Twenty of the top 8th grade grassroots teams on the West Coast converged on The Map Sports Facility from Jan. 14 through 16, vying for the title of champion of the ACES MLK Classic 14u Open Division.
In the end, it was San Diego Select, the team viewed as the favorite, winning the crown with a 75-59 win over West Coast All Stars. The San Diego Select Team won its games by an average margin of 18.3 points and went undefeated, including going 3-0 in the tournament's super pool, which included the West Coast All Stars, Ballers Select and Earl Watson Elite.
San Diego Select defeated Ballers Select in the semifinals, while West Coast All Stars survived an upset bid by Sky Blue Select in the other semifinal.
Here were some of the tournament's highlights:
Most dominant
San Diego Select: No surprises there, as Steve Wade's crew has won the event for several years, including last year when the group played in the class of 2020. Spearheaded by a dominant from front court of 6-foot-7 Obinna Anyanwu, 6-foot-5 Jack Pugh and 6-foot-7 Wilhelm Dorsz and complemented by 6-foot-2 swingman Thomas Notarainni and wing Nico Meza and guards Paris Dawson, Devin Askew, and Alex Wade, the team can beat you in many ways, either with timely perimeter shooting, bruising rebounding or offensive execution.
The West Coast All Stars collection of talent was nothing to discount, as the Northern California-based team assembled a collection of prospects from California (6-foot-1 guard Michael Mitchell), Arizona (guards Ty Ty Washington and Ricardo Sarmiento), Las Vegas (PG Zaon Collins) and Texas (6-foot-2 guard Latrell Moore and 6-foot-6 forward Duncan Powell).
Biggest surprise
That would be a toss-up between Sky Blue Select and Gamepoint Elite, which explains why their matchup was one of the games in the tournament. Gamepoint, which is proving that last week's performance at Top Gun Winter Challenge was no fluke, took a lead with 4 seconds left after a runner by 5-foot-9 G AJ Burgin.
Sky Blue Select, however, was able to convert two free throws after Gamepoint PG Hayden Gray committed a foul on the ensuing inbound, and the game went to overtime, where Sky Blue prevailed, 55-51.
Sky Blue Select, coached by noted trainer and coach Charlie Max Torres and Randy Oronoz, has several top-tier prospects, including 6-foot-7 pogo stick Solomon Jones and 6-foot-4 forward Jalen Cole and a quality floor general in Daniel Esparza. The team went on to upset Earl Watson Elite in the quarterfinals before dropping a close semifinal game to West Coast All Stars.
For Gamepoint, the tournament included yet another last-second loss to a traditional 14u power, this time City Ballers in a 33-32 defensive struggle. But the performances have solidified Gamepoint's status among the top 14u teams in Southern California. 6-foot G Keavie Love and 6-foot-5 forward Dillon Wilhite are among the team's top prospects.
Biggest upset
In addition to the aforementioned Sky Blue Select win over Earl Watson Elite (which snapped a string of 7 consecutive tournament titles for EWE), the LA Orangemen's 45-44 win over Compton Magic was another major highlight of the three-day tournament. The Orangemen jumped out to a 12-point lead and held off a big surge by the Magic in the second half.
Team Rankings:
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Great write up- seems pretty accurate