Memorial Day GASO: Championship Monday Game Recaps
TexasHoops writer Mark McKee shares his summaries of semi-final and championship game matchups from the final day of the Memorial Day GASO.
YGC36 16-Gold 66 3D Empire 17-U 43
NBA-Semi-Finals: YGC moved into the finals of the NBA division defeating 3D-Empire 66-43. YGC will face the winner of the PB Nation 16-U/ HD Toros Elite game. YGC took control early against 3D Empire taking a 28-14 lead and never really let 3D-Empire get things going. YGC was up at halftime 35-18. Strong defense was the difference for the Dallas based team. “We felt we needed to get out on their shooters and make them uncomfortable early,” YGC coach Sean Phillips said. YGC did a great job moving the ball and making the extra pass for some easy looks. The balanced attack saw several players making contributions. Gavin Perryman (Dallas Jesuit 2021) was effective in all phases of the game handling the 3-D pressure. Eli Stephens (China Springs 2021) was the quickest player on the court at times creating havoc. Brayden Bradshaw (Denton Guyer 2021) showed his inside and outside skills and finished with 13 points. Mason Gibson (Allen 2021) was a defensive dynamo and Damon Nicholas (Duncanville 2021) led YGC in scoring with 14 points. Perryman came away with 12 points, Stephens added 10 and Bradshaw finished with 13 points. Austin Garner (Byron Nelson 2020) gave a fine account of himself for 3D-Empire with 16 points and four treys.
PB Nation/YIIS 16-U 63 HD Toros Elite 60
NBA-Semi-Finals: PB Nation advanced to the finals defeating HD Toros Elite 63-60 in a game that had several late game heroics. With PB Nation up by three and the clock under a minute, PB Nation intentionally fouled the Toros in the backcourt, giving them one and one opportunities. Coach Tommy Hines of PB Nation commented, “you can’t hit a three pointer off a one and one. That was our strategy late, to play the percentages and put them on the foul line. I liked our chances.” Toros coach Lou Martinez told his troops to hit the first foul shot and miss the second.
The HD Toros Elite came out hot draining threes from all over the gym. “We knew they couldn’t keep shooting at that percentage, I just told the kids to play tough defense one possession at a time,” Coach Hines said. With 8:06 left to play the score was tied at 47 apiece. With tough man defense and timely shooting PB Nation went up 58-50 at the 2:30 mark of the 2nd half. Things looked good for Coach Hines and his crew, but Toros Elite made one final charge behind the hustle of Avery Eugster (St. Mary’s 2020). Eugster was on the floor recovering loose balls as well as making his way to the foul line. Eugster was five of seven in the second half from the foul line.
Coach Tommy Hines of PB Nation felt Chris Ashby (Atascosita 2021) has played amazing during the tournament with his defense and ability to shoot from range. Coach Hines also singled out Bryon Armstrong (Antonian 2021), “we were trying to clear out a side late to let Bryan take his man.” Trevor Passmore (Cypress Woods 2021) led scoring for PB Nation with 23 points and 5 treys. Armstrong finished with 12 points and Ashby tallied 11 points off three 3’s.
PB Nation is made up of five players from Houston and five from San Antonio. “Practice can be a problem and sometimes we are not able to execute as well as I would like,” Coach Hines said. “But we are getting better the more time we have together on the court.”
YGC36 16-Gold 61 PB Nation 50
NBA Finals-YGC put together a solid second half and overcame the strong play of PB Nation 61-50 to capture the NBA championship. YGC’s coach, Sean Phillips, was very proud of his team’s effort after the big win. “We have been through a lot of battles together, so we knew we could come back,” Coach Phillips said. “The key was adjusting our interior defense.” Phillips also was excited about his point guard, Eli Stephens (China Springs 2021). “If you know of a better point guard in the state in the 2021 class, I would like to know who it is,” Phillips said. “If he were a few inches taller, everybody would be after him.”
YGC opened up an early 17-5 lead in the first five minutes of the game only to lose the lead in 2nd half. PB Nation took a five-point lead at the 10:21 mark of the 2nd half. After leading 37-32, PB Nation was outscored 18-6 over the next six minutes. “The game was a total team effort,” Phillips said, “we never check the stats sheet.” Stephens finished with 17 points for YGC and Cooper Sisco (Frisco Wakeland 2021) came away with 10. Bryon Armstrong (Antonian 2021) topped the charts for PB Nation with 13 points. Trevor Passmore (Cypress-Woods 2021) was the only other player in double figures for PB Nation with 10 points.
Texas Impact 17s 61 Team Buddy Buckets 50
Texas Impact ended Team Buddy Bucket’s tournament hopes with a 61-50 decision. Preston Aymond (Mesquite Horn 2020) showed the way for Impact with 19 points. Buddy Buckets was paced by Traejon Davis (2020) with 12 points and Sam Godwin’s (South Moore 2020) 10 points.
Elevate 53 Mudiay Elite 52
D.J. Johnson hit the game winner at the buzzer to give Elevate and emotional come from behind victory over Mudiay Elite 53-52. Elevate’s Johnson missed a 15-footer from the corner and with three seconds left on the clock only to get his own rebound. The ball came right back to Johnson and he hit a short armed second shot from 10-foot, almost behind the backboard. The refs hesitated before calling the shot good. The outside official made the call immediately, calling Johnson’s shot good. Mudiay Elite had their chances, missing a one and one opportunity with just ten seconds remaining. Elevate had been ten down with less than five minutes remaining.
Team Buddy Buckets 16-U 67 Texas Impact 53
Buddy Buckets 16-U took down Texas Impact to capture the NBA Blue Division title 67-53. Buckets led throughout the game and finished strong. Sean Pedulla (Edmond Memorial 2021) put up 24 points in the winning effort, followed by Jaden Bray (Norman 2021) with 11 and Sean Franklin (Edmond Santa Fe 2021) with 13. Jeffrey Mills was the man for Texas Impact with 19 points.