Part II: Jordan Brand Classic
The third contest of the night featured an amazing matchup between the Phelps School Lions (PA) and Our Savior Lutheran/Jelly Fam, Falcons (NY). The OSL squad is loaded with former players from the Cardinal Hayes program who fell just short last season in the CHSAA championship game. We were looking forward to seeing a few former players in the area play again, and this game certainly didn’t disappoint.
Loin’s 6’9” 4-star SF Will Riley (Phelps School, PA ’25) started off with a nice dunk. OSL scored an inside two, Riley drilled a three, and 6’5” SG Elijah “Choppa” Moore (OSL/Jelly Fam, NY ’24) a Syracuse commit caught a lob for a slam as the gym erupted. Phelps connected on another triple, 6’6” SG Ian Jackson (OSL/Jelly Fam, NY ‘24 )who is headed to UNC answered with a three. Riley scored off a putback, OSL got a bucket and Riley made both his free throws. Riley converted two more free throws, scored after an OSL miss but Jackson scored, and threw down a huge slam, then connected on a deep triple.
Riley scored, OSL hit a three, and Choppa got a big slam. Riley hit two more free throws and the Falcons scored right before the buzzer. OSL led 23-18 after the first quarter, and Jackson finished a tough inside score. Riley scored on back to back possessions and OSL converted a pair of free throws. Phelps scored, got a stop, hit a three, turned the ball over but, OSL scored again. The Lions made all three free throws after a questionable foul. OSL went 1/2 from the line but Riley scored again. The Falcons scored, got a stop scored again but gave up a bucket to Phelps who took a 36-32 lead into the break.
Riley got to the line and made both free throws, Jackson hit a three; and Riley made two more freebies when Jackson finished a ridiculous and1. The Lions hit a three, and Moore scored. Phelps hit both free throws on back to back to trips, but OSL hit another big three. Moore followed it up with a three, Phelps scored but Moore hit another bomb from beyond the arc. The Lions got a dunk and made two more free throws. Moore knocked another deep three, and OSL scored but Phelps answered back.
Phelps took a slight lead into the third, but the crowd knew this was coming down to the wire. OSL buried a three, Phelps got an inside bucket, and Jackson hit a deep three. Phelps answered, then got another bucket from Riley. Falcons hit two big free throws, turned over Phelps and then converted a huge and1. The Lions scored, got a stop, knocked down a three and then finished a quick bucket after a tough defensive play. OSL finished inside for two, Phelps turned it over, Jackson scored but Riley hit a monster triple. Jackson got fouled later but went 1/2 from the line and after a miss the game went into overtime.
In overtime, Phelps scored, and Jackson got a big basket. Choppa scored but Phelps responded with a big three. OSL converted a massive and1, but the Lions scrambled for a bucket to tie the score up at 84-84. Moore hit a clutch bucket for the lead, but Phelps missed. OSL buried a big triple, but the Lions scored. Falcons made both free throws to give them a little breathing room as Phelps missed a couple of opportunities. OSL secured the rebound, ran out the clock and got the win 96-91 over a tough Phelps School.
Jackson was off the charts as always scoring 31-points including a huge amount of highlight plays while Moore added 16-points when they needed it. Riley easily had the most impressive performance of the day, ending up with a game high 33-points. We look forward to seeing what D1 ends up signing him to play for the next couple of years.