April Live Period GASO: Championship Recaps

The field has been thinned out and the elite teams have emerged to battle for hardware on Sunday of the Live Period Great American Shoot-Out. TexasHoops analyst Lyndon Cook wraps up the weekend with title game recaps from the GASO’s top divisions.

Sanni Hoops Gold 64 HD Toros Elite 54

Just as it was at last year’s Live Period GASO, Sanni Hoops took home an NBA championship, this time thanks to a huge 40-point first half and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. Alex Dehoyos (Friendswood 2018) was a key factor in the victory, hitting 4 first half threes on the way to a 21 point game. Kendrick Christian also delivered for Sanni with 15 and some late free throws to put the game on ice. HD Toros suffered their first loss of the weekend in the title game, but didn’t go down without a fight. Brendan Wenzel (O’Connor 2019) poured in 18 including 3 makes from long range to lead the resistance for Toros. Shaydon Campbell (Brennan 2019) had a standout weekend for Toros, and capped it off with a 14-point game in a losing effort.

Urban ASAK Elite 71 Texas Impact 4:13 62

Urban ASAK came into this championship game guns blazing, leading by as many 15 in the opening stages on their way to taking home a GASO trophy at Texas Impact's expense. Darius McBride had to be ASAK's MVP over the weekend, and put in another impressive shift Sunday with an 18-point game. Jamal Shead was a major factor in his team's early lead, scoring 9 right out of the gate and matching McBride with an 18-point haul. After falling behind by such a steep deficit right away, Impact deserves credit for fighting back and getting this one to within a few possessions. Ty Caswell (WF Rider 2019) and CJ Smith (Timberview 2019) hit 2 threes a piece in the second half to lead their team's charge, finishing with 12 and 8 respectively. Rudder guard Korbin Cunningham had another solid day with 11, but was unable to complete an immaculate comeback for Impact.

Austin Defenders 17u Premier 55 Mo Taylor Elite 51

Austin Defenders held the ball for almost the entirety of the final 2 minutes of the game before converting a layup to take the lead, followed immediately after by a steal and an and-one from James Curtis to seal the championship. Curtis would finish with 9 while Brandon Gambrel and John Wetter would both tally 13 in the win. Mo Taylor will regret a lapse in concentration that saw them throw the ball right to a Defenders player at halfcourt with a chance to go down and win the game. Defenders had to withstand an inspired game from Jay Collymore, who put up 21 in the loss.

Houston Raptors Benjamin/Eldridge 68 Houston Clippers 65

Brad Milliorn (Deer Park 2019) had an impressive Live Period weekend for Houston Raptors, capping it off with 16 points as his team came out on top in an all-Houston final. Ademola Kolawole (Westside 2018) was another who performed well during Raptors' run to the championship, and wound up with 13 in the win over Houston Clippers. Spring Woods pair Nico Hardin and Tae Jones put up 9 each for Houston Raptors as the Clippers just couldn't seem to find a way to take back control of the game.

Centex Lockdown Elite 76 Houston Defenders 17u Gold 70

The 2019 Lake Travis duo of Ryan Bormann and Bennett Mohn were at it again Sunday afternoon, combining for 29 as Centex Lockdown claimed their first GASO championship of the summer. Centex and Houston Defenders battled to a 35-35 draw in the first half, but it was Centex who found an extra gear in the second half to get the job done. Hunter Stevens was a big part of the extra offense for Lockdown, scoring 12 of his game high 19 after the break. Kenan Mitchell (Shadow Creek 2018) was the top man for Defenders with a 15-point total, while Christian Lewis (Tompkins 2019) hit 4 threes in part of a 14-point day.

Texas Elite Gold 17u 63 NTX Dynasty 2019 49

Andrew Clopton torched NTX Dynasty to the tune of 23 points as Texas Elite Gold coasted to a 14-point win in their NBA bracket championship game. Texas Elite only led by 4 at the break before Isaiah Babalola got hot, putting up 12 of his 14 in the second frame. Andre Nunley got off to a decent start shooting the ball in order to keep NTX in the game, and ended up leading his team with 14 in the game. Evan Ghormley and Michael Coleman dropped 10 a piece, but there wasn't much else to speak of in an ice cold second half for Dynasty.

Cooz Elite 16u 86 Nike Proskills 15u 68

Cooz Elite’s 16u entertained crowds and coaches alike with a high octane playing style on their way to taking home an NBA bracket championship. Coming off a state championship with Silsbee, a lot was expected of Braelon Bush (2020) this summer on the grassroots circuit. If this weekend is anything to go by, then the scoring guard has no plans of slowing down - scoring 16 for Cooz in this championship bout. D’Avian Houston (Episcopal 2020) had a huge second half, hitting 5 threes en route to a game high 23, while Rubin Jones (Yates 2020) put up 15. CJ Noland’s 14-point opening half kept the deficit to only 4 at the break, but Proskills seemed to run out of gas in the second. Noland finished with 21 to pace his team while Shannon Lowery and Tyler Lundblade put up 12 each.