EYBL Dallas - Day 1

The third EYBL session got underway on Friday night with many new high powered additions suiting up for various teams. Despite trying to incorporate new players into the fold there were competitive games and upsets littered throughout the 32 game schedule at the sparkling Fieldhouse in Frisco, TX.

Game of the Night:

NY Lightning 75 NJ Playaz 73 (OT)

Khadeen Carrington

One of the main rivalry games took place Friday night with the New York Lightning outlasting their northeast counterpart in overtime. The Lightning were aggressive early on and attacked the Playaz from the opening tip building a quick 14-3 lead. Despite the early deficit the Playaz squad picked up their pressure and battled back to trim the lead to 33-35 at the half. After a back and forth second half, the Playaz finally took the lead behind the hot shooting of Isaiah Whitehead and looked to have the game under control in the last few minutes before quickly relinquishing a five point lead which forced the only overtime session of the night. With the game tied at 67 entering the extra period, the NY Lightning took early control keeping the Playaz scoreless for the first few minutes and hung on to a 75-73 victory. The Lightning got strong play on the inside and outside with three players reaching double figures. Guard Khadeen Carrington attacked the basket in an impressive fashion and the 6’1” Mike Williams knocked in three shots from deep showing off an extremely quick release. The tall and powerful frontcourt of the Lightning also had their moments led by Angel Delgado’s 15 points and 16 rebounds. Delgado also got help from 6’8” Ben Bentil and 6’10 Jessie Govan. On the opposing side, Whitehead and Isaiah Briscoe combined for 54 points for the Playaz as the two standout guards were playing just their second tournament together. Whitehead knocked down four three pointers while Briscoe attacked the basket and hit contested pull-up jumpers while constantly yelling “Knock Down” in the defenders face. While the game had the looks of a blowout early on, the rivalry game quickly turned into the game of the night.

Upset of the Night:

ICP 77 Mac Irvin 72

Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander, the two most dominant big men in the class of 2014 finally took the court together last night for the Chicago based Mac Irvin Fire in what was supposed to be the first of many blowout wins. With Okafor scoring at will in the low post and Alexander running the floor and dunking on helpless defenders it seemed as though the route was on. Apparently someone forgot to tell the 2-7 ICP team from Portland and their new influx of Southern California talent. Despite a Mac Irvin dunk fest in the first half, Kameron Chatman banked in a three-quarter court heave to trim the halftime deficit to just 11 points. The dunk fest continued early on in the second half, but Daniel Hamilton and Tyler Dorsey out of St. John Bosco kept the deficit at a reasonable amount. In the last eight minutes, Okafor exited with what looked to be a sore ankle and Dorsey began getting to the basket at will. ICP took their first lead with two minutes to play and hit free throws down the stretch to clinch their upset victory. Dorsey led the way with 20 points on only nine shots, while Hamilton and Chatman contributed 19 and 16, respectively. For Mac Irvin, Alexander finished with another double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Okafor contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds in his limited second half.  

Players of Interest:

Grayson Allen, 6’4”, 2014, Each 1 Teach 1 – Allen came off the bench in one of the first games of the evening but still managed to finish with 30 points on 10-15 shooting. In the first EYBL session, Allen started off playing for the Southern Stampede but after a lackluster performance switched teams and joined up with Each 1 Teach 1. Playing solely on the wing, Allen knocked in his first few outside shots and got himself to the line by attacking the basket. After scoring seven points in his first set of playing time, Allen went off from deep towards the end of the first half nailing back to back three pointers from the left wing. He only missed one shot in the first half and continued his hot start in the second half in what turned to be a 34 point blowout win. 

Joel Berry, 6’2”, 2014 Each 1 Teach 1 – Berry led his talented team to a quick start by knocking in his only three of the game to go along with a picturesque one dribble pull-up jumper from 16 feet. In the first half, Berry used his powerful upper body to get into the paint and create open shots for his teammates in a blowout win.

Boubacar Moungoro, 6’6”, 2014, Each 1 Teach 1 – The powerful Moungoro had it firing on all cylinders early on going 2-3 from three and 7-8 from the field to finish with 18 points. Moungoro used his strength and athleticism to blow by his defender on the wing and finish in the lane off just one or two dribbles. 

Zylan Cheatham, 6’7”, 2014, Cal Supreme – Cheatham is one of the hottest names on the West Coast and he certainly did not disappoint on the opening night. In a blowout win over the Alabama Challenge, Cheatham went for 15 points and 7 rebounds on 7-7 shooting. 

Julian Richardson, 6’3”, 2014, Cal Supreme – With Alabama still hanging around in the second half, Richardson took it upon himself to put the game out of reach hitting all three of his three-pointers in a two minute span for one of the most impressive hot streaks of the night. Richardson finished with 15 points on just 4-11 shooting, but quickly eliminated any Alabama thoughts of a comeback.

Devin Booker, 6’5”, 2014, Alabama Challenge – The talented shooting guard struggled to put the ball in the basket against Cal Supreme going 6-18 from the field and 1-6 from behind the arc but still showed remarkable improvement from this time last year when he was content to stay outside the three point line. Booker handled the ball a decent amount and showed off his increased strength and confidence getting into the lane for close shots around the basket. Last year, Booker looked to be strictly an outside jump shooter, but now he looks to have a much more well rounded game. 

Skal Labisserre, 6’9”, 2015, Team Penny – The talented sophomore was impressive in a blowout win over Boo Williams going for 10 points and 10 rebounds in just 19 minutes. Labisserre was extremely active around the basket using his length to finish shots inside the paint.

Other Notes:

2015 guard Malik Newman got to the free throw line 18 times against the St. Louis Eagles and he converted on 15 of those attempts. The constant trips to the line for Newman might have been one of the reasons that the Eagles were running suicides after the game.

The top point guard in the country had a nice little 27 point, 7 assist performance against CIA Bounce. Tyus Jones did this in 28 minutes and went 11-11 from the field. He will face off against Joel Berry on Saturday.