Team Final Black won the 16U title at the Big Shots event. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Team Final-hosted Big Shots tournament wrapped up on Sunday, with all the action converging at Archbishop Carroll for the 15U, 16U and 17U championship games.
For recruiting notes from the final day of the two-day event, check out Teddy Bailey’s notebook. Keep reading for recaps of the championship games:
15U–Team Final (Pa.) vs. Philly Pride
Philly Pride got a measure of revenge against Team Final, jumping out to a big early lead and holding on for a 57-47 victory.
Jabri McCall (2016/Martin Luther King) led all scorers with 16 points, connecting on 4-of-6 from the floor and 7-of-10 on free throws, while backcourt mate Jaekwon Carlyle (2016/Imhotep) added 14 on 5-of-8 shooting.
It was a 24-10 lead ten minutes into the first half, and Team Final would have issues getting any closer than eight the rest of the way. Philly Pride dominated on the boards, winning the rebound battle 36-15 thanks a pair of Imhotep freshman in Carlyle (eight) and forward Rasool Samir (12).
Team Final needed overtime to win the last time the two teams played, one week prior at the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship down in Chichester in a 49-47 victory.
“It felt really good,” McCall said about getting some revenge for the loss. “We just fought harder and played better, went after everything on D.”
If these two teams stay together for the next few years, expect the series to get more and more intense–especially as competition for college scholarship heats up between two squads loaded with future Division I talent.
16U–Team Final Black (Pa.) vs. Philly Pride
It wasn’t the Team Final squad that many expected to be playing in the championship game, but after dispatching the Blue squad earlier in the day it was Team Final Black that impressed in a 71-65 victory over Philly Pride.
Athletic wing Donte DiVincenzo (2015/Salesianum) capped off a solid weekend with a 21-point, six-steal, four-assist performance in the title game, hitting 8-of-17 from the floor. DeVaughn Mallory (2015/Poly Tech) chipped in 20 and 11 rebounds, while John Middleton added 16 for the victors.
“Donte Divincenzo’s our leader, John Middleton’s really turning into a big-time player, and our bigs, DeVaughn Mallory really showed himself today,” Team Final coach Jamal Hunt said.
The biggest shot of the game came from Matt Walsh (2015/Manheim Central), who buried a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:45 left that extended the lead to 62-54. It came off a save by DiVincenzo, who threw the pass as he was falling out-of-bounds after he lost the ball on his way to the hoop.
“I saw him out of the corner of my eye as I was driving, but then the ball was knocked out of my hands” DiVincenzo said. “I tried to save it and Matt was luckily in the right position.”
“That shot was a back-breaker,” Hunt added.
It was a rematch of an earlier game in the tournament, which Philly Pride won convincingly, 78-52 at Shipley on Saturday. They couldn’t shut down Team Final’s offense two games in a row.
“We played them one time and they took advantage of our weaknesses,” DiVincenzo said. “So we talked about it after the first game, and we came together as a team and made sure that we didn’t make the same mistakes we made the first game.”
For Philly Pride, Samir Doughty (26 points on 10-of-26 shooting, five rebounds) and Chris Clover (22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, seven rebounds) were the only two players on the team with more than Gemil Holbrook’s six points. Doughty (24.0 ppg) and Clover 21.3 ppg) ended up as the top two scorers in the 16U division for the tournament.
JaQuan Johnson had a big 3-point play in the closing minutes of Team Final’s win. (Photo: Josh Verlin)
17U–Team Final (Pa.) vs. We-R-1 (Del.)
It was an entertaining finale to the Big Shots event as Ja’Quan Newton (2014/Neumann-Goretti) and Mikal Bridges (2014/Great Valley) led a shorthanded Team Final against We-R-1.
JaQuan Johnson (2014/Lower Merion) had a key 3-point play with two minutes left as Team Final–who trailed most of the game–held on down the stretch for a 70-66 win.
Team Final was playing without two usual starters in Malachi Richardson (2015/Roselle Catholic) and Shep Garner (2014/Roman Catholic), as well as reserve big man Eric Carter (2014/Jackson Memorial), another D-I recruit. We-R-1 was without forward Ben Bentil (2014/St. Andrew’s), who was out with an elbow injury.
“They were all depending on me to step up, we only had six guys,” Johnson said. “I had pretty big shoes to fill.”
So Johnson slid into the starting role and more than held his own, even before making the decisive bucket. With 2:04 remaining, he split two defenders for a tough layup in traffic, drawing the foul and hitting the free-throw to give Team Final a 65-62 lead after they’d trailed the vast majority of the second half. They wouldn’t trail again.
“When (Johnson) looks to score, because he’s so unselfish, we’re a better team,” Team Final coach Derrick Bobbitt said. “Because he already gives the ball up and he puts a little pressure on the other team.”
The game was won at the free throw line, as Team Final made 17-of-27 (63.0 percent) while We-R-1 went just 7-of-15 (46.6 percent); Team Final also won the rebound battle 24-16.
Newton had 18 points, Bridges 16, Johnson 11 and Tony Toplyn (2014/Neumann-Goretti) 10 as the four members of Team Final in double figures. Nana Foulland (2014/Berks Catholic) added nine points and eight rebounds for the winning side.
We-R-1 also had a very balanced scoring output: Todd Hughes (2014/Sanford School) had 14 points, Austin Tilghman (2014/St. Andrew’s) had 13, and James Kirksey (2014/Chester) and Kaison Randolph (2014/Pennington School) had 10 apiece.