NY2LA Summer Jam: Recap

On the last day of the second July evaluation period, a well-known college coach muttered “I can’t wait to go home.” While this thought was surely shared by many of his colleagues, the 17U Sports U team based out of Northern Jersey had different thoughts. Despite being forced to play back to back games Sunday afternoon, Sports U came away with the NY2LA Under Armour Summer Jam championship with a mercy rule win over the Illinois Wolves.

The Road to the Championship:

Sports U - 17U Champs

While Sports U was methodically defeating TP Elite and the Iowa Barnstormers on their road to the championship, the other side of the bracket was producing close and entertaining games. The Houston Defenders, featuring the Harrison twins and athletic freak Derrick Griffin were considered the favorites to take home the title on the final day. The morning began against the Utah Reign, led by future BYU Cougars Nick Emery, TJ Haws and big man Eric Mika. Despite solid performances from all three of these players (who also play on the same high school team), the athleticism of Houston took over and they snuck away with a 52-49 win. Despite the win, star guard Andrew Harrison suffered an injury which turned him into a mere decoy in their semi-final game against the Illinois Wolves. 

While Aaron Harrison turned into the primary scorer and facilitator after his brother’s injury, the Wolves featured a balanced attack led by its trio of Big 10 commits, Kendall Stephens, Jalen James, and Nate Taphorn. Houston led a low scoring first half 24-21, but the intensity picked up in the second half featuring electric alley-oop dunks on the Houston side and a barrage of three-pointers from Stephens and Taphorn. After a Harrison free throw that tied the game at 50 with two minutes left, Jalen James made a strong drive to the basket for a contested lay-up to go up two. With the Illinois parents cheering a little louder, the Wolves made two consecutive steals that led to fast break lay-ups and essentially sealed the game and a berth in the championship. 

Once this game ended, Sports U matched-up with the Iowa Barnstormers, led by two-sport stars Dondre Alexander and Jeremy Morgan. Alexander came alive in the second half but Iowa could not get their deficit below three points and Sports U held on for the victory.

An iso for Chandler

Immediately following the victory over Iowa, Sports U was given 10 minutes to rest up for the championship game. On the other side, the Wolves called up Keita Bates-Diop from the 16U team to provide some fresh legs. Sports U jumped out to a quick lead behind their guard play. Josh Brown out of St. Anthony’s and Kasim Chandler from Imani Christian penetrated at will and got easy shots in the paint or open looks for big man DeAndre Bembry. Bates-Diop did what he could to keep the Wolves in the game going for eight first half points, but Sports U took a 32-23 lead into halftime. Coming out of the half, Sports U went to a spread offense and Chandler ran circles around the Illinois defenders which led to three consecutive wide-open three pointers by small-forward Spencer Weisz. With the game out of reach, the Sports U guards essentially ran out the clock before the game was called in a 64-39 victory. 

Game of the Day

In a 16U quarterfinal match-up, the Louisville Magic squared off with DC Assault. The Magic were on a roll coming off an undefeated run at the Adidas Invitational the week before. Despite the lofty accolades, WCAC guards Romelo Trimble and Byron Hawkins did not back down. Trimble attacked the basket while Hawkins drained three pointers to give DC a 43-40 halftime lead. The Magic answered in the second half behind the play of DeAngelo Russell and Quentin Snider. In a back and forth last minute, the game went into overtime. When two overtimes weren’t enough to settle the game, the third overtime was played in sudden death (first score wins). After the Magic missed three straight free throw attempts to win the game, Trimble isolated his defender at the top of the key and finished a contested shot in the lay for the victory setting off a raucous celebration under the hoop.

 Note: All photos were provided by Kelly Kline - Under Armour.