Austin/Round Rock GASO: Championship Recaps

The last Great American Shoot-Out before the July Live Period is in the books, and TexasHoops.com's Lyndon Cook is back to take a look at who brought home chips from the Austin GASO.

YIIS/Texas Future 16U 61 Urban ASAK Elite 57

Urban ASAK started the game the way they had all weekend, by getting out in transition and playing stout defense to hold an early lead on Texas Future. But big second halves from Kevin McCullar (Wagner 2019) and Sayvon Frye (SA Marshall 2019) turned the tables and gave Texas Future the championship victory. The two prospects out of San Antonio had 30 between them, while Adrien Cohen (KIPP Academy 2019) put up 15. The on-court presence of Brock Cunningham (Westlake 2018) was missed greatly by ASAK, as he sat out the game as a precaution for a knee problem. Darius McBride (Vista Ridge 2019) picked up some of the slack, hitting 3 threes in the first half on the way to scoring 16 on the day. Caleb Golden (Cedar Ridge 2020) added 12, as Shasirae Harvey (Austin LBJ 2o18) finished a strong weekend with 11.

Sanni Hoops 82 West Texas Elite 64

Even though star player Ajare Sanni was a DNP in this one, Sanni Hoops still had the firepower to roll past West Texas Elite for their second GASO championship of the season. Zaid Harris (Clear Lake 2018) came out firing in a big way, scoring 18 of his game high 22 in the first half. Tayvion Johnson turned in a 19-point performance, with Ovidio Perez (Pearland 2018) adding 12. West Texas Elite ended a breakthrough weekend in the finals of the GASO, with several prospects starting to make a name for themselves. Sebastian Andrade (Americas 2017) scored 15 in the final game, but it was Brian Rios (Eastwood 2018) who stole the show over the course of the tournament for West Texas Elite. Rios concluded his weekend with an 11-point game.

San Antonio S.W.A.T. 76 Dallas Seawolves 73

San Antonio SWAT skimmed past Dallas Seawolves to take home a GASO Championship, in what was one of the more unexpected results of the weekend. Seawolves' 2020 star-power in Greg Brown (Vandegrift 2020) and KJ Pruitt (Little Elm 2020) had overwhelmed most of their opponents throughout the tournament, but SWAT stood tough and came out on top. Levi Reed (SA Marshall 2018) led the way for SWAT with an 18-point outing, while Rivals-ranked football prospect Stanley Lambert (SA Marshall 2018) put up 14. Michael Emmons (Churchill 2018) helped out with 13. Seawolves fired back with 25 points out of the nationally ranked incoming sophomore Brown, who was helped out with 11 from Ike Egwu (Little Elm 2018) in the loss.

Centex Lockdown Elite 78 Central Texas Starzz 50

Centex Lockdown Elite capped off another impressive weekend on the GASO circuit with a comfortable 28-point win over Central Texas Starzz. Lockdown took a double-digit lead to the locker room and never looked back, their fast start thanks in large part to 12 first half points from Malcolm Greene. Luke Hamilton (Lake Travis 2018) has played like one of the best stretch 4's in the state for the past few months, and finished with 13 in this one. Prince Umanmielen came off the bench to add 12 of his own in the win. Tyrese Cooley, Jyhlil Rice, and Jacob Carter combined to score 35 of Starzz's 50 points as their run to the championship came to an end.

Urban ASAK 15U Gold 66 Vipers Academy Elite 16U 59

Urban ASAK's 15U bunch held on to take home their home area GASO title, defeating Rio Grande Valley-based Vipers Academy Elite 16U by 7 in the NCAA Championship game. Vipers Academy simply could not contain the Pflugerville Connally combo of Jamal Shead (2020) and JaQuai Najamo (2019) for most of the game, with the two of them scoring 21 and 18 respectively. Brandon Parks (Westwood 2020) chipped in 10. Vipers Academy were led as they were for most of the weekend by the inspired play of Michael Arellano, who finished with 24 points in the loss.

Arkansas Magic 69 Austin New Era-NIT 65 F/OT

Arkansas Magic escaped with a 4-point overtime win over Austin New Era to lay claim to the Austin GASO NIT championship. Jeremiah Jones (Little Rock Central 2020) carried the load for Arkansas Magic in regulation, posting all 18 of his points in regular time. Magic held New Era scoreless in the overtime period, with Johnny White (McClellan 2020) scoring a huge bucket for his team in OT on the way to scoring 12. New Era saw 20-point games from two of its players, with Colby Kalbacher (Austin High 2o2o) hitting 5 threes in his 20 piece and Jordan Hood (Anderson 2020) scoring 20 of his own.