Unique All-stars has Mt. Vernon seeing double
The #9 seeded Unique All-Stars continued pulling rabbits out of their hats as they dismantle the #5 seeded Mt. Vernon at the iS8/Nike on Saturday.
When it was all said and done Mt. Vernon was seeing double All-Stars combined physical defensive play with a superior offensive barrage.
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Kevin Jones would strike first as Mt. Vernon would have to get it done with Sherrod Wright. Wright, who plays for the Playaz Club AAU team, was in Washington at a tournament. Also absent was Mt. Vernon's coach Bob Cimmino
The Unique All-stars on the other hand infused their squad with the Kansas bound Morris Twins.
While Markieff Morris kept a body on Kevin Jones, his brother Marcus Morris was scorching Mt. Vernon from the perimeter.
Sophomore phenom Tobias Harris played the point but was also aggressive and effective inside.
While Unique led most of the quarter, Jabarie Hinds and Jordan Lessane would catch fire from the arc late allowing Mt. Vernon to tie, surpass and take a 7 point lead.
Harris and Mike Buffalo would however start flexing their offensive muscles with a minute left to retake the lead. The half would end with the Unique All-stars up by three points.
Jones seemed bothered by the physical defense of Markieff Morris, scoring only 8 first half points.
The Midrange shot started to fall for Jones in the second half as Markieff's defense fell off a bit.
In the second half, Taran Buie would run point for Unique as Harris moved to the 2 which made him even more effective.
With 4:02 left in the third, the All-stars were only up two but Markieff and Harris would push it back up to 7 points attacking both inside and from beyond the arc.
Mt. Vernon employed a semi-effective swarming defense but forced shots on offense negating their efforts.
With under a minute left in the third the Morris Twins would put on a show to up Unique's lead.
Down 58-45 to start the final quarter, a Wright-less Mt. Vernon simply did not have answers. Buie would quickly sink one off the glass to increase Unique's lead to 15 points.
While Mt. Vernon's defense was admirable, Unique's was superior. In addition, Unique's bench was deeper as their lead grew to 18 points with 4:51 left.
Up 16 points with less than 2 minutes there were simply too many points and too little time for Mt. Vernon as the Unique All-stars would advance, defeating the team from Westchester 83-71.
Marcus Morris and Tobias Harris would both drop 15 points apiece for the Unique All-stars while Kevin Jones would score 25 points for Mt. Vernon.
The Unique All-stars continue their magical journey facing the #3 seeded Juice All-stars at 3:30pm on Sunday in the quarterfinals.
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