M.T.G. Summer League Semifinal Action

ST. ALBANS, NY –The seven-year-old More Than a Game (M.T.G.) Summer League is slowly but surely making its presence felt as a place to be and see NYC talent. Friday’s semifinals games featured some of the state’s premier talent as well as the up n’ comers.

NYC Finest drew first blood against Team Up, a squad that’s is an accumulation of some the best CHSAA and PSAL players, as Hassan Diarra ‘19, Kareem Reid ‘19 and Alejandro Vasquez ‘19 put them ahead 9 -2. Tyson Walker ‘18, Khalid Moore ‘18 and Taj Anderson (Cardozo ’19) eventually responded offensively sparking an 8 – 0 run that briefly gave Team Up a 1-point advantage.

An emphatic post up dunk by Reid would reestablish the lead for NYC Finest. Sahdique Watkins (Holy Cross ’18) and Walker countered and with 2 minutes left in the half, the two teams were knotted at 25 apiece. A surge in the final minutes by Team Up gave them a 32 – 28 halftime lead.

Moore went into attack mode pushing Team Up’s lead to 11 points early in the second half before Vasquez went on an offensive tirade that pulled NYC Finest to within 6 points of the lead. That would be as close as NYC Finest would get as Anderson and Javen Soto (Cardozo ’18) put up points to seal the deal for Team Up.

Walker led Team Up with 16 points with Anderson and Soto adding 10 points each. Vasquez was the high man for NYC Finest with 18 points while Diarra contributed 14 points.

It’s always a tall order to take out a tournament’s defending champs but Positive Direction proved to be up for the challenge. Perimeter shots from Justin Forest (Campus Magnet ’18) along with strong drives from Donald Flores ‘17 put them up comfortably by 8 points early in the quarter.

Almighty Force was not going down without a fight. C.W. Post-bound Alonzo Ortiz-Traylor (McClancy ’17) put the team on his back and with help from Kion Hill (Queens HS of Teaching ’17) scored six unanswered point to close the gap. Two minutes remained in the first half and Almighty Force had cut its deficit to a point but inside play from wide body Stephen Moncrieffe (Thomas Jefferson ’18) extended the Positive Direction lead to 31 – 28 as the second quarter ended.

Although Ortiz-Traylor put up impressive numbers for Almighty Force, his team was dominated inside by 6’8” big man Amadou Sylla (Our Savior New American ’19) and was unable to contain Dwight Reed (Q.H.S.T. ’18) Klay Brown (Lincoln ’17) provided intermittent offensive sparks as a team it was too little too late.

Reed and Sylla netted 12 points apiece for Positive Direction with Moncrieffe adding 10 points. Ortiz-Traylor led Almighty Force with a game high 19 points.

Positive Direction will play Team Up for the championship at 5 pm on 8/13/17 @ St. Albans Memorial Park.