Good Local Basketball in PA Hoops tourney at East Pennsboro...

Most of the local teams in the area got together this weekend and battled it out in the PA Hoops tourney at East Pennsboro HS....  Most of the games were competitive and played with high intensity... 

Advance Hoops had teams in just about each division, York Ballers brought about 4 teams down, Brak Bread and Rutherford Elite brought two teams a piece while CCC (Harrisburg) brought their 13U team....


Didn't get a chance to see every game of course, but the games I did see were very good...  Advance Hoops 5th grade team has to be one of the best in the State...  They played without two starters (Alin Jones and Jordan McCraw played with Team Nelson this weekend) and still ran the table in their bracket, beating York Ballers - Gallon in the finals....  Keyian Bullock used his defensive pressure to cause YB guards to turn the ball over time after time....  Big guy Tyreese Smith was just a little too much for YB as they had no one to match up with his 5'9 frame...

In the 8th grade division, it was pretty balanced....  The most impressive was Brak Bred who entered their 7th grade team into the 8th grade division and went 2 - 1 for the weekend....  Their only loss was by 1 point so they almost went to the championships....  The core group of guys (Austin Gilbertson, Ty Little, Jirmir Thomas, Grey Hess, Chris Henderson and Kentrel Rucker) are tough as nails...  The addition of Shaquan Benton and 6th grader Brian Garner made them even tougher in the paint....   This group of players are 1 big man and 1 more stud guard away from competing on a high level out of town....  They have solid guard play, nice and aggressive wing players, but Chris Henderson will need more help inside...  It's tough to press them because Gilbertson is crafty with the ball while Little uses his speed and strength to split the defense consistently....  while Thomas and Hess attacks from the wing real strong....

Game of the weekend had to be in the 7th grade division, Rutherford Elite vs CCC....   These guys were going back and forth all game, bucket for bucket....  CCC used their quick and heads up guard play to get into the paint getting lay up after lay up....  Elyjah Camp was too much for Rutherford as he was able to get anywhere he wanted on the court....  His running mate Ahmir Wright used his crafty moves to get big basket after big basket...  Then it never hurts to have high flying Brian Hall plus 6th grade Big Dog Tyheir Butler who cleaned up everything in the paint....

Rutherford used their full court pressure to make the game frantic but it allowed them to get out in transition, which is how they want to play....  If it wasn't Nick Ramsey finishing in the paint, it was Chris Whitaker nailing 3's or Jordan Gillis making flashy drives or even strong guard Evan Chandler slashing his way to the basket with strong finishes....  Justin Henry and Dustin Brown played solid games as well...  Brown was really active and attacked the basket strong...  He foulded out the game though...

With CCC up by 4 points with 8 seconds left, they missed the front end of a 1 and 1...  Rutherford rebounds the ball and gets it to Whitaker...  He pulls up for the 3 and is fouled by Camp as the shot goes in plus he hits the free throw to put the game into overtime....  The gym is going crazy at this time...  In OT, no one scores a basket as Whitaker gets fouled on a fastbreak and missed both free throws, so the game goes into double OT....  After the jump ball, Hall gets the ball on the wing and drives to the basket putting CCC up by 2....  Rutherford attacks immediately as Chandler makes a strong drive to the basket to tie the game up...  After a rushed shot by CCC, Ramsey rebounds the ball and outlets to Justin Henry...  Henry finds Whitaker cutting to the basket for the game winning layup as Rutherford wins the game by 2 points.... 

Great weekend of basketball and next week it doesn't stop....  Brak Bred and PA Capitol Elite will be in the Jay Radio tourney in Allentown, Rutherford will be at Millersville and Advance Hoops 5th grade team will be in Scranton...

Advance Hoops 6th grade girls team will be in the Charm City Classics in Baltimore...  Tiara Little will be playing with that team so I'll keep you updated on a little girls basketball as well....

God Bless,

Coach Little