Oak Hill Academy’s All-American PG Brandon Jennings
ATM Live has been showcasing the areas top HS talent all week. I highly recommend that if there is any way humanly possible to go Uptown to Gauchos gym tonight you do. It will be next level. With Elite 24 going down Friday, the top 24 US high school players have ascended on NYC. Word is Lance Stephenson, Erving Walker, Brandon Jennings, and Reynardo Sydney will all be suiting up for the Juice All-Stars. If that goes down it is guaranteed to be talked about for years to come.
Championship game tips at 8:00 - Juice All-Stars vs. Playaz Club
Wednesday’s recap (as told by the ATM crew) after the jump
Wednesday August 22nd
Juice All Stars (80) vs. Metro Hawks (73)
Last night in front of a standing room only crowd Juice All Stars came
with their talented backcourt of Ervin Walker (Christ the King) and
Lance Stephenson (Lincoln). If that already wasn’t enough they brought
along the #1 ranked senior in the country Brandon Jennings (Oak
Hill Academy). The tone was set as soon as he walked in the gym.
Lamont ‘Momo’ Jones came out the gate with 8 points in the first
quarter and was truly up for the challenge. It was a track meet for
most of the game and Ervin Walker was hitting the open 3 with ease. At
the half Juice was up by 11. Devin Ebanks stepped up and played very
well in the 2nd half in which he scored 16pts. But that wasn’t enough
because as the game got closer and Metro Hawks fought back to take the
lead Juice pulled together and the Brandon Jennings show began. He hit
jumper after jumper and scored 11 points in the 4th quarter. Juice won
the right to move on to the championship round. The Metro hawks played
short handed by the absence of Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick’s) who
missed the game do to the passing of his grandmother. We send our
condolenscences to him and his family.
Top Performers:
Lamont ‘Momo’ Jones(Metro Hawks) 22 pts
Devin Ebanks (Metro Hawks) 22 pts, 5 rbs
Brandon Jennings (Juice All Stars) 23 pts
Lance Stephenson (Juice All Stars) 12 pts, 3 asst
James Padgett (Juice All Stars) 10 pts, 9 rbs
Erving Walker (Juice All Stars) 13 pts, 4 asst
Playaz Basketball Club (78) vs. Gauchos (77)
For the 2nd night in a row the Gauchos who came into this tournament
being ranked by many as the Top AAU Program of the summer was in a
catfight against the Playaz. This game was a battle of the guards
Kemba Walker (Rice HS) & Jordan Theodore (Patterson Catholic) going up
against Ashton Gibbs (Seton Hall Prep) & Tamir Jackson (St.
Benedicts). Jordan Theodore was pushing the pace of the game from the
start the lightning quick quard was playing tenacious defense which
turned into a couple of lay-ups for him and his teammates. The Gauchos
were down after the 1st quarter 20 to 21. In the 2nd quarter Kemba
Walker began to get involved. He attacked the basket with hard drives
down the lane and hit a few jump shots to go on and score 10 points in
the 2nd quarter and the Gauchos went into the locker room with 8 point
lead at the half. The 2nd half of the game was riddled by a lot of
foul calls and both teams were in the bonus early. But the kids from
the Playaz club fought back from the half time deficit to ties the
game after 3 quarters at 57. Quintrlell Thomas (St. Patrick’s) started
to hit the boards and was coming away with everything in site. He had
6 points in the 3rd quarter. As the 4th quarter began Ashton Gibbs
(committed to Pittsburgh) stepped up and put the book bag on. His jump
shot began to fall. Both teams knew that this game would be won at the
free throw line and when the game was on the line players began to hit
one of two free throws consistently. Chris Gatson was fouled with 6.4
seconds left on the clock and he hit one of 2 free throws. The Gauchos
had a chance to win the game at the end but a steal on the last play
of the game on Omari Lawrence ended the Gauchos opportunity to
advance.
Top Performers:
Chris Gatson (Playaz) 13 pts, 3 rbs, 2 ast
Ashton Gibs (Playaz) 18 pts, 7 asst
Quintrell Thomas (Playaz) 16 pts, 5 rbs
Tamir Jackson (Playaz) 18 pts, 6 asst
Kemba Walker (Gauchos) 24 pts, 3 asst
Jordan Theodore (Gauchos) 10pts, 7 asst
Durrand Scott (Gauchos) 11 pts, 2 rbs, 6 asst
Omari Lawrence (Gauchos) 16 pts
