bci tourney total impact April 6 report

(Phoenix, AZ)--This year's BCI Spring Tip Off featured a national pool of teams in seven boys and girls divisions. In the boys high school division, 36 teams battled for the right to play in the BCI final four. Four teams from California competed in this division: Total Impact, California Hoopluv, and two Inflight Teams were represented - both coached by Mike Livaccari. The division was composed of teams from the West (Texas, Utah, California, and Arizona).

If you are unfamiliar with BCI tournaments, here are the basics: There were four pools of nine teams. A ten minute running clock was used with stop time in the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters. There was free substitution in the second half after a first half of mandatory playing by the entire team. BCI pretty much waived the technical foul penalty for having less than ten players. This was due to all the late teams arriving in Phoenix because of bad weather. The top teams in each pool advanced to the championship round, while the second place teams squared off for fifth place.

The tie breakers - if required - consisted of head to head competition and eventually culminating in total margin of victory. I mention this due to several teams going undefeated in their pools and margin of victory was used to determine who advanced. BCI also had a strange 25 point margin awarded to the team receiving a win by forfeit. That rule almost made things ugly.

Early on , Total Impact - coached by Sam Alipio and Eric Jensen - faced a tough sophomore Tucson Heat team. Notable players in this game from Tucson included 6-4 Soph. Lamont Pickett Jr. He kept Tucson close with strong boards and good inside the paint moves. Total Impact's 6-6 sophomore Marcus Shelby from St. Monica's High School had a great game in a contest that featured a lot of inside play. Jon Mosely, a senior from Crenshaw H.S., was a steady contributor along with Keith Allen (West Torrance H.S.). Total Impact won 54-33.

In game two, the young Total Impact squad faced a very talented team from El Paso, TX. The Wildcats, led by 6-7 junior Joseph Devance and 5-6 junior Edward Nortega, stormed to a 17 point lead behind a launching of three pointers from Nortega. However, Total Impact guards got busy and a barrage of threes followed in the second half. Peter McCaslin, 5-11 sophomore from Chadwick H.S., found the groove, and Logan Steinhauer, 6-0 junior from West Torrance H.S., followed suit. The rest of the Total Impact squad which included Jamayne Potts, 5-11 sophomore from St. Monica's H.S., David Harris, 6-5 sophomore from West Torrance H.S., Robert Rakestraw, 5-10 sophomore from St. Monica's H.S., Jess Valero, 6-1 sophomore from San Pedro, and Jason Zellars, 6-0 junior from Peninsula High in Rolling Hills Estates found themselves in a dog fight. Total Impact would emerge victorious, winning 86-83.

In game three of pool play, Potts found the groove and hit some key three point shots to begin a scoring spurt that included Mosely, Steinhauer, and McCaslin scoring in double figures to blow out a mostly senior Colorado Superflow team that had some talented players. Senior guard Phil Jackson showed some great skills. Despite being ejected late in the game, Jackson powered himself to double figures. Andy Osborne, 6-8 sophomore, was significant in the middle blocking several shots. Total Impact took care of the Superflow 77-62.

The final pool play game featured a tough Arizona Heat team that didn't quit. Total Impact guard's struggled throughout the game. Allen, Harris, and Mosely finally took over the boards. This keyed a defensive rally and quick offensive push that yielded some strong takes by Rakestraw and good outside shooting by Steinhauer. The thorn that kept striking Total Impact was Arizona's 6-5 junior Edwardo Cervantes who nailed seven three pointers.

Total Impact needed a loss from the California Inflight Seniors in order to advance to the championship round and they got it as the Arizona Underground Warriors pulled off a dramatic four point win in one of the final pool play games. Washington Friends of Hoop faced off with Total Impact in the first of two semi-final games. The other game featured the Arizona Stars Seniors and Utah Select.

Basically a buzzsaw ripped Total Impact's defense as Friends of Hoop blasted it's way to a quick 20 point lead in the first quarter. Washington was rolling on all cylinders behind the scoring of 6-4 senior Brendon Merritt, and 6-5 senior Darnell Lyons. After spotting Washington a 29 point lead, Total Impact hung around for almost three quarters before fizzling out, losing 94-42. Washington seemed to have weapons from every angle. The bench was just as strong as anybody on the court. Some other notable performances in this game were Total Impact's Peter McCaslin and Robert Rakestraw who were constantly faced with tough defenders and managed to keep their poise. 6-5 forward Troy Hermanson from Sumner, WA along with Gene Woodard, 6-6 senior from Seattle, proved to be the clean up guys. Washington brought it to the table with well coached point guards and strong, pounding forwards that were relentless on the boards.

Total Impact's final game was against Utah Select. This team got beat by the Arizona Stars Seniors in the other semi-final game. However, even though they were blown out it was close for over three quarters. Total Impact didn't have an answer for future D1 player Jess Pinegar, 6-9 junior from Brighton, UT. Pinegar owned the basket from beyond the three point line and with convincing drives to the basket.

McCaslin kept the game close with stellar outside shooting and daring drives through the paint. McCaslin would end up with 24 points in the game, including a 14 for 14 free throw performance. A tough outside defensive tandem of Chris Huber and Morgan Sharp played havoc for Total Impact's shooting trio of Steinhauer, Potts, and Rakestraw. Seldom used Zellars played inspired basketball hitting some clutch shots and coming up with loose balls. Utah coach Lynn Moncur was ejected after a double technical and Total Impact was able to pull within eight points. However, the Utah Select team was just too good. Huber was relentless on defense and this proved to be the difference in Utah's 78-66 victory over a stubborn Total Impact team.

The championship game pitted Friends of Hoop against the Arizona Stars Seniors. Arizona was stacked with future D1 players which included Donnell Knight, Donnie Jackson, Kevin Woodbury and John Oden. Chris Walls, 7-1 senior from Phoenix, is also in the mix of players heading off to future college careers. But, the Arizona team did not match up well against the fundamental Washington team. Arizona got schooled in the basic skills department. Screening, rebounding, help side defense, solid shooting, and smart guard play were just a few of things Washington players did on their way to an easy championship victory.

The tournament finished with the announcement of the All-American Awards. Selected as BCI All-Americans were:

Brent Baker, AZ Heat Blue	Pete McCaslin, Total Impact	Logan Steinhauer, Total Impact
Jess Pinegar, Utah Select	Chris Huber, Utah Select	Donnell Knight , AZ Stars Srs.
Kevin Woodbury, AZ Stars Srs.	Brendan Merritt, FOH, WA	Darrell Lyons, FOH, WA
Tournament MVP Gene Woodard, WA Friends of Hoop

Pinegar (Utah Select) was clearly the best player in the division. Other players that didn't get mentioned but played well were: Jon Mosely, Total Impact; Finn Rebassoo, WA Friends of Hoop; Mike Thompson, AZ Underground Warriors; James Morzeleski, Utah Select; and Jared Jensen, Utah Titans.

BCI hosted a good tournament that was also well attended by several western D1 college coaches from the WAC, Big Sky, and Pac 10 conferences. The word was they were looking at the sophomore talent. Total Impact fared well against a deep tournament that featured 15-20 D1 prospects. Total Impact showed tremendous resiliency in games where they faced older and stronger opponents. This resulted in an impressive showing at the BCI Tip Off. With an improving back court defense of Potts, McCaslin, Rakestraw and Steinhauer and the return of 6-9 center Sean Cole of Pacific Hills, Total Impact is clearly establishing itself as a strong contender in future tournaments.