GASO Tip-Off: Pool Play Recaps

It’s officially GASO season once again, with the first Great American Shoot-Out of 2018 tipping off with some high level talent gathered in Duncanville. TexasHoops analyst Lyndon Cook is in the field recapping the weekend’s marquee games with the first hardware of the year on the line.

Drive Nation 16u 77 Urban DFW Elite 16u 60

Drive Nation's 16u bunch rung in the first GASO of the year with a bang, going for an impressive 17-point win over Urban DFW 16u. Cade Cunningham (Arlington Bowie 2020) clocked in with an 18-point outing, and looks poised for a huge summer as one of Texas' top juniors. Led by the 5-star Cunningham, Drive Nation blitzed Urban DFW in transition and were always looking to attack gaps in the defense when they appeared. Jay Wilson (Denton Ryan 2020) and Andrew Laczkowski (St. Mark's 2020) were the chief beneficiaries of Drive Nation's offensive prowess, going for 11 a piece on top of 8 from Kinkaid's Isaiah Leblanc. Urban DFW fell behind by double digits in the first half and struggled to get it any closer the rest of the way. Ahmad Richardson (Timberview 2020) was the bright spot on offense, scoring 17 to pace his team. Devon Hancock chipped in 12 in the loss.

Urban DFW Elite 17u 58 Triumph Gold 48

16 points from Marcus Sasser (Red Oak 2019) was enough to get Urban DFW past Triumph Gold to open up their opening weekend at the GASO. Sasser’s stock continued to rise as a scoring guard, with the junior also efficient at the free throw line (6-6 FTs). Behind Sasser, Urban got a balanced scoring spread from the likes of Claven Wilson (Desoto 2019) with 9 and 6 from Nealon Wilson (Lincoln 2019). For Triumph it was all about Day Day Hall (Sulphur Springs 2020) who went off for 25 points to lead all scorers. Jordan Keys (Northwest 2018) added 7 in the loss.

Drive Nation 17U 75 Lone Star Elite 53

Drive Nation opened up their GASO circuit with a dominating win over Lone Star Elite on the back of some electric performances from their star players. You would be hard pressed to find a better guard-post combo in the nation than Drive’s Tyrese Maxey (South Garland 2019) and Drew Timme (Richardson Pearce 2019), and the two combined for some hugely impressive plays early on. Maxey’s killer mentality and insane levels of explosiveness makes him a true 5-Star guard, while Timme showed yet again that his skill level inside and out is just a cut above the competition. Samuell Williamson (Rockwall 2019) looked the part of his top-10 ranking and also provided some highlights in a 15-point outing. Lone Star was led by Evan McCarthey (Mansfield 2019) and Tay Mosher (the Colony 2021) with 10 a piece in the loss.

BMM Elite 17U 59 Texas Titans 2020 58

Quevian Adger (Coppell 2020) came up with the goods down the stretch for BMM, scoring the teams final 5 points including a game winning runner with 2 seconds to play. Adger’s clincher was made possible by the play of Caleb Lohner (Flower Mound 2020), who poured in 17 in the first half alone. Lohner would finish with 19 to go with a 13-point game from Adger. JaKobe Coles (Denton Guyer 2020) and Mike Miles (Lancaster 2020) fired back for the Titans with games of 17 and 15 respectively, but Coles was unable to convert a desperation layup as the buzzer sounded.

Triumph Gold 77 Team Faith 17u 68

Triumph Gold overcame an inspired performance from Greg Brown (Vandegrift 2020) in order to hold on to a 9-point win over Team Faith 17u. Day Day Hall was electric for the second game in a row, this time posting a 20-piece against tough competition. Michael Jankovich (Jesuit 2018) matched Hall's performance with a 20-ball of his own, with Andre Nunley adding 19 for Triumph. Greg Brown looked every bit the part of a top-10 ranked prospect in the nation for 2020, and went for 24 in his first game at the GASO this year. State champion point guard Isaiah Stevens of Allen got downhill really well on the way to a 19 point game, but Team Faith's supporting cast simply couldn't keep up with all the hot hands on Triumph.

3D Empire 61 THP Elite 50

3D Empire returned to the GASO with a reloaded squad and impressed with their shooting in a double digit victory over THP Elite. 3D Empire's 11 made threes in the game proved to be the difference as THP was just unable to recover after losing the lead. Luis Rodriguez (The Colony 2019) hit 4 times from behind the arc en route to scoring 16, while Maxwell Valentino (Argyle 2019) had 3 makes from deep of his own, leading 3D with 20 points. Austin LBJ's Brian Batts kept things close for THP with a 15-point outing, and was helped out by 13 from Isaac Bullard (Pflugerville Hendrickson 2019).

Drive Nation 17u 71 Urban ASAK Elite 17u 62

Urban ASAK Elite looked to have put themselves in position for an unlikely upset by taking a 4-point with 6 minutes left in the second half, but Drive Nation's Tyrese Maxey and Drew Timme took over the rest of the game and ran out winners in an entertaining contest. Maxey took on more of a distributor role in the first half, but scored 9 as part of Drive's burst to regain the lead late on. Timme also had 9, to go with another impressive 13 from Samuell Williamson and 10 from Jahmius Ramsey. ASAK's Jamal Shead (Manor 2020) nearly stole the show with a 26-point outburst, hitting from deep and getting to the rim to make plays. Darius McBride (Vista Ridge 2019) also turned some heads with a 17 point game.

UnCommon Hoops Gold 87 TX Rebels Elite 54

Unsigned senior Nate Levine (SA Macarthur) came out firing on Saturday with 7 threes as part of a dominant 33-point display to comfortably lead UC Hoops past TX Rebels Elite. Zach Keller (SA Johnson 2019) was also feeling it from outside with 3 makes and 19 points and Christian O'Bannon (Steele 2019) added 9 for UC. Latrell Goodwin (Plano East 2020) was the lone bright spot for Rebels on the offensive end with a 14-point output.