2010 Best Buy Summer Classic Champions

To championship day at the 2010 Best Buy Summer Classic.  A very hectic day thanks to last night's power outage that interrupted 1 set of games and postponed another entire set.  In the top brackets, the Minnesota Pump N Run 16s were in the early quarterfinal and managed to get their game in.

I started with the conclusion of the Indiana Elite vs Minnesota Pump N Run 17U quarterfinal.  The last 1:20 was added to the 2nd half so we play a 17:20 second half.  Pump N Run ahead late but Jeremiah Davis with a pair of long 3s to keep Indiana Elite in it.  A crazy sequence late.  With 30 seconds left and PNR up 66-60, Davis hits the first of the 2 3s from about 25-30 feet.  In the process, Shelby Moats gets called for pushing Zeller on the rebound.  Zeller has the bonus and he makes 1 of 2 to cut the lead to 2.  After PNR scores, Davis with another 3.  Then Roosevelt Scott gets trapped on the inbounds pass and his return pass appears to go off an Indiana leg but instead Indiana gets possession under their own rim with about 10 seconds left.  Cody Zeller catches the inbound under the basket but misses a contested layup with 5 seconds left that would have tied it.  Tyler then tied up on the inbounds by Davis and the arrow goes to Indiana Elite.  Yogi Ferrell catches and has a great look at a 3 at the buzzer and its no good.  PNR moves on with a 69-67 win.  5 players in double figures for Pump N Run.  Jonah Travis 15.  Zeller with 20 but 12 of those were early in the game last night.

The Heat Elite 16s took on Team Eleate in the 16U quarters.  72-70 Heat up and shooting the 2nd of 2 free throws with 5 seconds left as they cling to a lead.  Nobody on the lane for the Heat and somehow Josh Tismer is able to rebound his own miss.  He gets fouled and makes 2 more freebies to clinch a 74-70 Heat win.  Team Eleate coach would have made a sailor blush with his language regarding that play.   Very upset with his team for giving up that rebound and rightfully so.

The Indiana Elite vs MN Pump N Run 15s semi proved to be very good, but who would have thunk that the Grassroots vs All Iowa Attack game would be even better.  Nick Anderson was very hard to contain off the dribble for Grassroots.  So despite the brilliance of Peter Jok (especially in the 2nd half), All Iowa Attack needed a pair of Jok freebies late in OT to win 71-66.  Indiana Elite won the other semi 68-59 over PNR in a quality game.

Meanwhile the Heat Elite 16s gave the Atlanta Celtics all they wanted.  Heat lead 17-15 midway through the 1st half before giving up a 9-0 run and you think the Celtics have flipped the switch and will run away.  Hold the phone.  The Heat come back and only trail 39-38 at the half.   The Celtics did manage to finally win 83-68.  Shaq Goodwin might be the #68 player in the nation, but the Heat's Zach Meyer (White Bear Lake) was an absolute monster inside going up against the bigger and more athletic Celtics frontline.  He finished with around 25 points in the game and you could reasonable say he played the best game of anybody in that one.   Solid performance by the PNR 16s in the other semi to beat a very solid Iowa Barnstormers team 65-58.

Then the 17U semis and California Pump N Run had a surprisingly comfortable victory over Minnesota PNR.  Cali wins 75-60 as our local guys found it very difficult to score.  Jonah Travis with his usual effort but going against big size like 6'11 mountain Kyle Caudill (former AZ State commit) makes his life very difficult and he had no help in this one.  Roosevelt Scott showed that he can be a real defensive demon with his athletic ability as he forced numerous turnovers.  Minnesota quickly got down 15 in the first half but fought back to get the game under double digits but never really threatened to take the lead.

Peter Jok and All Iowa Elite handle Indiana Elite 83-68 to win the 15U championship.

In the 16U game, the Atlanta Celtics are a machine.  12-1 start before MN PNR can score a field goal.  Jordan Adams 27 points, Shaq Goodwin 12 points as they both played above the rim.  Adams did most anything he wanted as there was no answer for him.  PNR used 3 point makes to stay somewhat close, but long misses equaled quick runouts for layups going the other way.  Celtics win 81-67 but that doesn't reflect the level of dominance.  Carnell Sheppard with 17 points to lead PNR.

Arkansas Wings lead most of the way and defeat California Pump N Run 74-66 for the 17U title.

Coming up later, the all tournament team and links to the webcasts that I did during the tournament.