sunday open scores

SoCalHoops Tournament Report

adidas Big Time Tournament Sunday Scores. . .
Only One SoCal Team Left Standing--(July 19, 1998)

Before the games started this morning, there were five teams from SoCal (if you include Fresno in SoCal, as we do): QBL Lakewood, EBO Fresno, LA Rockfish, Pump & Run I, and Pump & Run III. There were a number of other teams from the West Coast, including the Washington Altoids, the Emerald City Pioneers, and Team Utah.

At the end of the day, there was just one left standing. And it was not tournament favorite, EBO. Nor was it LA Rockfish.

Nope. It was Pump & Run I.

Yeah, that Pump & Run team. The one featuring Gilbert Arenas (6'-4" Sr. G/F) from Van Nuys Grant High (yeah, he's from Grant, not Sylmar), Cayce Cook (5'-9" Sr. PG) from West Hills Chaminade Prep, who has vastly improved his handle and decision-making, big time recruit Aaron Abrams (6'-4" Sr. G) from Rancho Buena Vista High in Vista, shooting ace Kent Dennis (6'-3" Sr. G) from Reseda Cleveland High, who's not likely to ever end up at Cal State Northridge when he can play in the Pac-10, Brandon Moorer (6'-7" Sr. F) from Los Angeles Manual Arts High, Cameron Carr (6'-8" Sr. F) from West Linn High in West Linn, Oregon, Mike Dunleavy (6'-7" Sr. SG/SF) from Portland Jesuit, Portland, Oregon who told us at the Pump Camp that he considers academics more important than basketball, and thus will probably end up at either Stanford or Cal, Bo Segeberg (6'-8" Sr. F/C) from Serrano High in Wrightwood, and Eric Rowher (6'-8" Sr. C) from Burbank High in Burbank. That Pump & Run team.

So what happened to the rest of them?

Sunday brought some huge upsets, particularly in the Open Tournment. Perhaps the biggest upset occurred in Bracket No. 1, where Capital Players met EBO in game 505, the first game of the day at 9:00 a.m. at Durango's Main Gym, and Capital Players came away the winners, beating the seemingly invincible Boozer, Deshawn Stevenson, et.al. The Capital Players team had Jamal Gilchrest (5'-11" Sr. PG) from D.C.'s Notre Dame high, Maurice Young (6'-5" Jr G/F) from McNamara High in Mitchellville, Maryland, Dwayne Shackleford (5'-10" Sr PG) from D.C.'s Anacostia High, Anthony Tyler, (6'-8" Sr F/C) from Richmond Virginia's Ryan Academy, Sean Prather (6'-8" Sr F) from Olney's Sherwood High, and a bunch of other really quick, powerful guys who were just too tough for EBO.

And if that wasn't enough of a shocker, the Capital Players then met the Madison Broncos, who had earlier defeated Valentino's Bison Neb in the other 9:00 a.m. game, and Madision Broncos came away the winners. So Madison Broncos will now advance to Monday's quarterfinals.

You want another shock. Look no further than Bracket No. 2, where the Washington Altoids, who had won two yesterday by beating BWBA I and the Memphis Sounds, lost to the New Orleans Jazz by a score of 78-88. In the other half of the No. 2 Bracket, the Michigan Mustangs met the Long Island Panthers in game 508 at 9:00 a.m. at Cimmaron-Memorail Auxiliary gym, and the Mustangs came away winners 78-67. That set up the Jazz v. Mustangs game, No. 562 this evening at 5:00 p.m. in the Durango Auxiliary gym, a game which was won by the Michigan Mustangs.

Here's another SoCal upset: In Bracket No. 3, QBL Lakewood (which is basically the Artesia team with Jason Kapono, Aaron Hamilton, Andre Hazel, Apolinar Fernandez, Jack Martinez, et. al.) met DC Assault, and Dermarr Johnson & Company were just too much to handle for QBL, which lost in the 10:20 a.m. game to DC Assault, 68-80.

In the other half of the No. 3 Bracket, Iowa Indians Met Pump & Run III (which we think was actually Pump & Run II before the Hilltoppers became Pump & Run II), and Iowa came away with a squeaker, beating the SoCal boys 80-78, which set up the 6:20 p.m. game tonight between DC Assault and the Iowa Indians. Suffice it to say, DC won, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Championship round in the Open tournament.

In the top half of Bracket No. 4, Emeral City Pioneers met Friends of Hoops I at 10:20 in Cimmarron's Main gym, and Emerald came away with the win, beating FOH by 20 points, 88-68.

In the other half of the No. 4 Bracket, Team Indiana met Above the Rim, and Above the Rim won, 59-67. That set up the game between Emeral City and Above the Rim at 6:20 tonight, and it was no contest as Above the Rim won by 45 points, hammering Emerald 94-59. So Above the Rim also advances to the Quarterfinals of the Championship round tomorrow.

In Bracket No. 5, there were some strange goings on. Team Philly, which only had to play one game yesterday, easily defeating the Florida Flash I by almost 20 points, met up with Team Utah, which was on a roll, easily having won both of its games yesterday by 20 points each. And this mornings game between Utah and Philly was not different, as Utah rolled to a 19 point win, beating Philly 81-62. But then Utah, which was supposed to play in game 578 with the winner of Team Carolina Sonics/LA Rockfish, pulled up their tents, and went home. We're not sure why, but we'll try to find out. In any event, that meant that Philly advanced and went on to play the winner of game 526 (Rockfish or Carolina Sonics)

And just to ease the suspense, here's another "upset" of sorts, or at least a bad day for SoCal: Rockfish lost to Carolina Sonics this morning, which meant that Carolina advanced to play Philly this evening. We don't have the details of the Rockfish loss, but we'll try to find out soon. In the evening game, Carolina beat Philly and came away with the win, 89-85, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Championship round.

In Bracket No. 6, Abbey AC met Atlanta Celtics in the 1:00 p.m. game at Durango Main, and Atlanta got the win, advancing to tonight's 7:40 p.m. game with No Excuses, which had beaten DTA Team Wisconsin this afternoon 72-67. In the evening game, Atlanta Celtics beat No Excuses, and so advance to the quarterfinals tomorrow.

In Bracket No. 7, Pump & Run I beat a very strong team from Omaha Godfather's Pizza 86-73, and advanced to meet the Tim Thomas Playerz tonight after TTP had beaten Martin Brother's Select 66-64 at 2:20 p.m. this afternoon. In the 9:00 p.m. game at Durango's Main gym, the Pump & Run I team defeated the Tim Thomas Playerz 78-72, and so advanced to the quarterfinals of the Championship round.

Finally, in the No. 8 Bracket of the Open Division, the Illinois Fire beat Virginia Select 97-74 to advance to the late game against Houston Select, which had earlier beaten Cleveland BBall Club. In the 9:00 p.m. game in Durango's Auxiliary, the Illinois Fire beat Houston Select 87 to 72.

So here's who's left standing:

Madison Broncos will face DC Assault in the first game tomorrow at 9:a.m. in Durango Main
Carolina Sonics will meet Pump & Run I at 9:00 in Durango's Auxiliary Gym
Michigan Mustangs wil play Above the Rim at 10:20 in the Durango Main
Atlanta Celtics will meet the Illinois Fire at 10:20 in Durango's Auxiliary Gym.