Day One of the Summer Hoops Festival is in the books and by all means it was a great one. Throngs of college coaches packed the Cooper Palms Sportsplex in Apopka to see some heavyweight matchups that crossed shoe company barriers. What resulted were some tremendous games and standout individual performances.
GAME OF THE DAY
There were several candidates for this honor. The first game of the day featuring Team Loaded out of Virginia from the Adidas Gauntlet and E1T1 from the Nike EYBL was a tight tussle the entire game. E1T1 was able to pull out an 80-75 victory at the end.
Likewise, Showtime Ballers broke a 62-62 tie with Team Thrill from the Under Armor Association with one minute to play to win by four at 66-62.
However, the top game of the day turned out to be Texas Pro Skills from the EYBL taking on CP 25 from the Adidas Gauntlet. The game went back and forth the entire time and with just under two minutes to play, Pro Skills hit a three to go up 57-52. After an exchange of baskets, Xavier Johnson of CP 25 hit a three to get CP 25 to within two. However, time was running out and CP 25 was forced to foul. Pro Skills missed a pair of free throws, giving CP 25 a chance. Johnson drove the lane and tied the game with thirty seconds left. Pro Skills was unable to get a shot off so the game went into overtime tied at 59.
In the one minute overtime session, CP 25 got the tip. An errant shot was rebounded by Omar Payne and after a tussle underneath, he was able to get the ball out to Darrin Green, Jr., who drained a three from the left corner. With less than fifteen seconds to play, Pro Skills was unable to get a quality shot and CP 25 won a tough one by the final score of 62-59.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
There were a lot of standout performances on Day One. However, we are casting our vote for Tyrell Jones from the Showtime Ballers. In a close contest with Team Thrill, he led the team with 21 points. In the team’s second game of the night against the Mobile Warriors, Jones caught fire from deep. He connected on 5-7 shots from three point range on his way to tallying a total of 32 for the contest. If his jumper is falling like that, he is tough to contain because he is quick enough to get by bigger guards and strong enough to overpower smaller ones.
BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE DAY
The state of Alabama doesn’t get a whole lot of love when it comes hoops; it definitely has a passion for the pigskin. However, we couldn’t help but be impressed with the play of 6’5 Vincent Douglas of the Mobile Warriors. The 6’5 senior wing tossed in 33 points against Showtime Ballers and he made them from a variety of distances and angles. Douglas had no less than six three pointers in the second half of the contest. Hopefully, more coaches will stop by and take a look at Douglas over the next couple of days.
YOUNG GUN
Playing for Thunderstruck 16U, 6’5 2020 wing Jacob Crews got things going in their first contest of the day. He tallied 21 points in their win, connecting on five shots beyond the three point line. He plays his high school ball in Hilliard, a Class 1A school northwest of Jacksonville. This was a big step up in competition and to see him perform well in this type of environment was quite impressive.
Can’t wait for Day Two!!