The Miami Summer Hoops Festival rolled into Sunday in high gear. The highlight was a beyond-fierce contest between SOH Elite and Team Breakdown, which we will get to in a bit. We caught the following games on Sunday.
Team Work 15U 60, Team ME 15U 35
This was a close game when we got to the gym with ten minutes left to play in the first period and Team Work up by just six at 14-8. Team ME was down 28-17 at the break and looked like it had the tools necessary to make a surge. Team Work took control in the second period, using a full court press that made it seem like they had seven men on the court and all seven had four arms each. Team ME turnovers turned into Team Work points and Work won going away, led by Noah Baqai and Rick Bisazza who each had 15 points.
Team Breakdown 16U 89, Beach Boyz 17U 49
The final score doesn’t show how the Beach Boyz stayed within striking distance in the first half of the contest. They were down just 41-28 at the break and even that required a late surge from Team Breakdown. Aaron McGee, a rising 6’4 junior at Orlando West Oaks Academy, led four players in double-figures with 22 points.
Harris Athletics 17U 47, Miami Storm Surge 37
Harris Athletics out of Palm Bech County got out to an early lead as they were in attack mode from the very start. With the score 35-15 at the break, it looked like the game was over. However, Storm Surge “surged” back and while they may not have gotten to the point where they looked like they could take the lead, Storm Surge certainly put a scare into Harris Athletics before finally falling by ten points. Aeris Lawson, a 6’4 rising junior at Grandview Prep in Boca Raton, led the team with 14 points.
Miami Suns 17U 62, Pro Holmes Elite 17U 40
Pro Holmes struggled out of the gate, most likely from the effects of driving over from the West Coast earlier in the day. The Suns took advantage, using superior speed and quickness to get easy baskets both in transition and drives in the half-court. Darius Black, a 6’4 rising senior at American in Hialeah, led the Suns with 11 points.
Showtime Ballers 17U 65, Harris Athletics 17U 40
Harris only dressed six players on the day and after getting past the Storm Surge a bit earlier, ran out of gas against a Showtime team with just as much speed and much more size. Showtime placed three players in double-figures, paced by 6’2 rising senior Traevon Koch with 18 points.
Team Breakdown 16U 69, SOH Elite 16U 59
We didn’t focus on this game directly, but every chance we could we snuck a peak over to see how things were going. It was definitely an intense game as fans for both teams were really into the contest. At one point in the first half, things got “chippy” between the benches and organizers as well as support staff had to step in get things calmed down. The play on the court was just as intense. The lead changed back and forth multiple times with neither team able to amass a lead more than a couple of possessions in size. It wasn’t until close to the two-minute mark of the second half that Breakdown was able to extend their lead to the final margin. Willie Burnett, a 6’3 rising junior at West Oaks Academy in Orlando, led Breakdown with 17 points according to the scoresheet. SOH’s Collin Paul, a 6’6 rising junior at Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian, also finished with 17 points.
Player of the Day: It’s a tough choice, but the pick here is Aaron McGee of Team Breakdown. He seemed to have all the pieces of his offensive arsenal working on Sunday. His shot was dropping consistently from the perimeter on both sides of the arc, he finished with flair, force, and finesse around the basket, and he put in work on the defensive end.
Surprise of the Day: We are given this to both Team Work and Harris Athletics. Neither team may give you pause when they walk in the gym and warm up, but once the opening tip is tossed, both teams play extremely hard at both ends, put a great deal of pressure on the opponent from start to finish, and simply do the little things and the tough things that it takes to be successful.