of pool play Saturday morning and early afternoon was nothing but blowouts. Pump N Run big in their 2 games in pool A. Heat Black rolled to the pool B title. Heat Elite no problems in pool C. WOTN Gold won pool D. MN Wrath with an easy Saturday win to take pool E. Iowa Barnstormers routed pool F. Fury Blue took pool G. The only interesting pool was pool H. Southside had a 1 point win under their belt but fell by 1 to RK Elite in morning play. RK Elite played Mpls GATOR for the pool title to end 17U pool play. RK Elite would win the pool outright with a win. A Mpls GATOR win by 2 would give them the 3 way tiebreaker. 47 all with 5 seconds left. GATOR ball, they push to halfcourt and get pushed out with 2 seconds left for free throws. The 1st is good and the 2nd is off. GATOR rebounds but holds and wins 48-47. Now we have a complete mess. All 3 teams are tied. We go to the 1 published tiebreaker, point differential. But all 3 teams have a point differential of 0. Now what. Tournament director decision (and you know this will be published next year) takes us to points allowed to determine head-head breakers. RK Elite wins the points allowed and has head-head on Southside to win the pool. Southside takes 2nd via their head-head win over GATOR. 1 free throws takes GATOR from 1st to the Silver bracket.
Round of 16
In the round of 16, Pump N Run took out the WI Blizzard. WI Starz won a Wisconsin battle with RK Elite. WOTN Gold took out Bound 4 Glory. Nimrod Hilliard (who actually was there with his high school club since Playground Elite had the week off) nails a buzzer beater for NESYB to beat MN Wrath. In the bottom half, Heat Sprang took out EOTO. Then the end of the night was wild. Iowa Barnstormers got up 20 on WI Swing but had to hold on for 75-73 win. Fury Gold controlled their game with Heat Elite for a 56-51 win that's hard to call an upset the way Nick Carroll's team has played. Finally MN Southside took out Fury Blue in an ugly 46-45 game. Neither team able to generate offense in that one.
In 16U round of 16 play, 43 Hoops came from 5 down at the half against Heat Elite to win easily. Dave Simmet effective inside for the Heat in the 1st half, but the Heat got locked down on D only scoring 10 points in the 1st 15 minutes of the half. Josh Turnquist hit 3s picking and popping against Simmet and there wasn't an answer for that.
Sunday
To the 16U quarters where 43 Hoops took on 1 of the tourney favorites, WI Swing-Litscher. 43 Hoops dominates the 1st half for a 39-24 lead but gives up a 21-2 run to start the 2nd half. Coach Harris' club locks down again as they don't allow a point in the last 4 minutes of a tie game and win 59-50. Barnstormers won their game in that half. Bound 4 Glory came from 7 down at half vs a game Rosemount squad to advance 57-46. Pump N Run held off Fury 60-52 to complete the bottom half.
In the 17U quarters. Pump N Run rolled over WI Starz. Lucas Brown with a layup with 5 seconds left to beat NESYB and complete the 1st semifinal. Heat Sprang had no problems with Southside. Barnstormers got up big on Fury Gold before Fury cut it to 3 late. Barnstormers win by 7 to setup the other semi.
In the 16U semis, PNR defeats Bound 4 Glory 59-45. 43 Hoops vs Barnstormers was another case of 43 Hoops giving up a big run. This time it was 13-2 early to fall behind by double digits. No panic from coach Harris as once again he chooses to let his kids play through it with no time out. They claw back to within 7 at the half and take a 4 point lead with 4:45 left. 56 all and 43 Hoops has the ball. Its all Marcus Marshall as he goes step back with 6 seconds left for the 3. 59-56 43 Hoops wins.
In the 17U semis, no problems again for the Barnstormers as they steamroll Heat Sprang 80-49. Wear Out the Net Gold gave Pump N Run all they wanted. A 10-0 run ends the 1st half and gives WOTN a 34-28 halftime lead. Then Marcus Alipate with a second 3 in a big stretch and WOTN leads 51-38 with 10:45 left. Kyle Noreen draws 2 quick fouls on Alipate posting him on the left block and to me that turned the tide and set the physical tone for the rest of the game. Roosevelt Scott with a steal and fouled on a dunk. He grabs the miss of the 2nd FT and puts it back. Then he nails a 3 with 7:40 left and PNR is back on top 55-54. That's a 17-3 run. 59 all with 4 minutes left. Marcus Alipate with 2 freebies at 1:27 for a 1 point WOTN lead and then Alex Richter spins into a turnover. Kyle Bauman with 1 of 2 FTs with 54.2 left. To Richter at the high post and he kicks it right out to Joel Lindberg for a right wing 3. Bauman with his own redemption as he scores on the post with 18 seconds left. 66-65 WOTN leads. Timeout PNR as they bring it to the halfcourt line with 11 seconds left. The call is a high pick and roll with Roosevelt Scott and Jonah Travis. Travis catches at the right block and scores the tough finish with 5 seconds left for a 67-66 win.
16U Championship
This was going on at the same time as the 17U final and actually started and finished afterwards. Close game the entire way. Carnell Sheppard with a 3 with 2 minutes left and PNR leads 59-56. But Duke Anywanu (Blaine) puts back a miss with 5 seconds left to give 43 Hoops the title 62-61. Sanjay Lumpkin is really blowing up right now for the PNR 16s. But the story of this tournament, maybe at any level, was Marcus Marshall of 43 Hoops. His offense and ability to cross you over and step back for 3s is flat out dominating. Between him and Isaiah Gray, most of their offense is high screen and roll and for very good reason. Josh Turnquist made a living off of that as both guys are quick enough to get in the lane and cause trouble. Turnquist hit a bunch of 3s this weekend popping off of that high screen and it wasn't a fluke. Interesting chess match with that vs Heat Elite with big Dave Simmet who couldn't get out to Turnquist. Same problem for Pump N Run as they'd start Sanjay Lumpkin on Marshall, but on the high screen/roll they'd switch which would negate that intended matchup.
17U Championship
We get the expected matchup here and Seth Tuttle is back from prom for the Barnstormers after missing time on Saturday. But the big 3 (Josh Oglesby, Seth Tuttle and Jarrod Uthoff) do nothing in the 1st half and PNR controls the half for a 35-23 lead. Barnstormers are too good to get beat by double-digits in this one and we're tied at 40 with 8:35 left. Oglesby for 3 at 5:54 to tie the game at 45 and then 2 technical free throws for the lead. Tuttle then with a kickout from the post and that's a 3 to tie the game at 50 with 2:05 left. Uthoff on the post, 52 all at 1:30. Teams trade misses and Shelby Moats has a 25 footer at the horn that's no good.
In the overtime, Moats around Uthoff for 2 and the foul with 40.4 left for a 3 point PNR lead. The Barnstormers nail a pair of 3s, including 1 with 5.2 left. 57 all. PNR timeout and they turn it over on the inbounds. Barnstormers don't get a good look and we'll play double overtime. WOW. Tuttle with an easy weakside putback with 56 seconds left in the 2nd OT after Uthoff misses on the post. Jonah Travis makes 1 of 2 FTs with 31.2 left. Oglesby has to be fouled and his 2 freebies are all net with 27.4 remaining. Kyle Noreen misses a 3 and a runout dunk finishes it. 65-60 Barnstormers win the title in double overtime. Jonah Travis 24 points in the loss. 100% all the time and relentless inside.
Pump N Run Spring Classic 17U All Tournament Team (as selected by the media members in attendance)
Jarrod Uthoff- Iowa Barnstormers (MVP)
Josh Oglesby - Iowa Barnstormers
Jonah Travis - MN Pump N Run
Roosevelt Scott - MN Pump N Run
Bryan Sprang - MN Heat Black
Marcus Alipate - Wear Out the Net Gold
Nimrod Hilliard - NESYB
Marquealis Edwards - MN Fury Gold
Honorable mentions. I liked what Kyle Bauman did for WOTN Gold this weekend. Eric Robertson of Pump N Run making shots. Congrats to the WI Blizzard 14s who took out and the Iowa Barnstormers 15s for winning titles. Finally, how about some love for Apple Valley assistant Duez Henderson and his Bound 4 Glory program. Great weekend across the board for them after getting some bulletin board material from my preview (i.e lack of any mention). Their 15s took out the top PNR Maroon 15s in the quarters before losing to the Barnstormers and their 16 Black squad made the 16U semis.
Czar,
ReplyDeleteFun weekend for sure. Some nice angles on the 43/PnR 16U championship game. Fun game to watch.
Watched the PnR 15U maroon team a bit. Great to put all that talent on one team but you need a coach to handle it. Heard a lot of rumblings about their coach after last year. Seems to be the same story this year.
Disappointed 43's 17U team didn't show up but shout outs to the 16U for showing and winning!! Marcus Marshall is fun to watch. Josh Turnquist can shoot if he stays aggressive. PnR showed me more than I thought as well. Solid group.
Didn't get a chance to see the 17U final but sounds like a great game.
Officiating wasn't horrible but hear a lot of people frustrated with the coziness between the PNR coaches and the refs.
Overall good weekend any idea when the Magic pools will be out?
Hello again Pimp, what is the deal with the 17s? Are they ever going to play in a tournament? J/K. Turnquist was outstanding and Marshall was criminal. The game with the PNR 16s had an extra feel to it with many of those kids and coach Bethea being at 43 once upon a time. Great 17U title game again this year. Double OT with studs playing and making plays. Can't beat that.
ReplyDeleteVery surprised the PNR 15U Maroon team went out that quick but B4G is for real. Jerry Robertson will be just fine with that group.
Officiating was FAR better than you'll see in most tourney's this year. Write that one down. PNR wasn't happy in their 17U semi so it went both ways.
Magic pools I'm told are done, but I haven't seen them go up anywhere yet. I hope to have a preview later in the week. Look for some thoughts on the Jayhawk later today.