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BEACH BALL CLASSIC SEMI-FINALS SET
By Van Coleman
I just arrived in Myrtle Beach to cover my twenty-eighth Beach Ball Classic and because of the split weekend, the quarter-finals were played on Saturday. We’d like to thank tournament media relations director, Wayne White, for his updates on the quarter-finals as we get ready to enjoy the last two days of one of America’s Finest High School Tournament’s the Beach Ball Classic. Here are the Semi-Final Match-ups:
Semi-Final No.1: Columbus, OH Northland (7-1) vs. Madison, WI Memorial (8-1)
Semi-Final No.2: Jacksonville, FL Providence Day (9-3) vs. Brooklyn, NY Bishop Loughlin (6-1)
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Columbus, OH Northland 66 – Baltimore, MD Bullis School 38
Northland (OH) never trailed and breezed into the semifinal round with an impressive 66-38 victory over the Bullis School (MD)
Bullis (8-2), which trailed 33-23 at the half, closed the gap to seven points at 38-31 on a pair of free throws by Russel Sangster with 10:12 to play before Northland (6-1) went on a game-ending run. The Vikings scored 14 unanswered points to take a commanding 52-31 lead on Seth Towns’ two free throws with 6:14 on the clock.
Seth Towns (Beach Ball Classic)
Northland was led by Towns with 24 points, while Ty Hairston and Derek McKeithen added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Vikings. Aaron Briggs paced Bullis with 13 points, while Russell Sangster chipped in with 11 points.
Madison, WI Memorial 45 – Arlington, VA Bishop O’Connell 43
In a game where neither team led by more than three points in the second half , Madison (WI) Memorial pulled off a 45-43 quarterfinal victory over Bishop O’Connell (VA) at the 2013 Beach Ball Classic.
Madison Memorial (7-1) never trailed and led by as many as nine points in the opening half but held just a slim 25-23 edge at the break. That two point lead would prove to be the difference as the second half could not have been played closer. In addition to neither team being able to gain a lead larger than three points, the lead changed hands eight times and there were five ties.
Romelo Trimble opened the scoring in the second half exactly one-minute into play as he connected on a pair of free throws to pull the game even at 25-25 for Bishop O’Connell (6-4). The game continued to go back and forth and the score was tied one final time at 42-42 with 35 seconds remaining to play on the first of two free throws by Trimble. He then hit the second of his two free throws to give Bishop O’Connell a 43-42 advantage.
On the ensuing Madison Memorial possession, the Spartans pounded the offensive boards as they secured three missed shot. The final offensive board was tipped back through the nets by Darral Walls to give Madison Memorial a 44-43 lead with just 1seconds remaining. Walls was fouled on the tip-in and connected on the free throw to stretch the lead to two points. Ako Adams missed a 3-point shot from the corner for Bishop O’Connell, but the Knights were given another life with six seconds remaining when Reggie Roemer missed a pair of free throws for the Spartans.
Trimble drove the ball down the court with the clock winding toward zero and launched a 3-point basket just before the buzzer. The shot was partially blocked by Daurice Fountain to secure the win for Madison Memorial.
Willis led Madison Memorial with 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. He received solid support from Tyler Lindquist who finished with 11 points and 7 boards. Trimble led all scorers to pace Bishop O’Connell with 21 points, while Jamaal King chipped in with 12 points in the tough loss.
Jacksonville, FL Providence Day 60 – Cincinnati, OH Moeller 56
Statistically and on the court, the matchup between Moeller (OH) and Providence (FL) was nearly a dead heat. Fortunately, at least for Providence, the Stallions came out just a little ahead in a 60-56 victory over Moeller to advance to the semifinals of the 2013 Beach Ball Classic.
Providence (8-3) led all but 1:28 of the opening half, including scoring the first nine points of the contest. After Moeller (6-1) battled back, Grant Benzinger hit a short jumper with 1:28 before the half to give the Crusaders their first lead. Both squads missed multiple shots in the closing minute to send the game to the locker room with Moeller leading by one.
The teams swapped baskets to open the second half with the lead changing each time. With the score tied 31-31, Grayson Allen scored eight straight points to give Providence a 39-31 advantage with 9:50 to play. Moeller cut the lead to three twice in the closing six minutes but could not overtake the Stallions.
Statistically, the game was as close as the final score. Providence, which connected on an amazing 71.4 percent (10-14) from the field in the second half, edged Moeller in the category for the game 55.3 percent to 50.0 percent. Providence also held slight edges in turnovers 10-11 and rebounds 22-19. Moeller did connect on nine 3-point baskets in the contest to just four for Providence, but the Stallions hit 14-of-15 from the free throw line to just 5-of-7 for Moeller.
Allen, who will play collegiately at Duke, tallied 30 points to lead Providence, he received solid support from Christian Terrell and Wyatt Walker who chipped in 11 points each. Moeller was paced by Grant Benzinger’s 21 points, while Tre Hawkins added 14 points ad Jack Antn chipped in with 11 points in the loss.
Brooklyn, NY Bishop Loughlin 71 – Franklin, OH 46
Bishop Loughlin (NY) dominated play on both ends of the court Saturday night to advance to the 2013 Beach Ball Classic semifinals with a 71-46 victory over Franklin (OH).
Bishop Loughlin (5-1) never trailed in the contest and built leads as large as 25 points as they were able to contain Franklin’s Luke Kennard, the number one rated junior by most in the nation. Kennard connected on just 3-of-11 shots from the field but did hit 9-of-10 free throws for 15 points, well below his average of over 40 points per game.
Bishop Loughlin was led by Jayvian DeLaCruz’ 21 points, while Khadeem Carrington added 14 points and Michael Williams chipped in with 11 points in the win. Evan Crowe paced Franklin with 16 points and eight rebounds, while top twenty junior Luke Kennard* added 15 points in the loss. Bishop Loughlin connected on 55.4 percent from the field while holding Franklin to just 31.9 percent with a full court pressing defense.
Jayvian DeLaCruz (Beach Ball Classic)
*Luke Kennard opened the Beach Ball with a 45 point performance, but suffered an attack od tendenitus and put his availability for the rest of tournament in question.
We will bring you more from the Beach Ball Classic this week, as well as a look at a number of tournaments around the nation right here, Along the Recruitng Trail on “The Basketball Channel.”
