Wisconsin United break NY RENs
NEW YORK, NY - Wisconsin United came into the Rumble in the Bronx, to make an impact. Breezing through pool play undefeated, they ran into NY RENs in the first round on Saturday and kept the trend alive at Baruch College as they dispatched their New York opponents, 71-56.
Wisconsin United blazed out in front 9-0 feeding off a smothering full court press as Marshawn Wilson got off early and often. Justin Wright-Foreman ended the run with a transition bucket for the RENs but United continued where they left off.
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The RENs instituted a zone but WU countered hitting perimeter shots. 11 minutes remained in the opening half and the Wisconsin team still led 17-5 as Wilson continued to punish the NY team in the open court.
Hoping to limit interior scoring by WU, the RENs went big in the front court. The concept worked briefly as buckets by Devyn Wilson cut the RENs deficit to 9. Jaylen Key and PG Donnell Gresham (Cretin-Derham Hall 2015) would soon counter, pushing the United lead back to 15.
The RENs alternated between C.J. Davis and Omar Williams (Cardozo HS/2015) at the point but neither formula was effective as they continued to trail, 35-21 to begin the second half.
Williams became assertive on offense but a porous defense by RENs resulted in a mere exchange of buckets with the Wisconsin team.
Offensive juggernaut M. Wilson, who scored 10 points in the first half, was deaded in the second half scoring only 3 points and with 7:24 an offensive spurt by the RENs Mohamed Touray, cut WU's lead to 52-47.
Wisconsin United received good point guard play and points from Gresham down the stretch would push the lead back to 13 with 1:30 to knock the RENs out of the running.
Key was the high man for Wisconsin United with 16 points with Gresham contributing 15 points. D. Wilson led the RENs with 16 points followed by Touray with 13 points.