UAA I (Day Two): New Heights 17U Bats .500

MANHATTAN, NY- Saturday was the first full day of the April Live Period as after starting up on Friday night, the action was hot and heavy all day at Basketball City in Lower Manhattan where the Under Armour Association was playing host to their first session.

The lone New York based team on the 17u and 16u level is New Heights, a power program that has been one of this area’s best for years now, and while the talent that they field is clearly among the best on the UA circuit, Saturday was not a day to remember for them.

It was a struggle for both the 17u and 16u teams as they each ran into buzz saws who thrived from behind the arc, causing New Heights a lot of trouble, and a pair of losses as we recap the afternoon action from Basketball City for the only New York City team in action.

It wasn't the greatest start to Day 2 of the first Live Period weekend at Basketball City for New Heights as they took on Team Charlotte from down in North Carolina, and after staying close for the first half things got away from them in the 3rd quarter, with Team Charlotte ultimately pulling away to take a 21-point mercy rule victory.

Against a sharpshooting Team Charlotte squad, New Heights didn't close out well enough in the early going, allowing 6 three balls to connect for their opponents in the early going. The interior presence of big Moses Brown (Archbishop Molloy '18) was able to thrive on the defensive end, but he was pushed out of the block by a strong Charlotte team, denying him good looks in the paint early.

While they weren't doing much scoring down low, Sidney Wilson (Brewster Academy, NH '18) was able to do a solid job in the open floor, and with Dallas Watson (St. Raymond's '18) connecting on a pair of three's in the 2nd quarter, he was able to help draw New Heights closer getting within 42-38 at the half.

It had to be taken as a positive that New Heights were within 4 at the break after a tough start, and with Brown beginning to impose his will and do more scoring around the bucket in the 3rd quarter, it seemed like they were poised for a solid finish. The problems proved to be defensively they couldn't contain Team Charlotte on the perimeter, and with Charlotte pushing the ball more in transition to get away from Brown causing havoc down low, they were able to get the lead back to 13 after the third.

Markquis Nowell (Bishop Loughlin '18) and Idan Tretout (Wilbraham & Monson '19) each were able to hit off the dribble early in the 4th quarter, but Team Charlotte would not be denied as they continued to push the ball and thrive in the open court late, going up by as many as 24 in the closing minutes before the game was stopped with 2 minutes to go because of the mercy rule, giving Team Charlotte an 82-61 victory.

Wing Aaron Wiggins (Wesleyan Christian, NC '18) was the games high man as the 6'6" wing led Team Charlotte with 22 points in going 9-15 from the field, while big man Ian Steere (Wesleyan Christian, NC '18) did a great job in going 7-10 in finishing strong around the bucket and adding 13 points.

New Heights got a double-double from Brown who had 14 points and 12 rebounds in what was a true bright spot for the team, especially with his second half play, while Watson had 8 points in a game that saw the shooters overall struggle from the floor, a major cause in the loss on Saturday afternoon.

The nightcap for the 17u New Heights group looked to be heading down a path just as bad as their first game of the day as after three quarters they were down 64-48 to a CBC team that was missing their 7'0" big man Chol Marial '19 (Cheshire Academy, CT '19) because of injury.

Settling for three's, sloppy with the ball against pressure, and not feeding the post enough were all problems that New Heights were having, and if they didn't look in the mirror and start to really focus on doing things right, they were going to fall to 0-2 on the day and really struggle to take anything positive from it.

Whatever New Heights head coach Rahme Anderson said though between the 3rd and 4th quarters though seemed to work as immediately out of the gate to start the final quarter, New Heights was able to get a stop and then Markquis Nowell (Bishop Loughlin '18) was able to finish with a floater in the lane over a pair of bigger defenders.

The offense was beginning to click, but it was on the defensive end where New Heights became more disciplined, and we're creating CBC mistakes which would start to cut the lead for the Connecticut based team, and cut it in a hurry.

Sid Wilson (Brewster Academy, NH '18) was a real force in the midrange as he became a major weapon off the dribble, Omar Silverio (St. Raymond's '18) was stroking it from the corners, and even though Moses Brown (Archbishop Molloy '18) may not have gotten a ton of touches down low, he was controlling the offensive glass, and with just over 3 minutes to go in the game, New Heights had climbed all the way back with a 16-0 run to tie the game at 64.

They would take the lead on a Brown slam down low, but CBC to their credit wouldn't go away as Filip Petrusev (Avon Old Farms, CT '18) would routinely finish strong down low, while Jared Simmons (Newington, CT '17) was able to get to the rim off the dribble and give his team back the lead with just under 2 minutes to play.

It was back and forth down the stretch, and with the game tied at 71, New Heights had a chance to win it late, but a missed long jumper didn't fall, sending the game in OT.

Off the overtime tip that Brown won, Wilson got the ball and took it to the FT line where he sank a midrange jumper, a jumper he was knocking down on a consistent basis late in the game, and when Brown was able to putback a miss while getting fouled with just over a minute to go, the lead was theirs for good.

Wilson would punctuate things at the final buzzer with a thunderous one handed slam to put the exclamation point on a major New Heights comeback as they rallied from as many as 19 down to show resilience and take down CBC, 80-75.

It was a 23 points effort from Wilson that paced New Heights to the victory, while Brown had yet another double-double, this time going 8-9 from the field and finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds against a big and talented CBC frontline.

CBC was led by Simmons who had 20 points in the defeat but in the end New Heights showed toughness, heart, and character to fight back from a major hole, and prove themselves again to be one of Under Armour's top 17u teams.

Unfortunately for New Heights, their 16u team didn't have much success in their game on Saturday afternoon as going up against a more physical DC Blue Devils team, they couldn't handle the play in the paint as a dynamic twin duo led the way for the Washington D.C. area team to a dominant 56-37 win.

It wasn't the start that New Heights wanted here either as Precious Achiuwa (St. Benedict's, NJ '19) wasn't able to hit either on pushing the ball up the court in transition, and when the Blue Devils slowed it down they were able to get excellent looks inside, while the solid ball movement they demonstrated also allowed them to get great perimeter looks as well.

The size that New Heights has wasn't a major factor in this one as Abdou Ndiaye (Masters School '19) got in early foul trouble which meant that players had to play out of position, giving DC the advantage around the rim.

Elijah Wynn (Wadleigh '19) was solid for New Heights controlling the ball and making solid decisions in the half court, while Dima Zdor (Sagemont School, FL '19) was a versatile stretch 4 man who did good things, but it was still a 12-point deficit at the half for the NYC based team.

Good looks continued to go by the wayside for New Heights who just couldn't find a rhythm from long range in this one. Rob Higgins (Middletown North, NJ '19) was a sharpshooting force on Friday, but on Saturday the shots just weren't falling. Davonte Gaines (Health Sciences '19) did bring solid length on the wing, and he did make several solid plays in the open court as well, but the size and strength down low proved to be too much.

Makhi Mitchell (Bishop McNamara, MD '19) and Makhel Mitchell (Bishop McNamara, MD '19) both were 6'9" physical beasts inside who took it to New Heights and made life tough from start to finish for them as they along with Anwar Gill (Gonzaga, DC '19) were the difference as the DC Blue Devils were able to play strong defense the whole way en route to the 56-37 victory.