Undermanned 2GZs Shocks NE B’Ball Club; Wins iS8/Nike Chip
SOUTH JAMAICA, NY - It always comes down to this. After playing every weekend for many weeks, we get the last Saturday of the iS8/Nike Fall Tip-off Classic. Unofficially named Championship Saturday, this is the day when the last team standing gets their trophies. Well, the runners-up do too, but you get the idea.
Top seeded Northeast Basketball Club and 2GZs each won their semi-final game in the morning. Both teams were impressive in the semis, and both teams came to play in the championship game. There was also a good matchup of talented and similarly diminutive senior point guards, NE Basketball Club’s Ja’quaye James and 2GZs Tyler Bourne.
Bourne was able to drive his team to the finish line. 2GZs broke the game open in the final quarter with a devastating 28-0 run and beat NE Basketball Club going away 92-75. Bourne scored a game high 28 points and hit big shots all afternoon long.
The game started with a bang for 2GZs, right on the first offensive possession. KC Ndefo, a 6-4 senior forward who plays bigger than he is, had two hard dunks to set the tone. 2GZs was the team with only 5 players, they didn’t have the height advantage, and they weren’t the top seed.
NE Basketball Club didn’t let the dunks affect them in any way, eventually taking A 26-25 lead by the end of the first quarter. Senior guard Tavon Jones hit a corner pocket three to start the 2nd quarter. Sophomore guard John Wilson found a cutting James for a lay-up, and then James returned the favor and found Wilson for a slashing score. Then, after a timeout, 6-11 sophomore center Cliff Omoruyi finished a reverse two handed dunk that got the crowd to hoot in approval. The dunk was the end of a 9-0 run and NE Basketball held a 50-43 lead at halftime.
Senior wing Ron Harper Jr. (13 points) hit a triple and had two drives for 7 consecutive points in the third period. James found Jones, who scored a team high 22 points, for a three-pointer that gave NE Basketball a 65-56 lead with two and a half minutes left in the quarter. The momentum started to change, suddenly shifting dramatically to 2GZs.
2GZs started the game with only 5 players. However, they did get another body when senior forward Khalid Moore ran into the gym midway through the third quarter. Moore, fresh off an official visit, quickly got dressed on the bench and without the benefit of even stretching, checked into the game. The 6-6 Moore started to guard the 5-8 James man to man and basically took away the smaller player’s outside shot. Moore finished a spinning lay-up at the buzzer as 2GZ ended the third quarter ahead 68-65.
2GZs had ended the third quarter by scoring the last 13 points, but only led by three when the fourth quarter started. But any thought of a comeback was quickly ended when Moore ended a fast break with a dunk. Then it was the Tyler Bourne show. He made two free throws, then drove into the paint and made a floater. On the next possession, Bourne made a left-handed lay-up after another speedy drive into the lane.
The run ended when James, who finished with 17, made a lay-up for NE Basketball, but the damage had long been done. 2GZs had erupted with a 28-0 run to effectively end the contest and begin the countdown to trophy time.
Junior guard Joe Toussaint and guard James McNeil each scored 17 points for the champions. Ndefo had 16 points in addition to a bunch of impressive blocks early in the game.
