Austin GASO: Saturday Bracket Play & Sunday Championship Recaps

GASO Staff recaps some select games from the semifinal & quarterfinal rounds of the Austin GASO and the championship games of each NBA Division.

Houston Defenders 16 UA 76 San Antonio Legends 69 Green Division

The San Antonio Legends made a frantic effort at the end, but were beaten by the Houston Defenders 76-69. KeMauri Millender (2022) came through for the Defenders hitting six of eight foul shots in the last minute of action. The Legends comeback effort was led by outstanding guard play by Justin Bussey (2021), Anariss Brandon (2022) and Eric Brown (2022). Bussey finished with 11 points, Brandon came away with 15 points and Brown led the charge with 17 points. The Legends were down throughout the game and trailed by 13 at intermission 43-30. The Defenders were carried by Chancellor White’s (2022) 24 points. Millender was the only other player in double figures for the Houston crew.

Texas Elite 17-U Rick 60 ASAK Gold 49 Green Division

In an early contest, Texas Elite 17-U weathered a strong comeback by ASAK Gold and came away with a 60-49 win. This was a first round game in the Green Division. Texas Elite 17-U was paced by Zaydin Walker (2021) and Kendall Biley (2021) with 11 points apiece. Blake Fisher (Manor 2022) was the man for ASAK Gold with 14 points.

Houston Defenders 17u 62 Team Takeover Kemp 17u 59 Green Division

In the best contest of the day, Team Takeover and Houston Defenders locked horns in a back and forth encounter that had the gym rocking. A strong first half from Chris Wiseman (Langham Creek) got Takeover out to a narrow lead, but Defenders fought back through the play of PG Jacolbi Harris in the 2nd half. After several empty trips in the final stages, Defenders got a sideline inbound opportunity with 2 seconds left and DJ Richards did the rest, burying a dagger from 30+ to push his team into the semis. Jake Arnold and Braedon Edison each had solid games for Takeover, while the defense of Sir Isaac Herron stood out as well for Defenders.

Note: You can view Richards' shot and interview after the game in the tweet below.

Mobile Warriors 76 Houston Elite 17-U 75 Green Division

In a wild game that saw technical fouls and end to end action, the Mobile Warriors dropped Houston Elite 17-U 76-75. Jordan Bell (2021) had another standout performance for Mobile finishing with 39 points. Bell hit 22 points in first round action and continued his struggles at the line. If the young man could hit a foul shot, he would have easily scored 50 points. Houston Elite never gave up and were down at one point by 16 points before making their run. Turnovers and missed foul shot plagued the Mobile crew giving Elite their opportunities. Jose Yebra (2021) turned in a solid performance for Houston Elite finishing with 22 points.

Texas Takeover Thompson 70 Houston Defenders U16 57 Green Division

In a foul fest, Texas Takeover got past the Houston Defenders U-16 70-57. Takeover had a very balanced scoring attack and took advantage of 35 fouls by the Defenders. Chancellor White (2022) paced the Defenders with 19 points and KeMauri Millender (2022) showed solid point guard skills throughout. Both teams had trouble gaining momentum because of the physical aspects of the game. Takeover Thompson was led by another strong performance from Jefferson Morris along with solid outings from Jullian Camper and Ori Limbrick.

Texas Takeover 17-U Major 77 ATX Power 62 NBA Red Championship

Dylan Mackey ('21) propelled Texas Takeover to the NBA Red Championship over ATX Power 77-62. Mackey finished with 22 points, 16 of which came in the 2nd half. Trevon Clay was close behind with 13 points and Devon Wright was good for 11 points. ATX Power trailed 36-31 at halftime and was unable to make up the difference. Standouts for ATX Power were Rob Wade with 21 points, Gehrig Zimmerman added 18 points and Kade Killeen ended up with 13.

Proskills Austin 17-U 84 Next Level Raiders 82 overtime NBA Blue Championship

In one of the best finishes of the weekend, Luke Kiser of Proskills, connected on three foul shots with three seconds remaining, with his team down one. After Gavino Ramos had went 1 for 2 at the other end with 0.9 seconds left in OT, Kiser caught a hail mary pass from Jayden Guevara and attempted a shot in mid-air, being fouled in the process to seal the championship.

Guevara had connected on a runner in the lane to send the game to OT in the first place, part of his 12 points to go with 22 from Kiser and 17 from Jayce Wright. Next Level Raiders were led yet again by Ramos with 14 points, while Bryon Armstrong, Keilon Johnson and Jason Osonma also hit double figures in the title game.

Houston Defenders 17-U 71 Sabo Gold 56 NBA Green Championship

The Houston Defenders 17-U team ran off with the Green championship defeating Sabo Gold 71-56. The Defenders came on strong in the 2nd half outscoring Sabo Gold 41 to 29. The Defenders placed four players in double figures with Brandon Love(2021) leading the way with 13 points. Sabo Gold was paced by Rodney Hunter(2021), who knocked down 12 of 13 foul shots and finished with 14 points. Hunter was the only Sabo Gold player in double figures.

THP Elite White 47 F.I.R.M. 44 NBA Orange Championship

THP wrapped up a 4-0 weekend with a gritty 3-point victory over the FIRM, leaning on strong performances from Petia Dogale (Austin 2021), Reese Miller (Round Rock 2022), and Carlos Rocha (Hays 2020). After leading for much of the game THP had to rely on their defense late to get a stop as FIRM had the ball last, but were unable to get a clean look at the basket as time expired.

FIRM were missing their leading scorer and MVP from this weekend Marcell McCreary (OD Wyatt 2021), downed to an ankle injury in the semifinal round, but still got a huge game from Darius Ford to keep them in it.